A former Willow River man who was at the centre of a notorious child pornography case will remain behind bars.
In a Nov. 15 decision, a Parole Board of Canada panel denied James Darren Bennett, 59, both full and day parole.
In February 2000, he was sentenced to an indeterminate term in prison after he was declared a dangerous offender. In spring 1999, he pleaded guilty to key charges in the case from the late 1990s.
Bennett's co-accused, wife Crystal Diane Henricks, was convicted on eight counts and sentenced to 13 years in prison. The term was later reduced to seven years on appeal.
According to a psychological assessment completed this year, Bennett's risk for sexual reoffending is high, representing a backslide from the moderate-to-high assessment he had been given two years ago.
He is also no longer complying with his parole officer's request to self-monitor by journaling or logging risk-relevant thoughts and behaviours. As a result, he is being denied permission to participate in a daily-return work release program.
"You continue to blame others, remain reluctant to review and discuss your offences and have presented with limited motivation to address your primary risk factors," the panel commented.
Bennett has no viable plans for release, the panel also found.
Charges to which Bennett pleaded guilty include five counts of sexual assault, three counts of overcoming resistance to the commission of an offence by administering a stupefying or overpowering drug and three counts of printing or publishing child pornography.
Bennett's criminal record prior to 2000 includes more than 50 convictions for property, fraud, driving, breach of trust and violent offences.
The couple's victims were a three-year-old boy, a pair of 10-year-old girls and a 15-year-old girl and the offenses were committed primarily in their Willow River home.
