Vicky de Lambray

Vicky de Lambray (died 1986), also known as Vikki de Lambray, formerly David Christian Lloyd-Gibbon or David Gibbon, was a transvestite male prostitute, conman and thief who became a favourite of Fleet Street gossip columnists. In an essay called "London Grandeur" Phaedra Kelly says "Vikki's claim was that she would be the most famous transgenderist ever and die dramatically at the age of 30".

According to The Times newspaper, De Lambray was found dead in August 1986 of a suspected heroin dose in his flat in Stockwell, south London. Three hours earlier, he had telephoned the Press Association and told a reporter: 'I have just been killed. I have been injected with a huge amount of heroin. I am desperate.'

No signs of injury were found on the fully-clothed body. A post-mortem examination failed to pinpoint the cause of death. Coroner Sir Montague Levine recorded an open verdict, saying there was no evidence that de Lambray had been injected with anything, although there were traces of drugs and alcohol in his body.

During his colourful career, de Lambray was often in the headlines because of court appearances, sex scandals and claims that he was a spy. Shortly before his death he had been trying to sell a story to the Sunday newspaper The Sunday People about a wealthy member of the aristocracy who he claimed was being supplied with heroin in return for sexual favours.

In March 1983, a senior British civil servant, Sir James Dunnet, was questioned by Scotland Yard detectives over a brief sexual encounter he had had with de Lambray in the early years of his retirement. Official concern over this liaison stemmed from the claim of the prostitute that a Soviet spy had also been among his clients at that time, a circumstance which might, given Dunnet's former position at the Ministry of Defence, have constituted a security risk. In the event, Ministry of Defence officials satisfied themselves that Dunnet's actions had constituted no threat to national security

Gay News carried a short article in September 1983, saying de Lambray was a convicted High Society art thief and apparent MI5 tempter/temptress, and noting his brief sexual relationship with Captain Anatoli Zotov, former Soviet Naval attache. De Lambray's 900 page autobiographical manuscript - "naming names" - went missing in the same year.

In May 1986, detectives investigating a series of homosexual murders found de Lambray's name listed in a suspect's address book. In July 1992, The Evening Standard reported that de Lambray was a friend of Private Eye journalist Paul Halloran. He was also a friend of British pop group manager and entrepreneur Kit Lambert.

It remains unclear whether de Lambray was, as claimed by some, a transexual: "sometimes called TS but nobody knows for sure, nor will they now."

De Lambray once changed his name by deed poll to Louis de Rothschild — hoping he would be confused as a Rothschild family member. The Rothschild family paid him ten thousand pounds to change it back again, which he did.

Vicky de Lambray claimed he was addicted to the idea of becoming famous. He would regularly hire a Rolls Royce with the funds received prostituting himself in Shepherd Market in London's West End. He would place a large sign in the back of the Rolls, saying VICKY de LAMBRAY—ENTERTAINER, and drive for hours around central London or park outside Harrods.

It was while working at Shepherd Market that de Lambray met the former head of MI6 Sir James Dunnet. During the assignation, de Lambray stole Dunnet's wallet and credit cards and was arrested after a few days while attempting to use Dunnet's credit card.

When de Lambray finally went to trial for the theft, he invented a persona named Caroline Clark who claimed to major newspapers that she was an acquaintance of de Lambrays who would sell Fleet Street newspapers the inside story about an upcoming trial involving a former spy chief. This ruse was extremely profitable for de Lambray who was splashed over the front pages of newspapers-as was Sir James Dunnet. The stories became more and more outrageous with sex stories that would have been highly embarrassing for Dunnet.

Friends warned de Lambray he was going too far by embarrassing the spy services. When police were first called by de Lambray, who claimed he was being injected with drugs by a group of men, they did not take him seriously but when they arrived Vicky was dead. No puncture marks were found and an autopsy provided absolutely no clues as to what killed de Lambray. His body has been kept since at a London morgue.