AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin
A convicted child sex offender and former priest who changed his name while in prison has failed in a bid to be preserve his “blameless” new identity.
Garth Hawkins, now 70, spent almost six years in jail for offences against seven boys while he worked as an Anglican priest at different townships across Tasmania in the 1970s and 1980s.
A royal commission hearing in Hobart on Thursday was told that during his time in prison – in 2009 – Hawkins changed his name by deed poll to Robin Goodfellow.
In English folklore, Robin Goodfellow is a character known for his pranks and mischievousness.
“He has managed to make a fresh and blameless start in life,” lawyer Roger Baker told the hearing as he asked for a non-publication order on Goodfellow’s name.
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