A wanted person in Dublin has been on the run from the law for over five decades as it was revealed that more than 25,000 bench warrants in Ireland have been outstanding for over a year.
The staggering figures show the number of people in total who have ducked and dived from the law - with a bench warrant outstanding for one person in the capital for 52 years.
Bench warrants are issued by judges who give Gardai the power to arrest and charge a person and are normally sought after when the suspect fails to appear in court over a crime they are accused of.
In total, over 34,000 bench warrants are currently outstanding in Ireland and of the 25,500 in existence for more than a year, 68% are in Dublin.
Retired sergeant John Hynes says there are three main reasons why certain offenders are difficult to track down.
He said: "The main reason I suppose is that people leave the address at which they were residing at the time of the arrest.
"It may be genuinely for work reasons, or just that they don't want to be found if they're prolific offenders and things like that.
"I've found from past experience that Gardaí get very, very little cooperation from families and people who might know where these people are."
