A London taxi driver was found guilty today of sexually assaulting a string of women passengers whom he plied with champagne laced with sedatives after saying he had won money at casinos and on the lottery.

Retired stripper John Worboys, 51, drugged his victims before pouncing on them in the back of his black cab.

He was found guilty of 19 charges of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women passengers. In one case he raped his victim, the Press Association reported.

Croydon Crown Court heard how Worboys preyed on women he picked up in London's West End and in Kensington, looking out for those who had been drinking and offering them cheap or even free lifts home.

Once in the cab, Worboys spun them a story of how he had won money on the lottery or at a casino and showed them a carrier bag full of cash.

He then offered them a glass of champagne or other alcoholic drink to help him celebrate as he said it was his last fare of the night.

But the drinks were mixed with powerful sedatives that left his victims stupefied and powerless to stop him sexually assaulting them.

Prosecutors said the experienced hackney cab driver, from Rotherhithe southeast London, targeted 14 women in total over 18 months until his arrest in February last year.

The court heard that as the women succumbed to the drugs, Worboys would drive around in circles, turn the conversation to sex, and in some cases offer the women up to 5,000 pounds to perform sex acts.

Many of the victims were left with little memory of their ordeals and can only recall falling asleep in the back of the vehicle before waking up at home.

But some were left with flashbacks and vague memories of Worboys sitting beside them and adjusting their clothing.

One woman remembered being raped, a second woke up to find him with his hand up her skirt and a third said he exposed himself.

Worboys admitted lying to the women and offering them drinks but claimed he did it because he craved female attention in the wake of a series of failed relationships.

But police discovered a "rape kit", including gloves, alcohol, glasses, drugs, condoms and a sex toy concealed in a plastic bag in another vehicle at his home.

Detectives also found many journeys took considerably longer than necessary while some women were left violently ill and others had traces of drugs in their blood.

Police also found his DNA on the bodies and clothes of two women, his DNA and that of a victim on a vibrator, while traces of condom lubricant were found on another woman's underwear.