Dead Dilworth School sex abuse accused identified as Keith William Dixon of Palmerston North

Keith William Dixon was charged as part of Operation Beverly, the police investigation into sexual abuse linked to Auckland's Dilworth School. Photo / Dean Purcell

One of the Dilworth School tutors accused of sexual abuse who recently died can now be publicly identified.

And it can also be revealed that Keith William Dixon was previously jailed in 2014 for historic sex offences.

Dixon, 70, recently lived in Palmerston North.

But his links to Dilworth School in Auckland attracted the attention of investigators with Operation Beverly, the police inquiry into sex abuse at the school.

The investigation has led more than 80 complainants to come forward and resulted in dozens of charges.

Dixon first appeared on March 1 in Auckland District Court, alongside Graeme Charles Lindsay of Levin.

At that point, Dixon was charged with offences allegedly committed in 1973 and 1974.

He was charged with indecently assaulting two boys, both of whom were aged under 16 years old at the time.

Dixon was also accused of inducing a boy aged 10 to do an indecent act with him.

At a hearing last week, the Herald opposed ongoing name suppression for Dixon, which was previously granted to protect his fair trial rights.

The Herald said Dixon was dead, and so could not be defamed, and failing to name him could make innocent Dilworth tutors targets of suspicion.

The Herald also voiced concerns that a seemingly obscure procedural matter was being used to advance name suppression for Dixon.

Crown prosecutor Jacob Barry said in addition to these concerns, Dixon no longer needed name suppression for his fair trial rights, as no trial will proceed.

"I accept we are in quite an unusual scenario," Justice Sally Fitzgerald said.

She said the matter should not drag on, but extended Dixon's name suppression for one week.

Barry last week said he was waiting on the Solicitor-General to formally withdraw the charges against the dead man.

Dixon in 2014 was jailed on two charges of inducing a boy aged under 16 to do an indecent act on him.

The offences happened in 1973 at an Auckland school and Dixon targeted a boy aged 9.

The former tutor died two weeks ago.

Dixon was the second accused to have died this month and the third to die in the last six months.

Rex Clarence McIntosh, 79, was facing seven charges of indecent assault in relation to five boys between 1972 and 1980.

He denied all charges.

It's understood McIntosh died in hospital on May 12 after contracting pneumonia and kidney disease.

Richard Charles Galloway, another one of nine men charged as part of Operation Beverley, died in November aged 69 after earlier being diagnosed with cancer.