Convicted paedophile, Comanchero bikie Tony Steele, released from jail

A convicted paedophile’s days as a Comanchero gang member are likely over now he has been released from jail, high ranking bikie sources have revealed.

Convicted paedophile Tony Steele’s days as a Comanchero gang member are likely over after he was released from jail last week, high ranking bikie sources have revealed.

Steele, 53, whose “modus operandi” was to prey on young teenage girls, has been allowed back on the streets on the very day his non-parole period ended after serving six years and six months of a 10-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old girls.

Cessnock-based Steele was revealed as a Comanchero in police documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court in November last year as detectives secured a serious crime prevention order on the Comanchero’s flamboyant Versace-bathrobe wearing president Allan Meehan.

He was listed in intelligence documents as one of the Comanchero members involved in serious crimes.

Steele was jailed in 2017 after being convicted by a District Court jury of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of indecent assault of the two girls aged under 16.

Comanchero bikie and convicted paedophile Tony Steele. Picture: Supplied

Comanchero president Allan Meehan.

He has to wear an electronic bracelet which monitors him 24/7 as part of his parole conditions.

Steele is also understood to have family Comanchero links but high-ranking bikies have told The Daily Telegraph that his bikie days are probably over.

“There are rules and the biggest rule you can break is being a paedophile,” one said.

“That’s the number one, 99.99 per cent he won’t be welcomed back.

“If he was in any other club, the guy would be lucky to walk again. If the Comanchero let him back in, it would send the wrong message.”

Steele is also banned from contacting or harassing his victims and their families while on parole.

The Comanchero gang member will have to wear an electronic bracelet which monitors him. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston said the girls, who are now women, would be fearful for the rest of their lives but she hoped they would never have to see him again.

“He has stolen their childhood,” Ms Johnston, the former head of Bravehearts said on Sunday.

“These men steal their childhood, their innocence and their power and it is the disempowerment that is the worst.”

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Ms Johnston said paedophiles should be banned for life from knowingly going anywhere near their victims.

“It’s a terrifying situation,” she said.

The District Court also heard that Steele had sexually touched other girls in “striking similar” tendency evidence but he was only charged over the two 13-year-olds.

His “modus operandi” was to begin by tickling the young teenagers.

“They all allege repeated assaults,” Judge Peter Berman said in a District Court judgment as he allowed the prosecution to admit the tendency evidence.

“They all describe (Steele’s) actions in a way which made it clear that he treated their consent, or lack of it, as irrelevant.”

Judge Berman said Steele had a sexual attraction towards young teenage girls.

The court heard that at one stage he left his partner for a 17-year-old girl. That relationship was consensual.

The State Parole Authority said Steele had successfully completed all “eligible programs to address his offending while in custody” and he must continue to have psychology sessions organised by corrective services.

Originally published as Convicted paedophile, Comanchero bikie Tony Steele, released from jail