Freed sex offender Wayne Wilmot back in custody

Wayne Wilmot, member of the gang that raped and killed Janine Balding, is back behind bars, mere weeks after being released, for allegedly searching for child abuse material.

Wayne Wilmot, far left, in handcuffs, with police during his arrest in 1988. Picture: News Corp Australia

Wayne Wilmot – one of Australia’s most horrific serial sex ­offenders and a member of the gang that raped and killed Janine Balding – is back behind bars for allegedly searching for child abuse material just weeks after he was released from jail.

The Australian revealed in April how Wilmot, a remorseless criminal with psychopathic traits, was released under an ­interim extended supervision order with assistance from the NDIS.

As a 15-year-old boy, Wilmot was involved in the brutal 1980s abduction, rape and murder of Balding, a 20-year-old bank ­teller.

He appeared at Waverley Local Court on Friday afternoon charged with breaching his supervision order and remains in police custody.

Media reports on Friday, citing sources from within the NSW Police Force, alleged that officers monitoring Wilmot’s phone had found evidence of searches ­including “very extreme pornography”.

The Australian reported ­previously how Wilmot’s ­supervision would be at a “high level”, according to judge Helen Wilson at an April hearing, and that it would include a schedule of movements, a curfew and that he’d be required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

It also included a long list of restrictions over his movements, activities and, importantly, internet usage,

Wilmot did not apply for bail and will remain in custody for two weeks before his next court appearance in July.

Janine Balding, abducted from Sutherland railway station by a group of street kids, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Minchinbury in Sydney's western suburbs in 1988.

For breaching a supervision order, the maximum sentence in the Local Court is two years, although the Director of Public Prosecutions could decide to prosecute in the district, where a conviction could carry five years’ imprisonment.

The Australian’s reporting on Wilmot’s release and support from the National Disability ­Insurance Scheme partly prompted NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, who branded Wilmot’s receipt of the scheme’s support “not appropriate”, to launch a panel to examine the management of violent ex-prisoners through the NDIS.

Wilmot’s NDIS assistance – which includes eight hours of help each week with daily life, 16 hours of weekly assistance with “economic and community participation”, and access to behaviour and health support professionals – comes despite past treatment and rehabilitation efforts in prison that had resulted in “no meaningful gains’’ because he had been resistant to help.

At age 15, Wilmot was ­involved with four others in the abduction of Balding.

While the court found Wilmot did not take part in her ­murder, he was convicted of ­kidnapping and raping the 20-year-old bank teller, who was snatched outside a Sydney railway station in 1988 in a crime that horrified the nation.

The prosecution did not allege that Wilmot raped her, but he was held liable due to his participation in the criminal enterprise.)

Wilmot was released on parole in 1996 but attacked another four women before he was imprisoned again in 1998. In a prior judgment, Justice Julia Lonergan noted that the attacks were brazen and in public. “He does not seem to care about being caught,” Justice Lonergan said.

Since his sentences expired in 2019, Wilmot has twice been subject to ongoing detention until the case came back to court this month and the state of NSW applied for an interim extended supervision order, which was granted.