Editorial: Wilson should stay in prison

How much time, effort, stress and money has been wasted so far on the parasite we have come to know as the Beast of Blenheim?

As the week draws to an end, the hysteria over his release will get worse (if that is possible).

Stewart Murray Wilson, a 65-year-old serial sex offender, is to be let out of jail this week after serving 18 years of a 21-year sentence for heinous crimes against women, children and animals.

Efforts to stop his release into the Wanganui community have so far failed with the local council losing its case in the High Court on Monday.

No one wants Wilson as their neighbour. Even Rotorua's Mayor, Kevin Winters, has spoken out that he would fight the Parole Board if our city was chosen as his new home.

Wanganui residents are going as far as threatening to issue trespass orders to keep him away from certain areas of the city.

Some might say Wanganui residents are going over the top - Wilson has served his time and has to live somewhere.

If you have done your time in jail, admitted your guilt, promised to be a better citizen and genuinely shown you are prepared to change, surely you deserve another shot at life on the outside?

But Wilson is different. He hasn't shown one iota of remorse and hasn't taken part in any rehabilitation programmes to fix his sick mind.

Imagine if he was released on your street. Your home that you have considered safe all this time may no longer be that haven.

So the answer's simple. He doesn't deserve to be let out.

Unfortunately the law won't allow that. Now the community of Wanganui is suffering the impacts of a weak justice system that simply opens locked cell doors just because the sentence is over.

Prime Minister John Key has this week said Wilson can't spend any longer in jail, no matter how much we fear he will offend again.

The Government says it is working on new legislation where extreme offenders like Wilson won't be allowed out, despite serving their terms. Let's see if this Government is prepared to go out on a limb and actually push this law through.

Wilson's lawyer, Andrew McKenzie, told the High Court this week his client's 17 release conditions were too strict - so much so, Wilson was better off in jail.

Now there's a novel idea.