Greg Smith med rel: Newcastle Crown Prosecutor appointed as a judge

Attorney General Greg Smith SC today announced the appointment of Helen Wilson SC as a judge of the District Court of NSW.

Ms Wilson has been practising criminal law for 24 years, the last 15 of which she has been a barrister and a Crown Prosecutor.

She has appeared before the criminal courts on an almost daily basis, from the Local Court to the High Court, conducting a broad range of cases.

Over the past decade she has practised in the Illawarra and Hunter regions, with chambers in Newcastle since 2005.

Ms Wilson has appeared as Counsel for the Crown in hundreds of jury trials, including the prosecution of disgraced Labor MP Milton Orkopoulos, who was jailed in 2008 for child sexual assault and drugs charges.

In 2010, she prosecuted former Catholic priest and school teacher John Denham for the sexual abuse of multiple boys.

Since being appointed as a Senior Counsel in 2013 she has worked primarily on matters before the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Ms Wilson holds Bachelors of Laws and Arts from the University of Sydney. She began her career as a solicitor at Legal Aid in 1990 before joining the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) where she has remained until today.

In addition to her work in NSW courts, Ms Wilson has delivered papers on human rights to judges in China and worked on secondment as Adviser to the Public Prosecutor in Vanuatu. She introduced a prosecution policy to provide guidelines to legal staff in Vanuatu.

Ms Wilson will be sworn in as a District Court judge on 28 April 2014.

“I congratulate Ms Wilson on her appointment and wish her success in the next stage of her stellar career,” Mr Smith said.