Hereford had not lost away from home in ten games but they were well beaten by a Chesterfield team that was far better in all departments.
Lester became the first Chesterfield player to score 20 goals in a season for 14 years and it was his skill and movement that was the main reason why Hereford were so comprehensively beaten.
The game was only two minutes old when Lester went past several defenders to set up Jamie Lowry for a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner and the visitors never really recovered from that.
They gave the ball away far too often and a defensive mistake by Lee Collins allowed Lester to get his 20th goal in the 21st minute.
Collins' back pass fell short on a heavy surface and although keeper Wayne Brown got to the ball first, his attempted clearance cannoned off Lester and into the net.
Collins knew he had left his side with a lot to do and only a superb save from Brown three minutes later prevented Lester scoring again.
But Hereford never looked secure at the back and in the 40th minute Lester cut in from the right, side-stepped Dean Beckwith and found a gap between Brown and his near post.
The second half was slightly better for the visitors but there was never any suggestion that they could stage a recovery and only the crossbar denied Jamie Ward when he fired in a shot from 30 yards.
The visitors did have their moments but Kris Taylor fired over from 15 yards and Theo Robinson saw his 73rd minute shot turned behind for a corner.
The final word went to Chesterfield when Brendan Moloney surged forward from the right-back position to beat Brown with an unstoppable right-foot shot that whistled into the top corner from 25 yards.