A notorious serial rapist who terrorized women in a Toronto neighbourhood in the 1980s has been living in Montreal for the past few months and is considered a danger to the community.

Fifty-five year-old Michael Giroux was nicknamed the High Park Rapist for methodically stalking women in that area, breaking into homes and sexually attacking them.

Giroux was convicted of five sexual assaults and many other crimes in 1996, then sentenced to serve 20 years in prison.

“He's a predator to society and with him behind bars, at least now, society's safe,” said Rose Richardson, the original investigator in the case, back in 1996.

He served every one of those days, repeatedly being turned down for early release because the parole board considered him at risk "to commit an offence causing death or serious harm to another person."

Upon his release last year, Giroux moved to Montreal where he has been living in a four-storey apartment building in the McGill Ghetto.

CTV News has learned, however, that he will be moving out of that apartment on Friday. His new address is not known.

Giroux didn't answer when CTV paid him a visit on Thursday. His neighbours were terrified at the idea a serial rapist was living among them.

While authorities in Canada are not obligated to inform people if a sex offender moves into their neighbourhood, Giroux is subject to a peace bond with a host of restrictions he must follow.

Both the parole board and Corrections Canada feel the man remains a danger to the community.

Shortly before his release, Correctional Services Canada stated: "The CSC does not believe that there are any sufficient safeguards in the community to manage the risk you present to the public."

Now that he is released, Giroux must be at home between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. unless he is working. He needs to inform the court of his address, and needs permission to leave Quebec.

Giroux is also only allowed to use the internet for work, and is forbidden from owning or using pornography, alcohol, drugs, from being in bars or consorting with sex workers.

Other conditions include a ban on possessing firearms or other weapons, or coming within 500 metres of his victims.

He is only placed under those conditions for two years. 
Giroux voluntarily agreed to these conditions, his lawyer Michael Morena said.

“Obviously he has all those conditions to follow, nobody's happy to be under conditions, but this whole thing is something he wanted to put behind him and move on with his life and get on with society as quickly as possible,” he said.