Dangerous offender from Nova Scotia once again denied release from prison

The Parole Board of Canada has once again denied a release request from a Nova Scotia man, saying he is still too dangerous to be trusted outside of prison.

Andrew Paul Johnson, 65, started serving his indefinite sentence in 2006, subject to periodic reviews. He's being held in a federal prison in British Columbia.

The last review was a board hearing earlier this month.

Johnson was convicted of kidnapping and unlawful confinement, among other offences. He also has a history of violent sexual offences.

The parole board notes he's also considered a person of interest in unsolved cases in Nova Scotia. The highest profile one of those is the disappearance of Kimberly McAndrew in August 1989.

The daughter of an RCMP officer, McAndrew was last seen leaving a Canadian Tire store on Quinpool Road in Halifax where she worked. She has not been seen or heard from since.

The parole board noted that Johnson posed as a police officer and made multiple attempts to lure young girls into his car in 1997.

The most recent assessments done on Johnson, including one looking at his threat to any intimate partners, show he is a high to very high risk to reoffend.

Johnson has proposed he be released on day parole to a halfway house in the lower mainland of British Columbia. But the board noted that even if it had approved his release plan, none of the facilities in that part of B.C. were prepared to take him.