A MOTHER was horrified to find a convicted paedophile was able to volunteer to help diners at a Beechworth community Christmas lunch last week.
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Miranda Rae said Jeremy Kewley served meals and drinks and removed plates at the event organised by the Beechworth Health Service.
"He had his Santa hat on and he had some glasses on," Mrs Rae said.
"He had a name tag on that said 'Jez'."
Mrs Rae said at the end of working Mr Kewley had sat at her family's table that included her son, 7, and daughter, 4, and was asked by another diner what he did.
She said her suspicions were confirmed by a friend who recognised him.
Kewley, an actor, was jailed for 23 months after pleading guilty to sexual assaults against boys aged between nine and 14 that occurred between 1989 and 2011.
Mrs Rae said if there had been police checks and working with children monitoring "obviously he wouldn't be" at the lunch.
After no reply to a private Facebook message to organisers following the meal, Mrs Rae raised her concerns on a Beechworth community page.
The health service's community engagement officer Anna Mackinlay replied that she was one of the organisers and "the volunteers at the lunch are not checked as often people just turn up to volunteer and we can't track it".
"I'm sure this may change from now on," she added.
Ms Mackinlay wrote in response to another post on the page that "we will need to change the way it runs from now on" but noted "no volunteers are in direct care of children at the event".
The health service's acting chief executive Lisa Allen would not speak about the issue when contacted by The Border Mail on Friday.
"I've not been directly involved in that so I can't comment," Ms Allen said.
Asked about Ms Mackinlay's comments that a review would occur, Ms Allen described the statements as private even though they were made on a community Facebook page that has more than 900 members.