Paedophile ex-Labor MP Milton Orkopoulos granted parole

Authorities have granted paedophile and ex-Labor MP Milton Orkopoulos parole after 12 years behind bars despite urging “a high degree of caution”.

Paedophile MP Milton Orkopoulos will be released on parole – potentially before Christmas – but authorities say the “worst” outcome for the community is keeping him locked up until the end of his sentence.

Orkopoulos, 62, appeared via videolink as the State Parole Authority granted his conditional release on Friday after more than a decade in prison for child sex and drug offences.

The former Labor MP, grey haired and smirking in prison greens, must be released in the two weeks following December 20.

While he could be out for Christmas he will have to wear an ankle monitor and will not be able to return to Lake Macquarie and Newcastle where many of his crimes against adolescent boys took place.

Milton Orkopoulos has been approved for parole after almost 12 years behind bars.

He must also comply with the child protection register and cannot be unaccompanied around anyone under 16-years-old among other conditions.

Friday’s decision, delivered by Justice James Woods, cited numerous authorities who recommended supervised parole.

Among them was the Serious Offenders Review Council that was concerned Orkopoulos had been denied day leave by the Corrective Services commissioner.

“We must now proceed on the basis that the offender will now not be able to participate in any constructive period of external leave that would allow a meaningful period on supervision on parole,” the council’s August report says.

Justice Woods shared their concerns that Orkopoulos may walk from Long Bay in October 2021, when his sentence expires, without any conditions.

“That outcome is the worst for the protection of the public,” Justice Woods read from the report.

“The only way in which he can have a supervised and assisted transition back into the community is via parole release,” he added.

The former NSW ALP minister won’t be able to return to his hometown under the parole conditions.

The parole authority also took into account Orkopoulos’ good behaviour in prison and willingness to engage in rehabilitation courses for drug and sexual offenders.

Orkopoulos’ lawyer, Omar Juweinat, told reporters his client would have to “adapt” to his release conditions.

“He’ll have to adjust accordingly, it’s something he’ll have to and that’s inevitable,” he said on Friday.

“You have to be compliant if you have an ankle bracelet strapped to your leg – the reality is you’re going to be very conscious of that.”

Mr Juweinat said he’s not sure if his client is mentally prepared for the difficult transition back into the community but parole is a “big deal” for Orkopoulos after almost 12 years in custody.

Orkopoulos, who rose through the ranks of local government to become a prominent figure in the former Iemma Labor state government, fell from grace after being charged in 2006.

Police made explosive allegations that the politician had preyed on young boys between 1995 and 2006, plying them with cannabis, alcohol and heroin to win their trust.

He was sentenced in 2008 for 30 offences including seven counts of sexual intercourse with a person between 10 and 18, 18 counts of supplying cannabis and heroin, and one of rape and possessing child pornography.

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He had been denied release at previous parole hearings in 2016 and 2018 noting he needed to conduct more sex-offender and prerelease courses.

Psychological and prison reports, obtained by The Daily Telegraph last month, reveal the self-described “twisted” sex offender believes he’s the real victim.

“He stated he was denied the presumption of innocence, as he believes he was set up by the police and the victims in what he described as a ‘political trial’,” one report read.

Orkopoulos’ believed he had more to lose than his victims and was never going to be exposed even as his wife warned his drug use “will bring us to ruin”.

Justice Woods noted a very different state of mind now presented in Orkopoulos.

“The offender claimed accountability for his actions and is said to have accepted the inappropriateness of his behaviour and his desire to place his own sexual gratification before the harm to his victims,” he said.

However he has failed two drug tests while in prison.

The first in 2015, the second in February this year when he tested positive for the opioid Buprenorphine.

Orkopoulos described his relapse as “embarrassing”.

Some of his crimes against teenage boys included injecting them with heroin or providing them cannabis before assaulting them.

He has since passed a test in August.

Lake Macquarie Councillor Kevin Baker, who campaigned to have Orkopoulos’ photo taken down from the council building wall, made it clear he would not be welcome back in his old stomping ground.

”He is a danger to society, and amazingly still puts himself out to be the victim, feeling that he was set up by police and victims – and continued to offend while in prison, receiving and using illegal drugs,” he said on Friday.