Serial burglar back 'home'

A man who brought a mid-winter burglary epidemic to Hastings after being released from jail at the end of June will spend at least the next three winters back in prison.
Appearing in the Napier District Court yesterday, John Paul Murphy, 30, was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail, with a minimum non-parole term of three years.
The sentence came after he admitted a series of 21 burglaries, targeting mainly private dwellings, which included the home of the police Hastings area commander.
More than $100,000 worth of property was stolen before he was arrested early in August by Detective Darren Pritchard, who this month ends about eight years targeting burglars in Hastings with promotion to sergeant in a new project targeting family violence.
During his interview he told Mr Pritchard he had warned authorities before he was released from Rangipo Prison on June 27 that he should not be released, because it would only be a matter of time before he started offending again.
Murphy soon teamed up with a Hawke's Bay man he'd known in prison, and who faces four charges of receiving stolen property taken in the burglaries.
That man has pleaded not guilty and is due to appear in court again in Hastings on Thursday.
Burglary rates in Hastings and Flaxmere soared to more than 160 in July as Murphy went on his spree, with targets also including a charity house for Alzheimers sufferers.
Murphy co-operated with police when he was arrested, remembering the properties he had burgled and where some property had been discarded in a local river.
Most of the stolen property was not recovered, however. It included plasma television sets, firearms, computers, chequebooks, passports, jewellery, and a caravan. He also torched two cars stolen during burglaries. In court yesterday, defence counsel Trent Petherick said Murphy had been in and out of prison since he was 16 and had never had a job. He was last released in prison clothes with $300 in his pocket and no job, and wanting to go back to jail.
Crown prosecutor Russell Collins yesterday asked Judge Bridget Mackintosh to use eight years as a starting point in deciding on the sentence. She agreed, discounting 40 months to recognise Murphy's quick confessions and co-operation with police.
Mr Pritchard said he hoped Murphy would be able to get the help in jail he needed to make sure the cycle wasn't repeated after his next release.