By NICOLA BOYES
A convicted paedophile at the centre of an inmate fundraiser for the Child Cancer Foundation also organised prisoners to take part in a World Vision 40 Hour Famine.
Roy David Bailey, 31, an inmate at Paremoremo prison near Auckland, has been involved in a fundraiser for the Child Cancer Foundation after writing a letter to it offering to raise money and seeking the help of Government ministers to obtain donations.
Bailey has been jailed at least five times for sexual abuse against boys, most recently in 1998, when he was sentenced to preventive detention.
His identity was revealed when Act MP Deborah Coddington recognised his name from a sex offenders index she compiled.
The revelation caused a furore yesterday, but Bailey has also raised money for World Vision, presenting a cheque for $1000 after organising 30 inmates from his wing to take part in the 40 Hour Famine.
Inmate "Roy", confirmed as Bailey, is quoted in the July Corrections News as saying he organised the 40 Hour Famine fundraising to encourage inmates to appreciate the food they received.
"This whole event has left us all with an understanding of just how hard it is for those that go for weeks and sometimes months on only a handful of rice," Bailey said.
Inmates had not participated for personal gain but had benefited from a huge sense of self-respect and achievement after the event, he said, joking that even legal firms had contributed to the fundraising.
Inmates in Wing 3 raised $1000 from the event, which World Vision representatives Geoff Smith and Elizabeth Tagaloa said in the article was enough to provide more than 100 families with clean water for a year or release six children from slave labour in countries such as India.
The Corrections Department said yesterday that the fundraiser for child cancer was driven by inmates with the support of the department. Off-duty prison officers had offered to supervise a 10-hour non-stop relay of inmates, but a department spokeswoman said the event was being reviewed.
Child Cancer Foundation chief executive Jim Barclay said the organisation had been put in a difficult position, because when it received Bailey's letter in May it believed he was a prison officer.
Mr Barclay was waiting for the Corrections Department to make a decision on whether the fundraiser would go ahead and seeking advice on whether the foundation would accept the funds if it did.
"The Child Cancer Foundation is about supporting all children with cancer and their families. Sadly that also involves the children of prisoners."
The organisation felt "unwittingly" trapped with bad press.
During question time in Parliament yesterday, Corrections Minister Paul Swain said he did not believe it was appropriate that a convicted paedophile was organising a fund-raising event for child cancer.
He said the department supported inmates' involvement in fundraising, but there were no rules on how the events were approved and organised.
The incident had shown a gap in the department's policy.
"I certainly agree that if a charity wanted information it should be advised about the nature of the offences of the group of offenders involved," he said.
Parole Board spokesman Steve Rendel said Bailey was due for parole in 2007.
He said Corrections provided information on the activities and programmes inmates had undertaken while in prison, which went into an overall assessment of an inmate's eligibility for parole.
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