Occult paedo rapist walked free after rape trial 17 years ago (From Sutton Guardian)

Cheam occult paedo rapist Bill Lambert walked free after rape trial 17 years ago

10:13am Thursday 19th May 2011 in Lambert Trial By Jamie Henderson

Convicted child rapist Bill Lambert was acquitted of a set of strikingly similar sex offences at the Old Bailey two decades ago, the Sutton Guardian can reveal.

A court ruling at the recent trial prevented publication of the previous trial before his conviction.

In 1994, he was accused of 16 sex charges, including six for rape, in the church grounds.

As in the current trial, it was claimed the former binman had filled the girls’ heads with stories of the occult, like the Black Cloud of Cheam and the Three Witches of Surbiton.

Lambert claimed the girls were sex-crazed, had vivid imaginations and colluded over their stories.

While on remand Lambert spent nine months in High Down prison where he became a counsellor to young people with emotional problems.

But, following the 1994 not guilty verdict, he broke down in court and needed post-trial counselling from the vicar of St Dunstan’s at the time, Father Timothy Surtees.

Father Surtees gave evidence in Lambert’s defence – the jury eventually finding him not guilty in less than an hour.

The Crown Prosecution Service has not commented on whether it will re-open the cases against him in light of the new conviction.

An alleged victim from Lambert’s first trial contacted the Sutton Guardian during the second trial to explain she was delighted he was facing jail.

The woman, now 32, said: “I was terrified of [the Shed] but he made it seem he was protecting us. He is a sick monster.”