By Adam Ray
Taraiana Turia has discovered she has a new neighbour, the "Beast of Blenheim".
Ms Turia lives on the same road as the prison grounds where a house is being placed for Stewart Murray Wilson to live in from next month.
The Maori Party co-leader says Whanganui residents should have had more warning.
A state house, a home for serial sex offender Wilson, will be shifted onto prison land in the next two weeks. Ms Turia's home is on the same road, and she's one of many residents who were given little notice of Wilson's release.
"First and foremost it would have been good for the community to have been consulted properly," she says.
Corrections says it had to wait for the Parole Board's decision on Wilson's release conditions, and then told as many people as soon as it could.
But that's done little to reassure residents. Many of them take their families to a lake for sailing and camping on the same road as Wilson's new home.
"I have concerns over children," says Cathy Campbell. "I have grandchildren, my friends have children."
Whanganui National MP Chester Borrows says Wilson's new location will at least keep him away from his victims in other parts of the country, and he'll be closely watched.
"I don't think Corrections took the decision for the hell of it," he says. "They probably had good reasons for it."
Ms Turia says Corrections needs to reassure the community, and may also need to protect Wilson.
"There should be huge concerns about his safety given the feelings in the community."
Those community feelings should be seen at a public meeting tomorrow, and on Thursday the District Council will decide its response to Wilson's release.
3 News