MELBOURNE career criminal Christopher “Badness” Binse wants to “square the ledger” and apologise to victims for a string of armed hold-ups in the 1980s and ‘90s.

The 48-year-old — who now goes by the surname Pecotic — appeared before the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday after pleading guilty last year to seven unsolved armed robberies from 1988 to 1991.

The convicted armed robber’s conversion to Islam while serving a 14-year prison term was a catalyst for his decision to confess to police and apologise for his actions, his lawyer Michael FitzGerald said.

Binse has a very colourful criminal history and could be Australia’s weirdest criminal.

He started calling himself Badness so his Christmas card signature was more interesting and has had some bizarre appearances in court, including the time he tried to defend himself with a Criminal Legislation Victoria book and an article about gangland widow Judy Moran.

His weird behaviour also includes him covering himself in excrement in jail in protest.

He made almost $400,000 through his robberies and has been compared to Robin Hood.

The Herald Sun reported he used to give small amounts of money to drunks, churches and the homeless. He owned up to seven robberies from 1988, 1989 and 1991.

Fairfax Media reported he robbed two security guards and stole $80,000 in Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s inner west in November 1991.

He held up a Commonwealth Bank in Maribyrnong about a month later and stole more than $200,000.

Binse is well known for his 44-hour siege in 2012 in Keilor East in Melbourne’s north west.

Police had to force Binse out of the home with tear gas and he suffered through it for eight minutes before giving up and surrendering.

Binse was sentenced to jail for robbing $235,000 from Armaguard officers in Laverton in Melbourne’s southwest in 2012 and the siege.

In 2013 when he was facing court over his crimes, he proposed to his then girlfriend from the prison docks.

He has been kicked out of Melbourne Magistrates’ Court a number of times because his shouting could not be controlled.

— with AAP

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