The Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) harboured a now-notorious paedophile in its ranks for 29 years between 1979 and 2007, the organisation has confirmed.

Roy Wenlock, for whom the WACA created the full-time role of 'development officer' in 1979, was one of three sex offenders investigated in WA Supreme Court Justice Peter Blaxell's 452-page parliamentary inquiry into historical child sexual abuse at Anglican hostels, published in 2012.

WACA chief executive Christina Matthews confirmed to ABC Sport that the organisation became aware of Wenlock's offending during the 2012-13 summer and has since taken a range of measures to address the issue, which is the subject of ongoing civil litigation against the WACA.

In Justice Blaxell's report, Wenlock, who died in 2007, was revealed to have been a prolific abuser who gained sexual gratification from "wrestling" sessions — simulated sex in which Wenlock would ejaculate — with boys placed in his care between 1963 and 1977. In some cases, Wenlock's offending escalated to masturbation and oral sex with the boys.

Blaxell's report was also unequivocal in its conclusion that Wenlock's grooming and abuse of boys continued at the WACA.

One of those boys, now a man in his mid-40s, confirmed to ABC Sport that while performing WACA "drinks boy" duties under Wenlock's direction in the late 1980s, he was taken back to Wenlock's house with other boys and witnessed abuse.

Between 1979 and 2007, Wenlock fulfilled a range of roles at the WACA, most of which gave him unsupervised access to children.

For decades, he was the organisation's full-time development officer, conducting junior coaching clinics around the state, and also served as WACA ground announcer, museum curator, and as a WACA pennant umpire. He also umpired in junior competitions and was secretary of the Western Australian Youth Cricket Council.

In 2000, Wenlock received the Australian Sports Medal for services to cricket.

'Whatever you do, don't go to his house'

In 2012, Justice Blaxell concluded there was "ample evidence to show that Wenlock would engage in grooming behaviour" with boys he encountered across his four decades at the WACA.

"In this position he was required to engage in various cricketing activities with young teenagers, and he would sometimes invite individual boys back to his home," Blaxell wrote.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-19/waca-harboured-paedophile-coach-roy-wenlock-in-cricket-role/101160766