LANCASTER'S "Buffalo Bill" - colourful tycoon Owen Oyston - could be riding the range once again within the next few months. He is hopeful that his forthcoming appeal against conviction and six-year sentence for the rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old model will be successful. More than 12 months in jail hasn't seemed to affect the 63-year-old in the slightest. The long grey hair and beard have been trimmed and he looks fit and well. He's as dynamic as he ever was. And he still keeps a close eye on his business empire. Only the wide-brimmed fedora is missing from the Oyston style of a year ago.

But he realises he still has a long way to go. "The appeal marks a turning point," he said in a message to The Citizen. "It's very encouraging. I will prove my innocence beyond all doubt."

The appeal date has not been set but it is likely to be a few months rather than weeks. His wife Vicki who has fought a tireless campaign was as bright as a button on the steps of the Appeal Court in London. "Now we can really start to plan for Owen's release," she said. "I am confident we will be successful."

Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham agreed with two fellow judges that there was now "an arguable case" that the trial judge "should have given the jury more assistance" when giving Oyston leave to appeal against his convictions. The judges also admitted new evidence into the case.

Among the new evidence is a raunchy eight-page letter, copies of which were handed out to The Citizen and other reporters by Oyston's barrister, Anthony Scrivener QC.

The letter is said to have been written to a boyfriend in Crete by Miss B, the young girl whose tearful account of rape in a four-poster bed at Oyston's castle about five years ago and subsequent total sexual trauma had made six women and two men on the jury at Liverpool Crown Court start crying .

Mr Scrivener told Lord Bingham that the jury had heard Miss B say, "I spent a year of my life trying to forget what happened". He repeated the reason she gave for not reporting the rape: "I were ashamed."

"I hate everybody. I cannot take discipline. I hate sex." He reminded Lord Bingham that Mr Justice McCullough, the trial judge, had described the girl as "young, dependent and vulnerable." Mr Scrivener also read a statement by a housekeeper at the model agency where Miss B was working at the time of the rape. She had read about the case in the newspapers and thought she could guess the identity of Miss B. She came forward after Oyston's trial to claim she had heard Miss B bragging: "I've been to a castle and it was great and I'm going there again."

Meanwhile, Oyston has to settle back into the routine of Wymott Jail near Leyland - a much better routine than he suffered in the first few weeks at Liverpool's Walton Jail.

One of Oyston's self-appointed guardians at Wymott - a middle-aged tough - said: "He had a very bad time in Liverpool, where the lunatics inside were whipped up by the newspapers. Owen doesn't talk about it much.

"They don't like rich people in Liverpool. I have a little influence around here and a few of us decided that nothing stupid was going to happen to him in here. We planned it before we met him. He turned out to be a great guy, with great ideas.

"He doesn't get one bit of favouritism or special treatment from anyone. It's just as hard for him as for anyone else."

A prison officer confided: "He's by far the oldest inmate, you know. They're always asking him for advice. And I have to say he is sort of quite respected by most of the officers and the inmates. He's always got something to contribute."

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