Believe Me ending explained: What happened to Sarah and Laila?

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Please be advised that this article reveals major plot details from the end of “Believe Me.” It also discusses sensitive and potentially disturbing topics such as sexual assault and rape.

After the third episode of the ITV drama Believe Me, Carrie (played by Miriam Petche) chose to reveal her identity publicly. She hoped that by becoming the face of the John Worboys case, other victims would feel empowered to share their experiences and come forward.

Even after Worboys was sentenced, Sarah (Aimée-Ffion Edwards) and Laila (Aasiya Shah) were still concerned. He could be eligible for parole after serving only eight years. They met with lawyer Harriet Wistrich (Philippa Dunne), who explained that Worboys would need to admit his crimes to be released, something he hadn’t done and had consistently denied throughout the case.

Laila shared with the women that police had revealed the actual number of Worboys’s victims could be as high as 500 – a deeply disturbing realization. Despite this, Laila and Harriet continued to pursue their legal case against the Metropolitan Police, using the Human Rights Act as their basis.

But how did the final episode of Believe Me unfold? Read on to find out.

Believe Me ending explained: What happened to Sarah and Laila?

The final episode begins with Carrie meeting her new coworker, Cherry, on Carrie’s first day in the Conservative Party’s communications department. Shortly after, Cherry mentions she recognizes Carrie as someone who was previously targeted by the ‘black cab rapist’ – a label Carrie doesn’t like. Carrie explains she gained valuable experience dealing with the media during that difficult time, skills she believes will be useful in her new role.

Sarah and Laila met with Harriet, who is still collecting proof that the police didn’t properly investigate their claims. While the findings are upsetting for Sarah and Laila, the evidence is clear, and Harriet believes that lawyer Phillippa Kaufmann (played by Rachael Stirling) can represent them in court.

Laila later confided in Sarah that she’d met someone through a family connection, but she’s overwhelmed by the thought of telling him about the attack. She hasn’t even told her own family yet, making it even harder.

The women met with Phillippa and had a tense discussion with the Metropolitan Police. The police suggested a training program for their officers, inviting Sarah and Laila to share their experiences. This felt like an insult to the two women, and they, along with Harriet and Phillippa, decided to pursue their case further.

In November 2013, the women brought their case to court, where they had to painfully recount their experiences during the interviews. The officers involved in their cases testified. Later, Sarah discovers she’s pregnant, but her relationship is struggling, and she shares her worries with her close friend, Frankie (Laurie Kynaston).

Some months later, Sarah calls Laila with wonderful news: they’ve won their legal case against the police. The judge determined that if the initial investigation into Sarah’s claims had been handled properly, Laila would not have been assaulted by Worboys. It’s a very emotional and celebratory moment for both of them, made even more special by the fact that it’s also Laila’s engagement day.

The story then fast-forwards quite a bit, and suddenly we see Laila settled into a new life – she’s living with her husband and has a new baby. Then, it jumps again to 2018, and we’re with Sarah enjoying a peaceful morning with her kids when she’s completely stunned by a news alert on her phone – it’s about Worboys being released on parole. It really hits her hard in that moment.

Neither she nor Laila were told about the possibility of Worboys being released, and they are understandably upset. Along with Phillippa and Harriet, they are now trying to understand how the decision was made to deem him fit for release, and they plan to pursue a judicial review to challenge it.

Carrie, now the Communications Director at CCHQ, joined Sarah, Laila, Harriet, and Phillippa to launch a major public campaign after learning of Worboys’s release. The campaign aims to raise funds, increase awareness, and push for a review of the decision.

Harriet and Phillippa carefully examine the evidence and realize that Worboys is using a false story about a breakup to try and explain his crimes, and they work to disprove it. On the day of the court hearing, Laila is unable to attend, but Sarah overcomes her anxiety about black cabs to make it there on time. Following a difficult hearing, the decision to release Worboys is reversed, and we then see Sarah happily spending time with her three children in her garden.

Laila seems downcast, sitting alone on her garden bench lost in thought. When her husband joins her and asks what’s wrong, she finally shares what’s been bothering her. We don’t hear what’s said, but we see her husband hold her close.

What happened to Worboys at the end of Believe Me?

Having followed this case closely, I’ve been struck by Worboys – or rather, John Radford, as he now calls himself – consistently claiming all encounters were consensual and denying any use of drugs. It’s a fascinating, if disturbing, tactic to try and reinvent himself with a new name, clearly an attempt to distance himself from the serious allegations made by the women who came forward. He seems to believe a name change will somehow erase the past, but it feels more like an admission of guilt than a genuine claim of innocence.

He found comfort in Christianity and now regularly attends church. While meeting with a forensic psychologist monitoring his development, he stated he’s changed his perspective on the case. He now fully accepts responsibility for his crimes, attributing this shift to his faith in God. He voiced feelings of guilt and expressed his readiness to begin a treatment program for sex offenders.

While Worboys was cleaning up after a church event in prison, another inmate warned him that simply talking about his faith wouldn’t be enough. The inmate suggested Worboys needed to explain why he committed his crimes if he wanted to be taken seriously.

During his second meeting with the psychologist, Worboys started talking about a past relationship and how the breakup deeply affected him. He explained they briefly got back together a year later, but he discovered she was intoxicated and simply drove her to her mother’s house, leaving him very angry.

He recounts how he drove around one evening in 2006, eventually finding and targeting his first victim. He confesses to using drugs to incapacitate his victims, and admits to only sexually assaulting one victim for a very short time – just four seconds. Surprisingly, advice from a fellow inmate seems to work, and the psychologist suggests he should be considered for parole. However, in an unexpected twist, Laila and Sarah join forces with Carrie to appeal the parole board’s decision.

Worboys returns to prison after his parole decision is quashed.

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For information and support, please visit Rape Crisis or The Survivors Trust.

All four episodes of Believe Me are now available to stream on ITVX.

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Authors

Morgan CormackDrama Writer

Morgan Cormack writes about TV and streaming drama for TopMob. Before that, she was an Entertainment Writer at Stylist. She also has experience in content marketing and freelancing, and holds a BA degree in English Literature.

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2026-05-19 00:35