A packed public meeting in Whanganui has called on the district council to investigate all possible ways to ensure sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson is not paroled into the district.
The War Memorial Hall meeting, which adopted a resolution rejecting the parole of the 65-year-old known as the Beast of Blenheim, was attended by five councillors, including organisers Michael Laws and Ray Stevens.
It also called for the council to take all action - legal, political and administrative - to stop him being released as planned to a house on Whanganui Prison grounds within weeks.
Mr Laws said via Twitter after the meeting that a majority of the councillors had called for an immediate full council meeting to talk about the next steps.
"We are not a dumping ground for the Beast. This must be resisted," he said earlier.
Corrections Department staff and police will front another public meeting in the city on Wednesday.
Mayor Annette Main, who did not attend the meeting on Sunday, said it would enable members of the public to have their concerns and questions answered.
"It will give the public the chance to find out for themselves that this man will not be living a free and easy lifestyle and will not, due to the range of conditions attached to his release, ever be able to be a part of our Whanganui community."
Wilson was jailed in 1996 for sex crimes against women, children and animals over 25 years in Blenheim and cannot legally be held any longer, despite experts' fears he will reoffend.
NZN
