Lexington John Lewis is one of New Zealand's most prolific burglars. Photo / Michael Craig
One of New Zealand’s most prolific burglars has been jailed again after embarking on a stealing spree soon after he was released on parole.
Lexington John Lewis racked up almost 200 convictions for breaking into the homes of other Kiwis and has spent 30 years in prison for that and other offending.
But the judge who sent him to prison last month says Lewis, 54, is finally making “real changes” and can still turn his life around.
Senior crime and justice reporter Anna Leask has been following Lewis’ offending for the past five years and was granted access to the court and parole documents that reveal his latest fall from grace.
Judge Kirsten Lummis was late to court to sentence Lexington John Lewis.
She only had two matters to deal with that afternoon and thought she would breeze through the hearings but when she sat down to read his vast court file she realised her day would be much more challenging.
Lewis is a prolific offender whose criminal history spans more than 24 pages - a total of 459 convictions, mostly related to residential burglaries and other dishonesty-type offences.
He has spent time in various prisons across the country and has offended in both the North and South Islands.
Police sources have confirmed Lewis is one of the country’s top burglars.
“I have already said, it is one of the worst criminal histories I have ever seen,” Judge Lummis said.
“It is fair to say, you have more burglary convictions than any other defendant that I have come across in recent times, if not ever.”
The last time the Herald reported on Lewis was in April 2019 when Judge Kevin Glubb jailed him for four years and eight months on seven charges of burglary along with using a document for pecuniary advantage and breach of supervision.
“You are a recidivist burglar, beyond doubt – and also a spree burglar,” he told Lewis.
“You are a man who is very clearly a recidivist and has committed these offences with regular abandon.
“You are an incorrigible burglar, undeterred by prison.”
Judge Glubb also outlined Lewis’s traumatic early years, remarking he could understand how the offender ended up spending “a large portion” of his life in prison.
Lewis was “passed around” foster families and boys homes - repeatedly abused along the way.
He later sued the Government for the abuse and received a compensatory payout.
As a teenager, Lewis was finally placed in a stable home but when arrived home one day to find the dead body of his foster father, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, he spiralled into crime.
Lewis told Judge Glubb he felt his life in prison would be “safer and easier” as he was deeply institutionalised.
He was released on parole in March 2022 and, for the first few months he was said to be “doing quite well”.
Judge Lummis said things were “difficult, challenging” but Lewis was staying out of trouble.
“But that all changed when you made the decision to cut your [monitoring] bracelet off - and that is where the slippery slope back to old habits started,” she said.
Lewis claimed he made “more of a conscious effort” to try to “restrict” his thieving to cars - rather than “taking that next step” and breaking into houses.
“But unfortunately old habits die hard and you quickly reverted back to what you know - and what you have done plenty of times in the past,” said Judge Lummis.
Judge Lummis outlined the most recent “four-month spree of offending” at Lewis’ sentencing in the North Shore District Court.
Lewis had earlier pleaded guilty to 19 charges - six burglaries, seven of being unlawfully in an enclosed yard, three of unlawfully interfering with motor vehicles, two of obtaining by deception and one of disorderly behaviour
Judge Lummis spoke at length to Lewis at the hearing.
“I have been pondering your case all day, Mr Lewis,” she told the recidivist criminal.
“I have been reading things carefully and re-reading things, which is why I was late down to court.
“I looked at the afternoon and thought: ‘well, there’s only two matters. That’s not going to take very long.’
“I took your file home last night to have a read and then have been reading it and re-reading it ever since trying to work out where exactly to settle on for you.
“It is not easy because I can see you are trying to change, but you are here facing sentence on a total of 19 charges.”
Judge Lummis said the courts treat burglary “very seriously” and she had to hold Lewis to account for the harm he had caused his unsuspecting victims.
But she had to balance that with his personal circumstances which were complex.
“It is obviously very serious offending, and it is very important in this sentencing exercise that I consider deterrence both general and specific to you,” she said.
“But I also need to consider, and it is an important part of the sentencing exercise today, your efforts at rehabilitation, particularly your efforts to work through cognitive behavioural therapy to try and change the way you think and change the way you act.
“It is very, easy in your case, to focus on the negative and to look only at that history - as I have already said, it is one of the worst criminal histories I have ever seen.
“But I also need to, and want to, focus on the positive because in my view there are some signs that you are wanting to make change - really positive signs.
“It is in everyone’s best interest to support you in making changes to stop the cycle and to break your institutionalisation that started way back before you had any control over it when you were a child.
“But you now do have control over it and you know that and you know how to make better choices and that is what you need to focus on doing.”
Judge Lummis said Lewis had genuine remorse and indicated he wanted to apologise directly to his victims.
“You have an understanding through the treatment and rehabilitation that you have been through of the damage that you have caused those people,” she said.
A report documenting Lewis’ early years and entry into offending made for “incredibly sad reading” and Judge Lummis said it was “very clear” he had experienced a number of “very, very significant and traumatic things” that had set him on a criminal trajectory.
“It is clear that… you fit as one of the sad stories of abuse in state care and you, like many… have suffered greatly in many ways in your life,” she said.
“It is also clear that you have along the way become institutionalised.”
Lewis told the judge he struggled with technology and how “things have changed” in society while he has been in prison.
“It reminds me of The Shawshank Redemption… the elderly prisoner, Brooks Hatlen, who could not adjust to life in the outside world, and there are some pretty tragic scenes where he is trying to fit in but everything has moved along at such a fast pace that it is too hard and he could not cope,” Judge Lummis explained.
“And then the character played by Morgan Freeman, Red, went through that same process.”
Judge Lummis said she was not suggesting that Lewis “run off and live on a beach” like Red’s character in the movie - noting that is something he said he wanted to do.
“You were hoping to be self-sufficient by living on the beach and fishing and looking after yourself without having to resort to offending,” she said
“But I think you know you have to go through the processes and stick to your parole to make sure that you can fit back into society, because living on a beach is not really sustainable, as you found out, when the weather turns cold and winter comes you were not well-equipped.
“You need more than just food to sustain yourself. That is going to require a job and money and fitting into society with a roof over your head.”
Judge Lummis said she was “encouraged” to read about Lewis engaging in cognitive behavioural therapy and that he had met a mentor-type person in prison who had “a real impact” on the offender “wanting to be a better person” by believing in him and supporting him.
She told Lewis her sentence aimed to “make sure that we do not see you here again”.
“Because that is the goal, is to make this, at age 54, the last time,” she told him.
“It does require more therapy. It does require making good decisions and not falling back into old habits.
“We all hope that you do not come again, and we all want you to do well and we want you to get out on parole and make this the final time before the court.
“There are real glimpses of hope in what I am seeing and reading and hearing from you… that you know that you have got to pause, stop and think before you take action, because when you take action the consequences are drastic and with your record, you are only going to find yourself in one place.
“I know at 54 years of age, that is not a place you want to be anymore.”
Lewis told Judge Lummis the sentence was a “relief” because he needed “a light at the end of the tunnel”.
He also said he was “really worried about what the media are going to report”.
Judge Lummis allowed the Herald to publish her sentencing notes on the basis of open justice.
“I would ask that the reporters consider the efforts that you are making to make real change and very tragic personal circumstances of your childhood that make that so hard,” she urged.
She sentenced Lewis to a total of three years’ imprisonment for each of the burglary charges, to be served concurrently.
He will serve lesser sentences - also concurrent - for the other offences.
“You know what you need to do… to try and make sure that you do not turn to old habits again in the future,” the judge said.
“You need to take all the opportunities that are on offer, continue to work and be grateful and thankful for [your mentor] being on your team and do what you can to make sure that this really is the last time.
“Some sort of landscape gardening or outside work with gardening would be ideal for you [after prison].
“I hope you can find a job like that, working in the outdoors, focusing on your dreams and hopes and goals for the future that do not involve the four walls of a prison but involve the fresh air and the blue sky.
“It is totally up to you now. You need to seize the opportunities on offer and do your best.
“I wish you the very best of luck.”
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
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