One of Dilworth School’s worst offenders, who’s been sentenced on three separate occasions for sex crimes against 11 students, has had his sixth attempt at parole denied.
Ian Wilson, 73, was a senior master at the Auckland boarding school for underprivileged boys. His role, equivalent to that of an assistant principal.
He was on staff at Dilworth for 25 years, from 1971 to 1996.
His first conviction for sexual offending was in 1997, which resulted in a fine.
Further offending that came to light as part of a Police investigation into historical abuse at the school led to him being sentenced to a total of five years and six months in prison. He still has more than a year in prison remaining.
Appearing in front of Parole Board today, Wilson was grilled about the possibility of additional victims who have not yet come forward. Wilson said “not to my knowledge”, adding he would be “very surprised” if more people came forward.
Panel convenor Judge Arthur Tompkins said, “that’s not really an answer”.
Tompkins suggested that Wilson only seemed to acknowledge his offending when confronted with credible accounts from victims.
Wilson explained that he has a history of repressing his offending in his mind.
“It was only on hearing the accounts that I thought well, yes, there is truth to that and I’ve owned up to that,” he told the panel.
Another board panel member pressed Wilson on the “reasonable possibility” he also repressed memories of further offending.
The 73-year-old said there was “always a possibility”, but he could not recall any further offending.
One of his victims, Neil Harding, who spoke to the Parole Board today said: “Two survivors I know of have still yet to come forward.”
He added: “If he was truly remorseful, he would tell the truth.”
‘Ian Wilson was a central player’
Harding was 12 years old in 1977 when he was sexually abused by Wilson.
After lifting his name suppression in 2021 to speak openly about his experience at Dilworth, Harding has been a key voice in the fight for justice for other survivors.
1News first spoke to him after he addressed his abuser in court.
Following today’s decision, he said: “I believe he should be serving every day of his sentence.”
Harding provided a copy of his latest submission to the Parole Board, in which he outlined it was the sixth time he’s addressed it, regarding Wilson.
“I have argued he had already received enough discounts on sentencing and should serve his full term,” Harding told the panel.
The court had awarded Wilson discounts for his guilty pleas and ill health, at sentencing.
His health issues remained, with his lawyer today stating, “he is not a healthy man”.
Harding said: “I assisted in exposing the Dilworth School coverup of a paedophile ring, in which Ian Wilson was a central player.
“Along with being a prolific paedophile himself — as part of senior management at the school — he played a significant role in covering up abuse by other parties as well as his own offending.”
Wilson previously told the Parole Board he was not aware of any other offending by any other masters against any other boys.
Today, he reiterated that he never organised any abuse involving other teachers.
However, the Dilworth Independent Inquiry in September 2023 suggested otherwise.
Dame Silvia Cartwright and Frances Joychild, highlighted multiple examples suggesting Wilson was well aware boys were being abused, and that he sent students to the homes of abusers, including Richard Galloway.
Wilson was a regular visitor to Galloway’s property too, along with other men who abused students, such as Wilson’s brother.
He also attended and organised trips away for students with other offenders, some as part of the school scouts programme and others private.
Wilson himself told the inquiry about his awareness, during his time at Dilworth, that multiple staff members were attracted to boys. The inquirers pointed out his close relationship with those men.
The report stated: “Mr Wilson said it was Mr McIntosh who introduced him to the idea that it was acceptable to have sex with boys.”
Harding re-emphasised these points to the Parole Board today, saying: “He most definitely knew other paedophiles were active at Dilworth.
“In the Dilworth Independent Inquiry, it reports that Rex McIntosh said to Wilson ‘have you got a boy yet?…I will take care of it’. I was subsequently trafficked to Wilson.”
‘He is still a threat’
Harding claimed Wilson lied in the past and was still lying.
“As a survivor, it is difficult to hear a recidivist paedophile continue to lie to the police, to the Court, to the Parole Board.
“He has not only irreparably damaged the lives of at least 10 of his own victims, destroying their innocence, he has contributed to the sexual abuse of hundreds of other boys in his 25 years at Dilworth School.
“I know he is still a threat to society, to his family,” Harding said.
He expressed the toll it took on him to continuously fight to keep Wilson in prison, as each time the Parole Board considered his abuser’s case, he was forced to revisit his own trauma.
Harding has described having “incredible relief, that he’s not being let out”.
He felt releasing Wilson would be like “playing Russian roulette with our children”.
“From a survivor community, you know, a lot of our healing comes from the fact that knowing that what happened to us doesn’t happen to other children and letting him out early to me is completely unwarranted and really is quite distressing to think that little boys in his neighbourhood are going to be put at such risk.”
The Parole Board panel found Wilson remained an “undue risk”.
He would reappear before the board in July next year, two months before his sentence is up.
— additional reporting by Ed O’Driscoll
