A man who became "fixated" on a policewoman spent weeks stalking her, a court has heard. Kelvin Lewis came to believe the officer had arranged for surveillance teams to keep watch on him, and had fabricated legal documents and alerted computer records about him.
As he was made the subject of a Mental Health Act hospital order at Swansea Crown Court, the defendant accused the judge of taking "hands out" from the police, and then shouted "F*** the lot of you!" as he left the hearing.
Offending began after custody suite treatment
The court heard that the offending began after Lewis became unhappy at the way he had been treated in the custody suite in Swansea Central police station.
Ryan Bowen, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant became "fixated" on a policewoman who had dealt with him, and became convinced that she had put him under surveillance. He also became convinced that the officer had altered paperwork and tampered with computer records related to him.
The court heard during meetings with his probation officer in November last year, 47-year-old Lewis made comments about the kind of property the officer lived in, and said "If she can follow me, I can follow her".
101 calls and arrest
The barrister said on January 3 and January 4 this year Lewis tried to call the police officer 101 times, and then turned up outside Swansea Central police station and used the station's external phone to try to speak to her.
Lewis was arrested on January 5, and in interview accepted making the phone calls to the officer but denied stalking her.
In a statement read to the court by the victim, the officer said she had been a policewoman for 25 years and said the defendant's behaviour had a "devastating impact" on her life. She said she has had to change her daily routines, install security measures, is "hyper-vigilant" when she goes out, and struggles to sleep for more than three hours a night and that when she does sleep suffers with nightmares where Lewis is chasing her. The officer said she was also concerned that the defendant would target her elderly parents, and said Lewis' "campaign of terror" had "shattered my reality" and changed how she views people.
Previous convictions and sentencing
Kelvin Paul Lewis, of Cwmfelin Way, Waun Wen, Swansea, had previously been convicted at trial of stalking when he returned to the dock via videolink for sentencing. The defendant represented himself at trial, and was likewise unrepresented for his sentencing hearing.
The court heard Lewis has 18 previous convictions for 40 offences including acquisitive matters, violence - including a wounding from 2002 - and public disorder. In July last year he was given a suspended prison sentence for racially aggravated harassment, and in November he was given another suspended sentence for breaching restraining orders.
Judge Mark Powell KC told the defendant he knew he didn't agree with the verdict of the jury but asked him if there was anything he wanted to say by way of mitigation. Lewis said he was an innocent man and would campaign to clear his name. The defendant then made a series of allegations about the legal system, about his victim lying and committing fraud, and about the judge "rushing" his trial, getting him locked up in a mental health facility, and taking "hand-outs" from South Wales Police.
Judge Powell said he understood that Lewis was a man who is "convinced of his innocence", and he noted the defendant had conducted his own defence at trial "with considerable restraint".
The judge said he had read three psychiatric reports on the defendant which detailed his remitting-relapsing paranoid schizophrenic illness, and said the three psychiatrists had concluded that Lewis was suitable for a hospital order. He said he was satisfied that unless the defendant was detained in hospital there would be a significant deterioration in his mental health with an associated risk to others.
Lewis was made subject to a hospital order without limit of time under s37 of the Mental Health Act. The defendant was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order banning him from contacting his victim. As he left the hearing Lewis shouted: "F*** the lot of you!"
