It beggars belief that one lone criminal can rack up almost 600 offences... and then be let off with a non-custodial sentence on their next appearance before the courts.

But that is what has happened, and many people will share Shipley MP Philip Davies’s outrage.

The debate about whether prison is the best punishment for some levels of criminality continues to rage, especially as the Government announced yesterday it was closing down three jails.

But there will be few people who will not shake their heads in disbelief at the example given of one offender who had committed a grand total of 578 crimes over a 50-year criminal career.

That such a crook could then appear before the courts and escape jail is surprising.

Such a person obviously has such disregard for the law that they should be considered a menace to society.

Even if the latest court appearance was for something relatively trivial, it is blatantly obvious that a crook like that is a hardened recidivist and a succession of “slaps on the wrist” are not doing the job.

While “three strikes and you’re jailed” systems of old might be too crude, there must be some way of totting up a repeat offender’s behaviour so that prison is a real possibility for those who flout the law with such abandon.