A notorious Queensland paedophile described as being a ticking "time bomb" for reoffending has made his latest legal bid for freedom.
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Douglas Brian Jackway, once the prime suspect in the Daniel Morcombe murder case, is serving an indefinite sentence for the rape of a young girl and sexual assault of a boy in the 1990s.
The 41-year-old has made repeated attempts to be released but has so far been refused because he is considered a risk to the community.
Jackway made his annual application to be freed in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.
His legal team argued he should be released into a community with other prisoners just outside the jail walls, where he would be monitored and fitted with a tracking device.
Several doctors gave evidence Jackway had made significant progress in the past year.
But all three agreed his antisocial personality disorder, ability to control his impulses and history of substance abuse continued to pose a risk.
Psychiatrist Dr Andrew Aboud said they could be mitigated to a degree through supervision.
"I think it needs to be pointed out that whatever measures are put in place, if any individual is living outside of a prison and they choose to reoffend, they can in fact reoffend," he said.
"It would be a case of catching up with him post-offence."
Dr Aboud said he did not think Jackway, who was himself abused as a child, would go looking for a victim but was more likely to reoffend if he became stressed and then resorted to drinking or taking drugs.
"Once he's intoxicated he's effectively in a very high-risk situation, in my view, like a time bomb that just takes a potential victim to cross him in order for him to go off."
The court heard Jackway was told at his 2017 review he needed to display good behaviour for a period of 12 months to even be considered for supervision.
Peter Dunning QC, representing the Queensland attorney-general, said although there had been a reduction in jailhouse incidents he still had a "way to go".
Defence barrister John Allen QC said the only incident of note was in July 2017 when he made threats to prison officers.
"There was no actual physical violence," he said.
"It's hard to put it above anything more than insubordinate verbal abuse."
Psychiatrist Dr Donald Grant said although Jackway appeared to be "getting a handle" on controlling his impulses, in his opinion he still needed to go 12 months incident-free before he was considered for supervised release.
"It's going to be very, very difficult for Mr Jackway to go into the community," he said.
"He's been in custody in one form or another for almost all of his life since he was 15."
Justice Graeme Crow will hand down his decision at a later date.
Australian Associated Press