The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports Index
	1999 Jan-June
	Waikato Times March 30 1999 Mum sends Ellis a card on prison birthday No 5 The mother of convicted child sex offender Peter Ellis had one wish when her son turned 41 today -- that he celebrates his next birthday a free man. Lesley Ellis said it was the fifth birthday in jail in Christchurch for her son, who has completed nearly six years of a 10-year sentence for abusing children at Christchurch's Civic Childcare Centre. He was arrested on his birthday in 1992. Mrs Ellis had not sent her son a present. "Just a birthday card -- the presents are all saved at home for when he comes out," she said. Ellis has been living in Paparua Prison's Leimon Villas for about two months. The units are used by prisoners who are preparing for release. Prisoners in the units do their own cooking, cleaning and washing. "I guess that they do a little celebration for things like that (a birthday)," Mrs Ellis said. Earlier this month, the parole board declined to release Ellis following a hearing at which he appeared but did not speak. He gave the board a statement saying he would