Gateshead: Warren John McCorriston sentenced over attempted abduction in Lake Macquarie in 1980

A convicted sex offender – who still faces untested allegations interstate – will remain on parole after being sentenced for trying to drag a teenage girl into his car for “sexual gratification” more than 45 years ago.

Warren McCorriston (blue shirt and tie) was sentenced to a maximum 27 months jail for the abduction attempt. But he will remain on parole after a judge backdated the sentence. Photographer: Adam Yip

A convicted sex offender – who still faces untested allegations interstate – has been spared further time in jail in NSW after admitting to trying to drag a teenage girl into his car for “sexual gratification” more than 45 years ago.

Newcastle District Court Judge Tim Gartelmann SC found Warren John McCorriston, now aged 64, would have already served a non-parole period for the Lake Macquarie kidnapping charge if he had been sentenced at the same time as offences against three other women, which occurred between 1980 and 1999.

McCorriston remains on parole for those offences after being sentenced in 2021 to a maximum eight-and-a-half years jail, with a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years.

That non-parole period expired in July 7 last year, but McCorriston remained in custody on the fresh charge until he successfully applied for bail and was then granted parole in February this year.

Judge Gartelmann sentenced McCorriston to a maximum 27 months in jail on the charge of detaining for advantage without causing an injury to the victim, with a 15-month non-parole period.

Warren McCorriston, now aged 64, has now been convicted of offences against four women between 1980 and 1999. Photographer: Adam Yip

Using the principal of totality, where McCorriston’s sentence for the abduction charge would have been partially taken up in the sentence for the other historical offences if it had been part of those court proceedings, Judge Gartelmann backdated his sentence on the fresh charge to November 8, 2023.

It meant that the 15-month non-parole period for the abduction charge expired on February 7 – six days before McCorriston was released on parole for the offences against the other three women.

Warren McCorriston was a tourism executive in Queensland when he was arrested by detectives on historical charges relating to three woman in the Hunter. (File picture: Rhianna Bull / Whitsunday Times)

The convicted sex offender would need to speak with authorities to make sure his parole continued, the judge said in sentencing.

McCorriston was not charged with the abduction offences until last year, after the victim reported the incident to police when she saw a media report on Strike Force Arapaima, which had been set up to investigate missing girls in the Lake Macquarie area.

The victim identified McCorriston out of 20 old photographs, telling detectives he had run up behind her after she had got off a bus at Gateshead in early 1980 after travelling home from the movies.

McCorriston, who would later admit it was him despite not remembering the offence, grabbed the 16-year-old around the waist, told her he had a knife and ordered her into his car so they could “talk”.

Warren McCorriston

The girl screamed and was able to break free before running off, but stopped and turned because she did not want him to follow her home.

McCorriston remained next to his car staring at the girl before he eventually drove off.

Judge Gartelmann ruled McCorriston’s motive for trying to kidnap the girl was for “sexual gratification” and that although there was no evidence he had a knife, the incident would have terrified her.

The court heard that the now 64-year-old former tourism executive’s moral culpability was lessened because he was only 18 at the time of the attempted kidnapping and had experienced a dysfunctional childhood.

McCorriston had since recognised the trauma he had put his victims through after completing multiple rehabilitation courses in jail, the court heard.

And Judge Gartelmann noted that a sentencing assessment report said McCorriston had attempted to justify his actions by highlighting how his father’s negative examples had influenced him.

The abduction attempt at Gateshead, which occurred between January and March 1980, was investigation by Strike Force Arapaima detectives during a re-investigation into the suspicious disappearances of Robyn Hickie, 18, and Amanda Robinson, 14, in April 1979.

Ms Hickie, who had gone to the same school as McCorriston, was last seen at a Belmont North bus stop on April 7 while Ms Robinson disappeared after getting off a bus at Swansea a fortnight later.

She had taken the bus from a school dance at Gateshead.

No one has ever been charged over the suspected murders.

McCorriston’s sentence hearing last week heard that he still faced allegations in Queensland which were allegedly committed when McCorriston was aged in his 50s.

His parole period for the abduction charge continues until February next year, although McCorriston will also remain on parole for the offences against the three women until 2028.