Milton Orkopoulos, ex-minister, paedophile, to get prison day release
Disgraced former NSW Labor minister and convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos will be given day release from prison.
Orkopoulos has spent 10 years behind bars for sex offences against teenage boys and supplying them with drugs.
Milton Orkopoulos walking into the Newcastle Court House in March 2008. Credit:AAP
A Corrective Services spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday that the former Aboriginal affairs minister has had his conditions changed.
"Corrective Services NSW has accepted a recommendation of the Serious Offenders Review Council to change a 61-year-old inmate’s classification to allow him to apply for day leave," the spokeswoman said.
"Registered victims were invited to make submissions on this recommendation, and to request any terms and conditions they may want placed on the offender."
Orkopoulos was convicted of 30 child sex and drug offences in 2008.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 13 years and 8 months, which is due to expire in October 2021. His non-parole period expired on February 18 last year.
He applied for parole last year but was refused and was again refused in January this year.
Orkopoulos was a minister in former premier Morris Iemma's cabinet.
His crimes were committed between 1995 and 2006 and involved the grooming of three young boys with drugs and alcohol in exchange for sex.
When he was sentenced, Judge Ralph Coolahan said Orkopoulos used his position of authority and power to win the trust of his victims and introduced one to heroin, an act that he described as "a very serious offence".
"His conduct was premeditated, predatory and manipulative with far-reaching impacts," Judge Coolahan said at the time.
After the sentencing, Mr Iemma said: "This man is now in jail where he belongs. His repugnant double life has been exposed and he has been prosecuted for his vile acts."
Orkopoulos, a former Swansea MP, is at Long Bail Jail and was understood to have refused to complete a sex offenders course last year.
Corrective Services said an application for day leave must also be approved by the correctional centre governor.
Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor and a former Education Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald
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