630 convictions ... but criminal still walks free

HE’S the country’s most convicted criminal, whose lifetime of offending has cost taxpayers £3 million – but that didn’t stop Patrick Ryan avoiding jail for his 630th offence.

Ryan’s police record is so long at nearly 100 pages that it carries a ‘do not print’ warning, to save paper.

Among other crimes, the 60-yearold has a habit of eating lavish meals in Indian restaurants then admitting that he cannot pay, earning him the nickname Rogue n’ Nosh.

True to form, offence No 630 in his 40-year ‘career’ was being unable to pay for a cafe breakfast he had eaten then urinating on a wall, Blackpool magistrates heard.

Ryan had travelled to Lancashire after his latest spell in prison, in Scotland, and was dressed in a hospital gown and white paper suit.

Robert Castle, defending, said ‘alcohol was taken’ during the journey. Ryan, of Preston, admitted the offence, plus breaching a sex offender’s order by failing to register his address, and was fined £110.

Rachel Baines, chairman of the county police federation, said such repeat offenders are a ‘massive drain’ on the force: ‘This is time and money that could be better spent doing other things,’ she added.