Carrie Johnson has called for a new ITV drama about black cab rapist John Worboys to be a ‘wake-up call’ bringing more justice for victims – as she described herself as ‘one of the luckier ones’.

Mrs Johnson, who has four children with ex-Prime Minister husband Boris Johnson, is among those portrayed in the new series with its first episode broadcast last night.

In a post on Instagram, she welcomed the launch of the true crime drama named Believe Me and told of how authorities including the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Parole Board needed to do better.

She is portrayed by actress Miriam Petche in the new four-part series.

Mrs Johnson, now 38, was targeted by Worboys in 2007 when she was 19 years old. 

She is believed to have been the prolific sex offender’s youngest target when he picked her up after a night out on the King’s Road in west London and plied her with spiked vodka.

Worboys is played in the new show by TV, film and stage star Daniel Mays.

In her latest social media post, Mrs Johnson told her 156,000 Instagram followers: ‘”Believe Me” starts tonight at 9pm on @itv and all episodes are online ready to watch now.

Carrie Johnson has called for a new drama about black cab rapist John Worboys to be a ‘wake-up call’ bringing justice for victims – as she described herself as ‘one of the luckier ones’

‘It tells the story of two very brave women – “Sarah” and “Laila” and their fight to protect other women from serial rapist, John Worboys.

‘Nearly 20 years ago I got into Worboys’ cab but I was one of the luckier ones.

‘The talented Miriam Petche plays me in this series and the small part I had to play in helping Sarah and Laila keep Worboys behind bars.

‘We hope this might act as a wake up call to the police, the CPS and the Parole Board.’

She also responded to a poster who said: ‘Don’t get me wrong this is a great story to tell but it’s just another nail in the coffin for London taxi drivers. Why don’t they they tell the stories of the mini cab drivers or the uber drivers?’

Mrs Johnson replied: ‘Seriously? That’s your take?’ 

The drama written by Jeff Pope also features Slow Horses actress Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Sarah, another of Worboys’ victims, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.

Sarah previously said: ‘Believe Me is about the courage of every woman who came forward to help put John Worboys behind bars.

Worboys is played in the new show by acclaimed TV, film and stage star Daniel Mays (pictured)

Carrie Johnson was targeted by Worboys (pictured) in 2007 when she was 19 years old

‘What happened to me changed my life, but in many ways the hardest part was not being believed for so many years.

‘Without the people who stood by me, Worboys would have been freed and continued to pose a huge risk to women.’

She added: ‘Seeking justice shouldn’t mean more trauma. We shouldn’t have to fight to be believed or feel like we’re the ones on trial. The shame never belongs to the survivor.’

Mrs Johnson was in her first year as a student at Warwick University when her encounter with serial predator Worboys took place.

She was waiting at a bus stop in west London after a night out with friends when Worboys offered to take her home for £5, professing to live just around the corner.

He proceeded to tell her that he had won some money at a casino and offered her a glass of champagne to celebrate, which she promptly poured away when he was not looking.

Mrs Johnson previously said in 2018: ‘Had he asked if I had wanted a drink, I would have politely declined but instead he asked, “Will you celebrate with me?”

‘This was much harder to refuse. It would have felt rude to say no.

The wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is played by actress Miriam Petche (pictured)

‘So I agreed and he handed me a glass. I was young and didn’t really like the taste of alcohol, but I didn’t want to offend him.

‘While he wasn’t looking, I poured the contents onto the cab floor. Never for a second did I suspect it was spiked.’

He then stopped the cab under the pretence of needing to go to the toilet and was gone for 10 minutes, which Mrs Johnson later realised was him stalling for the drugs to kick in.

When he realised that they had not, he moved into the back of the cab and pressured her into having a shot of vodka, to which she begrudgingly agreed.

She said: ‘After I drank the vodka I can hardly remember a thing. I don’t remember if he got back into the front of the cab straight away or not.

‘I think he did. I hope more than anything that he did.’

She made it home and then collapsed ‘like a rag doll’ in front of her mother, then ‘crawled into the bathroom and became very sick’, with her ‘head spinning so much that I told my mother I wanted to die’.

It was not until six months later, when Mrs Johnson read a black cab driver has been arrested, accused of raping numerous women, that she ‘froze’ and ‘knew it was him’.

Mrs Johnson was one of nearly 100 women who came forward to the police and one of 14 who was selected to go to court to testify, deciding to waive her anonymity

She said: ‘I feel I would know if Worboys had raped me that night. I’d have flashbacks or there would have been horrendous tell-tale signs when I woke the next day.

‘But I will never truly know for sure what happened after he drugged me.’

Mrs Johnson was one of nearly 100 women who came forward to the police and one of 14 who was selected to go to court to testify, deciding to waive her anonymity.

Worboys, now known as John Radford, was convicted in 2009 for attacks on 12 women and in 2019 he was convicted again for a further four attacks.

The four further victims came forward following a public outcry when a Parole Board ruled he was safe to be freed.

It recently emerged that Worboys could have his wish for a secret new parole hearing granted despite his victims’ protests.

A public hearing was set for June to decide if the rapist should be allowed out of prison but reports have suggested it has been switched to a closed-doors event.

Instead of facing his victims the abuser would see his fate decided in a ‘papers review’ meeting after he asked for the change.

That would mean details of his evidence would not be reported and only be summarised after a decision.

Worboys had argued that being scrutinised in public would prevent him from giving proper evidence.

Worboys, from Enfield in north London, had previously worked as a male stripper and became known as the ‘black cab rapist’ after attacking victims in his hackney carriage.

In several of the incidents, he pretended to be celebrating a horse racing win or a lottery prize as a pretext to giving his victims alcohol which he had laced with drugs.

During his original sentencing at the Old Bailey, the court heard he had admitted to a psychologist that he plied dozens of women with alcohol and drugged around a quarter of them after being inspired by pornography.

Worboys told psychiatrists he had been ‘fantasising’ about his crimes since 1986 and was motivated by ‘hostility towards women’.