Is Canada's worst pedophile really a killer?

Canada's worst pedophile, a predator who may have raped and molested thousands of young boys in a three-decade reign of sexual terror, has been denied parole for the sixth time in the past nine years. The National Parole Board said (document after the jump) that although Gary Blair Walker (inset) is now 65 years old, his "risk for sexual re-offence against children continues to be high." The board also offered, for the first time, a chilling commentary about the effect of Walker's crimes.

Walker is a rare beast in Canadian criminal history – one of the few people branded a dangerous offender (fewer than 500 criminals have been declared dangerous offenders in the past 30 years). It means Walker can be held in prison indefinitely, until it's determined he is no longer a threat. That determination is unlikely to come, ever. It is a statistical probability that Walker will die in prison. He admitted to sexually abusing roughly 200 young boys. Psychiatrists testified at his trial that it is likely there were at least 2,000 victims.

This is not a typo of zeroes. Two thousand victims.

Walker's favourite prey were 12- and 13-year-old boys. Consider that every victim is typically, repeatedly abused. Walker may have committed tens of thousands of sex crimes. In a society where murder is considered our most heinous crime, Walker never attracted the public revulsion usually reserved for serial killers. Perhaps it is owed him, given the understated, but wrenching and heartbreaking statement that appears in the June 4 written record of the National Parole Board decision to keep Walker locked up.

It is noted that at least three of your victims committed suicide.

At least three of his victims committed suicide. There could be more. How many more young men spiralled into drug abuse, despair, perhaps poverty and crime, after their childhoods were mangled, their concepts of trust and honesty shattered. Three deaths, by other means, would qualify Walker as a serial killer.

There is no denying that he cut a swath of destruction across Ontario, as he cloaked himself in the guise of protector, helper, mentor. He worked as a police officer, scout leader, hockey coach, judo instructor, school bus driver and school board courier. Each role was a ruse - a malevolent deception that concealed a monster who hunted children.

All of these occupations and interests served to portray you as a concerned citizen and helper which allowed you to fool parents and gain repeated access to their young male children.

The parole board notes that Walker's deviance is "deeply engrained." He seems content to sit in prison, where he has been for 15 years now, knowing that that tender young flesh that he still craves is beyond his reach. He has never sought parole in the past nine years. Each review of his case was automatic. Walker was first arrested in 1992, then freed on bail while awaiting trial. While free, he abused more victims. In 1994, he was declared a dangerous offender, after he had been convicted of roughly 100 sex crimes involving about 50 young boys. Walker grew up in Algonquin, a small community in eastern Ontario about 75 kilometres south of Ottawa. His sex crimes spawned a raft of civil lawsuits, outlined in this detailed story published 10 years ago in the Ottawa Sun.

Walker's parole decisions
The first decision below was issued June 4, 2009, and contains the first-ever reference to the suicides of some of Walker's victims.



Below is one document containing five separate parole board decisions, issued in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Walker was denied freedom in each case. When you see "Page 2" in the upper right corner, you are beginning a new decision.



Note: To download any document on Cancrime to your computer, click the "More" button in the bar at the top of the e-doc viewer.

Related:
» Canada's harshest sentence hits a record high
» 'Runaway train' stopped by the court
» How child molesters are made

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Canada's harshest sentence hits record high

A conviction for first-degree murder, which carries an automatic penalty of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, is not Canada's harshest prison sentence. In an atmosphere in which law-and-order advocates screech that we've grown soft on crime and criminals, you might be surprised to discover that last year judges handed out more of the country's toughest sentence than at any time in the past three decades.

The dangerous offender designation is Canada's harshest punishment. It is the country's lock-him-up-and-throw-away-the-key tactic and as close as Canadian justice comes to imposing a death penalty. Most criminals declared dangerous offenders die in prison. Last year, 31 dangerous offender designations were meted out by courts, the largest number since the law was created in 1977 (28 in 2007). It brings to 455 the number of DOs declared since '77. Many are sex offenders and a large number are child molesters with multiple victims – like Christopher Robin Karasek (inset), who admitted to molesting 50 boys in New Brunswick.

Some DOs have died and a few have been deported or released from prison under supervision. As of April 2008, there were 394 active DOs, with 374 of those behind bars. They make up just 2.8% of the federal prison population. There are no female DOs. All DOs since 1997 have faced an indeterminate sentence, meaning there is no fixed parole date (though determinate sentences were imposed before 1997). A DO is entitled to a seek day parole four years after being imprisoned and can seek full parole after seven years. Few DOs get early parole and few are ever paroled. When they are, they are under supervision for life.

A 1996 study found that 40% of DOs were psychopaths.

Related posts:
How child molesters are made
Runaway train stopped by the court

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A pedophile's pedigree

Here's a rare glimpse into a confidential criminal record of a frightening pedophile, Walter Jacobson (pictured). He has been relentless throughout his criminal career in hunting victims and he is persistent; preying on young girls for decades, unlike many predators whose beastly appetite wanes with age. Jacobson shows no signs of stopping. His adult criminal record begins in 1964. The document below, exclusive at Cancrime, inventories his first three decades of criminal exploits. Criminal records are considered highly confidential and are maintained by the RCMP. The record shows place and date of convictions and cases in which charges against him were dropped. I've been tracking Jacobson for more than a decade. Here's the last story I wrote about him at the Kingston Whig-Standard. Check back for more on Jacobson in future.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law police prison

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