Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
PETER Lyndon-James used to sell about $40,000 of meth per day.
He’s dealt guns and explosives, cheated on his wife with “hundreds of prostitutes”, and spent time in every prison in Western Australia.
He’s broken into houses, stolen plenty of cars, “mugged many people”, and spent many years dodging taxes.
Oh, and he was just elected to a local council in Perth, after what was probably one of Australia’s most unusual election campaigns.
Mr Lyndon-James won a seat for the Altone ward in the City of Swan following Saturday’s election, ousting the sitting mayor after winning more than 2700 votes.
He ran a tough love, anti-drugs campaign — and unlike other politicians, who go out of their way to hide skeletons in the closet, he’s startlingly honest about his past.
In an extremely unorthodox Facebook post, he even asked voters for forgiveness.
“I have spent 26 years of my life in and out of jails and institutions starting from the age of nine and had a criminal record longer than most,” he wrote his campaign page.
“I, Peter Lyndon-James, have done all of the above and more. If it’s not on there I have probably done it.”
When Mr Lyndon-James was seven, his father shacked up with a babysitter and his mother fell into alcoholism and was regularly beaten by her boyfriend.
He ran away every time she was forced into rehabilitation, until he was eventually sent to prison, and then a children’s home.
It wasn’t long before he fell into the wrong crowd and started using drugs, breaking and entering, and stealing cars.
“I’d be out for a day, back in for six months, out for a week, back in for eight months. I was just in and out, in and out. I spent nine birthdays in a row locked up,” he said in a 2015 video explaining how he turned his life around.
“I didn’t want to be who I was, I hated who I was, I hated what I did. I hated the circle of people I was hanging around, even though I knew they were trapped like I was trapped, and I would’ve given anything to be normal.
“I’ve never ran up the corridor and jumped into bed with mum and dad, I’ve never been on a school holiday, I’ve never played any sports in any way, shape or form.”
He said that’s really all he ever wanted — however, he told the Daily Mail he had absolutely no idea how to interact with people on the outside.
“You can get the prisoner our of the prison but you need to get the prison out of the prisoner,” he observed wryly.
One day, he woke up and told his wife he wanted to go to church, even though he’d never set foot in one before aside from a couple of break-ins.
He became a Christian, worked as a prison chaplain and founded Shalom House, which he calls “Australia’s toughest drug rehabilitation centre”.
At Shalom House, addicts must go cold turkey, shave their heads, go to church three times a week, work on the property and steer clear of television and radio.
Over the past five years, it has grown to having 55 staff — with plenty more volunteers — who help up to 120 patients at a time to overcome their struggles.
However, Mr Lyndon-James had constant clashes with the local government.
Now he’s decided to end the long-running fight and do something about it.
“Over the last four years I have been exposed to local government at various levels and I can honestly say that it repulses me what I see. I respect the rulers of our day, I do obey them and have from the beginning and I have the paper trail to prove it,” he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Lyndon-James explained he would be a powerful advocate for families.
“I genuinely care about families, I care about children growing up with their parents, I care about dads being the dads and husbands they should be.”
He ran his campaign around the idea of “putting common sense on the table” however, he acknowledged that people had some serious questions about his past.
“All I can say is that if you are a victim of my life or my choices, if you are a victim of my selfishness and stupidity — I am sorry, I am so very, very sorry,” he continued.
“I have no excuse for what have done to you or to any other person, what I have done was and is wrong and I am 100% to blame, there is nothing I can say in my defence.
“Please I ask that you would forgive me as I am genuinely sorry for my actions and wish I could change what I have done as well as the life I have lived, but I can’t.
“All I can do is take ownership of my mistakes and try my best not to do it again.”
Source: http://www.news.com.au/finance/work...n/news-story/0bbb35922bffe81f2a56fd0e5cc57c9d
He’s dealt guns and explosives, cheated on his wife with “hundreds of prostitutes”, and spent time in every prison in Western Australia.
He’s broken into houses, stolen plenty of cars, “mugged many people”, and spent many years dodging taxes.
Oh, and he was just elected to a local council in Perth, after what was probably one of Australia’s most unusual election campaigns.
Mr Lyndon-James won a seat for the Altone ward in the City of Swan following Saturday’s election, ousting the sitting mayor after winning more than 2700 votes.
He ran a tough love, anti-drugs campaign — and unlike other politicians, who go out of their way to hide skeletons in the closet, he’s startlingly honest about his past.
In an extremely unorthodox Facebook post, he even asked voters for forgiveness.
“I have spent 26 years of my life in and out of jails and institutions starting from the age of nine and had a criminal record longer than most,” he wrote his campaign page.
“I, Peter Lyndon-James, have done all of the above and more. If it’s not on there I have probably done it.”
When Mr Lyndon-James was seven, his father shacked up with a babysitter and his mother fell into alcoholism and was regularly beaten by her boyfriend.
He ran away every time she was forced into rehabilitation, until he was eventually sent to prison, and then a children’s home.
It wasn’t long before he fell into the wrong crowd and started using drugs, breaking and entering, and stealing cars.
“I’d be out for a day, back in for six months, out for a week, back in for eight months. I was just in and out, in and out. I spent nine birthdays in a row locked up,” he said in a 2015 video explaining how he turned his life around.
“I didn’t want to be who I was, I hated who I was, I hated what I did. I hated the circle of people I was hanging around, even though I knew they were trapped like I was trapped, and I would’ve given anything to be normal.
“I’ve never ran up the corridor and jumped into bed with mum and dad, I’ve never been on a school holiday, I’ve never played any sports in any way, shape or form.”
He said that’s really all he ever wanted — however, he told the Daily Mail he had absolutely no idea how to interact with people on the outside.
“You can get the prisoner our of the prison but you need to get the prison out of the prisoner,” he observed wryly.
One day, he woke up and told his wife he wanted to go to church, even though he’d never set foot in one before aside from a couple of break-ins.
He became a Christian, worked as a prison chaplain and founded Shalom House, which he calls “Australia’s toughest drug rehabilitation centre”.
At Shalom House, addicts must go cold turkey, shave their heads, go to church three times a week, work on the property and steer clear of television and radio.
Over the past five years, it has grown to having 55 staff — with plenty more volunteers — who help up to 120 patients at a time to overcome their struggles.
However, Mr Lyndon-James had constant clashes with the local government.
Now he’s decided to end the long-running fight and do something about it.
“Over the last four years I have been exposed to local government at various levels and I can honestly say that it repulses me what I see. I respect the rulers of our day, I do obey them and have from the beginning and I have the paper trail to prove it,” he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Lyndon-James explained he would be a powerful advocate for families.
“I genuinely care about families, I care about children growing up with their parents, I care about dads being the dads and husbands they should be.”
He ran his campaign around the idea of “putting common sense on the table” however, he acknowledged that people had some serious questions about his past.
“All I can say is that if you are a victim of my life or my choices, if you are a victim of my selfishness and stupidity — I am sorry, I am so very, very sorry,” he continued.
“I have no excuse for what have done to you or to any other person, what I have done was and is wrong and I am 100% to blame, there is nothing I can say in my defence.
“Please I ask that you would forgive me as I am genuinely sorry for my actions and wish I could change what I have done as well as the life I have lived, but I can’t.
“All I can do is take ownership of my mistakes and try my best not to do it again.”
Source: http://www.news.com.au/finance/work...n/news-story/0bbb35922bffe81f2a56fd0e5cc57c9d
