Prison guard Wayne Astill convicted of sex with female inmates afraid he may transfer them to tougher jails

Ex-cop Wayne Astill has been convicted of trading favours such as longer telephone calls and medicine for sex and intimidating female prisoners at Dillwynia Correctional Centre.

Disgraced prison boss Wayne Astill, known as the Silver Fox, has spent his first nights on the other side of the prison bars after being convicted of sexual assaulting inmates.

Astill, 65, a former police officer, traded favours such as longer telephone calls and medicine for sex as he intimidated the female prisoners when he was chief correctional officer at the Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Berkshire Park.

Crown prosecutor San Hughes had told the District Court that the women could not consent freely because “they were Mr Astill’s prisoners. There’s a power imbalance there”.

Mr Hughes said that the women felt intimated and were afraid of being transferred to another prison when they agreed to have oral or penile-vaginal sex with Astill.

“There was an enormous power which could be wielded over those women,” Mr Hughes had told the court.

Disgraced prison guard Wayne Astill at Downing Centre Court in Sydney on August 17, 2022. He has been convicted of sexually assaulting female inmates. Picture: Dylan Coker

A corrections veteran of 20 years, Astill was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom into the cells after the guilty verdicts late last week when Judge Gina O’Rourke remanded him in custody pending sentence on October 14.

He had been on bail since he was charged in 2019 following a joint investigation by NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW when he was suspended without pay.

Astill was known as the “Silver Fox”.

The grandfather, who had pleaded not guilty, had worked at Dillwynia since 2009 and was promoted in 2017 to chief correctional officer.

Astill, of Kurrajong Heights, had initially denied having sex with the women, but changed his account when police showed him a secret recording from inside the prison. He said the sex was consensual.

Ex-prison guard Wayne Astill pictured outside Downing Centre DIstrict Court before he was convicted and refused bail. Picture: Monique Harmer

He was convicted of a total of 19 charges between 2016 and 2017 including aggravated indecent assault of women under his authority and seven counts of misconduct in public office in relation to what he claimed were inappropriate but consensual sexual relationships with four inmates.

He was acquitted of 11 counts.

The court heard that the women had sex with him because they felt they had no option.

The court heard that one of the inmates was sexually assaulted while she was vacuuming. Afterwards she turned the vacuum back on and told Astill that she was “fine”. He had previously threatened to have her transferred to another prison.

When he learned he was being investigated, he told fellow officers that he suffered from erectile dysfunction and couldn’t get an erection. The prosecution said that was a lie.