Murderer cleared of sex assault

Lant was allowed out on licence as part of a pre-release scheme

A convicted murderer has been cleared of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl while on day release from prison.

David Lant was serving a life sentence at Hollesley Bay open prison near Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 2004 when the attack was alleged to have taken place.

The 61-year-old, from Norwich, was jailed for life after he and another man took a patient hostage at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire in 1977.

A jury cleared him of attempted rape and five counts of sexual assault.

Money for sex

During the trial at Ipswich Crown Court, the jury was told that Lant, who denied the charges, was jailed for life for murder in 1977.

In 2004, he was allowed out on licence from Hollesley Bay as part of a pre-release scheme.

He returned to the prison each night after working at a Salvation Army hostel in Ipswich.

The girl, who cannot be named and is now 18, told the court via a video link that she had agreed to meet Lant in October 2004 because he said he wanted to give her £50 that he owed her boyfriend.

After meeting him at a petrol station, she said Lant had persuaded her to go with him to his wife's caravan near Bury St Edmunds because, he said, he wanted to check the electricity was turned off.

The teenager alleged that Lant offered her £200 to have sex with him.

Prescribed Viagra

When she refused, she claimed that he picked up a carving knife and threw it across the caravan.

Charles Myatt, prosecuting, told the court that Lant later drove the girl to Hollesley Common, near his prison, where sexual assaults took place in the back of his car.

The court heard he eventually dropped the girl off in Ipswich, more than five hours later.

Lant told the jury the girl had agreed to take part in sexual activity.

During the trial, jurors were told that Lant had been prescribed Viagra in 2003 after a prostate operation made him impotent. But the drug was not successful in curing his impotence, the court heard.

Lant denied attempted rape and five counts of sexual assault.