Convicted pedophile and child killer Michael Anthony Guider will remain in a NSW prison until at least August 20 awaiting a decision on any extension to his 17-year sentence.
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The 68-year-old pleaded guilty in 2002 to the manslaughter of nine-year-old Bondi schoolgirl Samantha Knight.
His maximum jail term expired on June 6 but a 28-day renewable interim detention order was imposed to halt his release.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman is seeking a one-year detention order and a subsequent five-year extended supervision order.
Reports from a psychiatrist and a psychologist, ordered at Guider's last court date, are expected by August 5.
Justice Richard Button said, when ordering the reports, community safety was the paramount consideration at the preliminary stage of considering the release of the former gardener and part-time babysitter.
He said he was by no means sure Guider's "chronic, intense, longstanding sexual attraction to children ... has dissipated entirely".
In the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Desmond Fagan listed the matter for a final hearing on August 20 when he'll decide on Mr Speakman's request.
Justice Fagan noted Guider's interim detention will be renewed by parties by consent and the 68-year-old will therefore remain behind bars until that date.
Samantha Knight was last seen speaking to a male in Bondi in August 1986. Her body has never been found.
Her mother, Tess Knight, earlier this month said Guider has never been forthcoming about what he did to her.
When Guider was sentenced over the young girl's death, he was already serving time for numerous sex offences against more than a dozen other children between 1980 and 1996.
Guider had a well-established method of drugging children with sedatives to enable his sex abuse.
Australian Associated Press