A convicted paedophile and child abductor has been granted supervised release from prison to live in outer suburban Adelaide, despite posing a "high risk" of reoffending.
Paul William Thomas, 50, was jailed in 1995 for indecently assaulting a 16-year-old boy who had a mild intellectual disability.
Nearly a decade later he was convicted of three counts of child abduction and six counts of causing a child to expose their body.
He abducted three boys under the age of 10 from a park in Adelaide's north and took them to Maslin Beach, a nudist beach, where they removed their clothes and then stayed with him overnight.
In 2008, after his release, he was caught with child pornography and was given a suspended sentence.
In 2015, he was found to have breached a court order because he lived within 500 metres of a public park and loitered near a children's playground.
The following year he was sent back to jail after pleading guilty to one count of possessing child exploitation material and failing to comply with his reporting obligations.
Thomas was eligible for release on parole from April last year, but the State Government took action to keep him detained because he had not yet completed a rehabilitation program.
The Full Court then overturned the Supreme Court decision's to continue his detention, despite hearing from two psychiatrists who found Thomas posed a "high risk" of reoffending.
Thomas granted supervised release today
The exact suburb was suppressed by the court to avoid vigilante behaviour and can only be reported as an "outer suburban industrial area".
Thomas, who will be electronically monitored upon his release, agreed to abide by a long list of strict conditions including only leaving his residence in the event of an emergency or for paid work.
Justice Chris Kourakis ordered Thomas to stay away from children and child exploitation material.
"You must not in any way attempt to contact direct or indirectly including by using the internet any person under the age of 18, whether or not that person is in company of another adult," he said.
"If prosecuted for an offence like that you will find yourself subject to possibly an application that you be indefinitely detained again.
"This is a very drastic consequence, but by making it a condition of this supervision order it means that you can be breached and brought back on warrant even before any conviction, and even if no charges [are] made, that's why that's in here."
