'Rat boy' on the run is captured

A 14-YEAR-OLD burglar with 38 criminal convictions has been arrested after disappearing from a children's home, police said yesterday.

The child, who earned the nickname 'rat boy' by hiding from police in makeshift lairs, often next to heating pipes, was traced to an address in Newcastle upon Tyne late on Monday night.

He went on the run last Friday, six months after being sent to a secure unit. It was his 36th escape. He was back in custody at Newcastle East police station in Byker yesterday. Police said he had been arrested in Byker 'after we received information about his whereabouts'.

He was likely to be handed back to social services officials after being charged with several offences.