'Vile sexual predator' who coached children's football in Surrey jailed for 29 years
He abused children for around 50 years
A sexual predator who abused children for around 50 years has been sentenced to 29 years behind bars.
Stephen Henry Walker formerly of Chipstead Lane, Lower Kingswood, Tadworth worked as a football coach in Surrey and briefly served as a Met Police officer.
The crimes happened between the late 1960s and 2007 and involved 15 victims both boys and girls.
An investigation into Walker’s offending was launched after one of the victims came forward in March 2018.
68 year old Walker was found guilty of 33 counts of sexual assault following the first trial which started on 4 January and lasted over seven weeks.
The jury also returned a unanimous guilty verdict today on a further seven counts of sexual assault following the second trial which started on 8 March.
The offences included sexual assaults, gross indecency with children and inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency,
Walker met some of his victims while he was working as a children's football coach, while others were children he knew through family friends.
Although the majority of the offences were committed in Surrey, Walker also abused children in France and Malta, and other locations outside of the UK jurisdiction.
Once the full extent of Walker’s abuse started to come to light, he fled to Malta where he lived under an alias.
Statements from a number of the victims involved were read out in court.
One victim spoke of the “severe and prolonged psychological harm” suffered as a result of Walker’s offending, including a serious attempt to take her own life.
Another spoke about the severe depression he had suffered as a result of the abuse and the “profound and significantly detrimental effect on my mental health for most of my life”,
While another described himself as having “lived a life of torture which leaves me a broken man today relying on the care of services, my parents and medication”.
Detective Constable Emma Gibson from the Complex Abuse Unit said:
“I would like to pay tribute to the victims and witnesses in this case for their commitment and resilience throughout the investigation.
"Without their support and patience we would not have been able to bring Stephen Walker to justice.
“The trial was delayed by several months and heard during a very unsettling time for all due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"All involved demonstrated true strength and courage in giving their evidence and I hope today’s result brings them some validity and closure, as well as some sense of justice after all these years of having to live with what he did to them.”
Detective Inspector Paddy Mayers from the Complex Abuse Unit, said:
“Walker was a vile sexual predator who used his position as a football coach, trusted member of the community and friend, to gain access to children and then seriously abuse them for his own gratification.
"The scale of his offending, which went unchallenged for years, cannot be underestimated.
“I would also like to thank all those involved in the investigation for their hard work and dedication under extremely trying circumstances, with not only a huge number of victims and witnesses, but also the substantial delays to the trial as a result of the pandemic.
“I hope that Walker’s conviction sends a clear message that we will always do everything we can to ensure allegations of sexual abuse are investigated thoroughly and that we will leave no stone unturned to get to the truth.”