Court dismisses appeal by 'Beast of Blenheim' Stewart Murray Wilson

Stewart Murray Wilson.
Stewart Murray Wilson. Photo credit: File

An appeal by Stewart Murray Wilson has been denied.

The convicted sex offender, dubbed the 'Beast of Blenheim', was appealing his 2018 conviction and sentence for historic sex charges.

Wilson was first imprisoned in 1996 for 21 years.

He was released on parole in 2012 under strict conditions, but then recalled to jail in 2013 after breaching parole.

In October 2018 he faced more convictions after being being found guilty of 11 historical sex charges including rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, threatening to kill and indecency with a girl under the age of 12. He was sentenced to two years and four months' jail time.

In August this year he was paroled once again to live in a residency immediately outside Whanganui Prison where he is monitored by probation officers and GPS.

In his appeal, Wilson's lawyer argued there were fundamental errors in how one of the complainants identified Wilson, that the judge erred in allowing an additional charge of attempted rape to be laid mid-trial and that the sentence was "manifestly excessive".

In the decision released by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Wilson had both his appeal for conviction and sentence dismissed.

Wilson continues to deny the charges.