A former police officer jailed for refusing to testify before a public inquiry into child-sex abuse in eastern Ontario was slated for his first taste of freedom in seven months Saturday.

Perry Dunlop was due for release from his Ottawa cell after having served full sentences for civil and criminal contempt convictions.

"The entire community is just waiting for him to come home and me and my girlfriends are making signs," his daughter Marlee Dunlop, 18, told CJUL radio in Cornwall, Ont.

"It's going to be a riot when he gets back."

Dunlop was instrumental in sparking the judicial inquiry looking at how long-standing allegations of a sexual abuse in the Cornwall, Ont., area were handled.

Despite his key role, he refused to testify at the inquiry, thumbing his nose at repeated requests and court orders to do so, saying he had lost faith in the justice system.

He was arrested at his home in Duncan, B.C., in February amid a blaze of orchestrated publicity.

Supporters claim he is the victim of a system determined to cover up an organized ring of child sexual abuse and view him as a hero.

"It's way, way overdue," Dunlop's brother-in-law Carson Chisholm, who lives in the eastern Ontario community of St. Andrews West.

"Never should have been put in, obviously."

In September, Dunlop was sentenced to 30 days in jail for criminal contempt of court, having already served six months for civil contempt.

He told the court he meant no disrespect by ignoring the judge's order and only had an issue with the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

Had Dunlop reversed his decision while serving the six-month term and agreed to give evidence at the inquiry, he could have been released. He refused.

The sentence for the criminal conviction did not carry that option, and Dunlop was compelled to serve the full 30 days.

As a member of the Cornwall police force, Dunlop began looking into an alleged pedophile ring -- one that supposedly involved senior civic officials, clergymen and other police officers -- on his own time in 1993.

A provincial police investigation led to 114 charges against 15 men.

Ultimately, only one person was convicted. Four died before their cases came to trial, four were acquitted, four had the charges against them withdrawn, and two had the charges against them stayed over delays.

Despite Dunlop's vehement claims, "Project Truth" found no evidence of an organized sex abuse ring.