A disgraced former Metropolitan Police officer and south London football coach who sexually abused 15 children during 40 years of offending has finally been jailed.
Shamed ex cop Stephen Walker, 68, was found guilty of 40 charges of sexual assaults against 15 victims, including both boys and girls.
When the full extent of the “vile” sexual predator’s catalogue of abuse came to light, he fled to Malta where he lived for several years under an alias.
Walker used to work as a salesman, a Met Police officer for a brief period, and a coach for children’s football teams in Surrey and south London where he met and groomed some of his victims.
Others victims were children he knew through family friends.
Although the offences took place from the late 1960s up until 2007, he was not investigated until March 2018 when one of the victims came forward and a probe was launched by police.
As the investigators uncovered the huge scale of Walker’s offending they found he had a strong sexual interest in children, particularly boys – although two of his victims were girls.
Despite the majority of the offences being committed in Surrey, Walker also abused children in France and Malta and other places outside the jurisdiction of UK police forces.
After fleeing to Malta, he returned to Britain in October 2019 and was arrested on suspicion of child sex offences.
Two days later he was charged and remanded into custody due to the serious risk he posed to children, as well as being a flight risk having previously fled the country.
The offences included sexual assaults, gross indecency with children, inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency, as well as attempted buggery and buggery of some of the children.
Over the course of two trials, he was found guilty of 33 counts of sexual assault following the first hearing, which started on January 4 and lasted over seven weeks.
The jury at Croydon Crown Court came back with a unanimous verdict after deliberating for just three hours.
A unanimous guilty verdict was also returned on Tuesday for a further seven counts of sexual assault following the second trial.
Walker, from Tadworth, Surrey, will be sentenced on May 24 and could spend the rest of his life in prison.