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Freedoms increased for Calgary’s ‘Hemlock Crescent Rapist’

FILE: Emile Cromwell. Global News

The man known as the Hemlock Crescent Rapist will be allowed to continue to leave prison unescorted, Global News learned Tuesday.

Emile Cromwell put an entire city on high alert in the 1980s and early ‘90s when he broke into Calgary homes and raped four women after covering their heads with pillowcases.

Now 72 years old, Cromwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm, and break and enter with intent.

In January 2015, the Parole Board of Canada granted Cromwell 72 hours a month in unescorted passes to visit his wife at her home. Those passes have been renewed.

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READ MORE: Calgary ‘Hemlock Crescent Rapist’ granted unescorted passes in community

In a written decision obtained by Global News, the board said renewing the passes will allow Cromwell to expand his exposure to the community to “re-establish yourself in the family unit and gain credibility for more community access.”

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The new passes allow more access in the community, including trips to grocery stores or banks. Cromwell will be required to notify his parole supervisor prior to leaving his home and receive specific approval for his destination.

The board has deemed he is at a moderate-to-low risk to re-offend. The board also noted that Cromwell’s sex drive is diminished from earlier in his adult life.

Cromwell has a further list of conditions he has to follow when released on a pass. They include no contact with his victims or with children and he cannot possess pornography.

It took police nearly 12 years to break the case, using advances in DNA technology that finally led to his arrest in 2004.

Cromwell is eligible for statutory release in April 2019.

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