On good days at least, Ambrus can read it and convince himself it was worth it.’The Ballad of the Whisky Robber’, by Julian Rubinstein (John Murray, £12.99) is published on 7 November. To order a copy for £11.99 (inc p&p), call Independent Books Direct on 08700 798 897. Sakuntala Premphrasi began coughing on 2 September last year. The 11-year-old girl lived with her aunt in a house raised above the ground in a village in the Thai province of Kamphaeng Phet.

On page 816, next to the entry about the Balkan War, the chronological reference book tells the story of the Transylvanian hockey goalie who became known as the Whisky Robber, “a national fairy-tale hero”. On the floor of his cell is a large encyclopedia of Hungarian history, Magyarok Kronikaja. Like John Dillinger in the American Depression era, it is all but certain Ambrus could not have carried out his 29-robbery streak – nor become the sensation that he did – at any other time or place in history.Whether that makes Ambrus feel like one of the luckiest or unluckiest people in the world is not an easy question for him to answer. I just want to have a peaceful life.” Regardless of what his future holds when he is released in 2016 at the age of 49, Ambrus seems destined at least to remain an icon of a bygone era, a figure trapped inside the post-Communist snow globe he ended up in when he rode into Hungary beneath a train in 1988, just before the whole scene was shaken up, by the rapid modernisation of this part of the world. He was recaptured in a raid and thrown in an all-glass cage built for a serial killer.

“One less small fish,” read a headline in the Hungarian daily Nepszava.Though the court threw out all of the attempted murder charges, the allegations seemed to serve the purpose the government wanted by significantly damaging his reputation as a non-violent criminal.”I’ve retired my business card,” Ambrus says now, shaking his head and smiling in disbelief at the craziness of his life on the run “I’m through with the circus. People were quoted saying they wouldn’t help the police if they saw him. The beleagured Budapest police chief finally gave a press conference, saying only: “This is human stupidity. Full stop.”Finally, in October, police got a tip that led them to the flat where Ambrus was hiding.