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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Disgraced ex-NSW MP Milton Orkopolous in hospital after prison bashing

Milton Orkopoulos used his position as a councillor and government minister to gain the trust of young boys before sexually abusing them, jurors have been told.

Months after being convicted of sexually abusing teenage boys, disgraced former NSW minister Milton Orkopoulos has been hospitalised after being bashed in prison.

The former state Labor MP was found by staff with head injuries after an alleged assault at about 12.15pm on Tuesday, Corrective Services NSW said in a statement.

"A 65-year-old inmate has received treatment in hospital following an assault at the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre at Long Bay," a spokesman told AAP.

Correctional officers provided medical care to Orkopoulos after he was found and police were also notified.

"Corrective Services NSW takes great care to determine appropriate security classifications and placements for inmates to maintain the safety and security of our prisons," the spokesman said. A jury recently found Orkopoulos sexually abused teenage boys while he was an MP.

In April he was convicted of 26 charges of sexual offending against four underage boys and supplying them with drugs over a decade, ending in 2003. Orkopoulos was found not guilty on one count of supplying prohibited drugs and one count of doing an act to pervert the course of justice.

The former Swansea MP and Aboriginal Affairs Minister was dismissed by then-premier Morris Iemma in 2006, after first being charged with offences including child prostitution, sexual assault, and using taxpayer money to pay a teenage boy to have sex.

He is due to be sentenced over the recent guilty verdicts at a later date.

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