Career criminal continues to outfox police

Career criminal Simon Allan Kerr, who has been on the run since December, is to be featured on TV2's Police 10/7 series.

Whangarei police are hunting Kerr (48), who gained notoriety about 20 years ago as leader of a group of safecrackers known as the Hole-in-the-Wall gang.

The show will be screened in mid February and police hope the publicity will help track him down.

A warrant was issued for Kerr's arrest on December 1, after a police investigation into a Whangarei appliance store robbery in April.

Thousands of dollars worth of electrical equipment was stolen from the Noel Leeming store in the Okara shopping centre in the overnight raid.

Police confirmed there had been sightings of Kerr in Whangarei earlier in January. But they have no real leads to go on.

Detective Sergeant Shane Pilmer said that Kerr had a partner in Northland, but there have been no new sightings.

"We issued the warrant for his arrest on December 1 as we're seeking to interview him in connection with the robbery in April. He was on parole at the time," Mr Pilmer said.

Kerr is Pakeha, 1.9m tall and of solid build. He is heavily tattooed on his arms and legs with bats inked on each side of his neck.

Members of the hole-in-the-wall gang gained their name from the destructive methods they employed to rip out safes and bank automatic teller machines in a nationwide rampage in the 1980s.

They escaped with thousands of dollars in jewellery and cash in a year-long crime spree.

One spectacular raid involved a 1630kg safe being pulled through walls at the Bank of New Zealand branch in Mt Eden and $30,000 taken.

The same technique was used in Christchurch to score a safe holding $50,000.

Kerr hit headlines again in August 1994 when he camped out on a Mt Eden prison turret for 12 days, protesting about conditions in the remand wing.

He has escaped from custody four times, including once from Mt Eden in 1990.