11:05am Wednesday 2nd April 2008
By Aaron Moon
Vigilantes have attacked a popular children entertainer's Leatherhead home, after he was exposed as a paedophile this week.
Billy Wand, real name Kevin Hart, received a police caution last autumn for downloading sick kiddie porn.
But the news was only broken this week in a national newspaper and his home in Kingston Road was immediately under siege by locals taking the law into their own hands.
Rocks were hurled through his windows and the word "paedo" spray-painted over his front door and on the side of his house. When the Epsom Guardian tried to contact Hart, he had already fled.
An eyewitness said that the house had been quite badly damaged and that Hart had not been seen lately.
He said: "They must have spent a little while there because not only had they smashed all the windows, but they had sprayed the graffiti onto both the door and the side of the house.
"Somebody had boarded up the smashed window but we haven't seen any sign of him since the story."
The 49-year-old popular magician and entertainer had appeared at the Blue Peter 40th birthday party and was advising the Government on a new scheme intended for the under-fives.
He had also been Santa for London's Park Lane Hilton hotel and, ironically, the Thames Valley Police Association.
Cops raided his home last year after tracking him down through his credit card and the images were found on his computer.
Michelle Elliot, executive director at children's charity Kidscape, which campaigns against child abuse, said: "It always astonishes me when someone who is in a position of trust gets such a minor punishment. Why wasn't he hauled before the courts?
"To me, it is an imprisonable offence, certainly the wrong impression is given. It's not a minor offence, it is horrendous.
"I think it's wrong and sends the wrong message that he's not gone to prison. It sends the message that child pornography is not that serious when it is. To have someone that's in contact with children, they should go to prison.
"This is usually not a one off so the concern that one has is, is he getting any help? Does he realise the children he was looking at were abused for his pleasure?"
A Surrey Police spokeswoman confirmed that a man had received a police caution for having indecent images on his computer. He was also placed on the sex offenders' register.
She added the force was unable to comment about the attack on Hart's home, and said: "We have no one in the office today and obviously the Epsom Guardian is only a local newspaper."
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