All Saints churchyard is famous for having the burial site of a centuries old pirate. 

That is almost true. It is a 18th Century gentleman smuggler buried there, not a pirate. 

Daniel Scales was a famous gentleman smuggler who was "unfortunately shot" on 7th November 1796. 

Most criminals in the 1700's did not get a prime burial plot and they rarely had a tombstone engraved with a long poem as engraving was still very expensive at the time Daniel died. 

Daniel's impressive headstone was paid for by the locals of Patcham and sits near the North Door of the church in a prime location for a criminal. His crowdfunded headstone reads, 

"SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF DANIEL SCALES, WHO WAS UNFORTUNATELY SHOT ON THURSDAY EVENING, NOV. 7TH, 1796. Alas! swift flew the fatal lead, 

Which pierced through the young man’s head. 

He instant fell, resigned his breath, 

And closed his languid eyes in death. 

All you who do this stone draw near,

 Oh! pray let fall the pitying tear.

 From this sad instance may we all 

Prepare to meet Jehovah’s call."

The very last line wasn't a call to honesty and repentance but a clear warning from the locals to the tax authorities and even the government that they had no plans to give up their smuggling. Indeed the shops at The Steine were famous for some time afterwards being so much cheaper than others due to their stock of smuggled goods of the finest quantity because Brighton Marina was used as a crossing point to France for cargo and passengers. 

Smuggling was much appreciated by Brighton and Patcham locals even by noble families who were heavily involved with the smugglers. 

Local priests helped hide the contraband of rum, lace and tea inside churches, and at times the local judges were also most sympathetic. St Peter's Church in Preston Park was often used to hide contraband and it is very likely that All Saints Church was also used since Patcham was an important staging post at that time. 

Doctors would patch up smugglers' injuries free of charge and they would then find a good bottle of spirits or other gifts appearing as if by magic on their doorstep as a payment in kind. 

Daniel Scales was known to be a good fighter and deadly shot and he refused to yield his goods to the excise (customs) man who, some locals still say in a cowardly fashion, shot him dead rather than engage in a fight with Daniel and lose. The customs man even admitted in writing that Daniel was too good a man for him to win in a fair fight and so he cheated and poor Daniel did not get due process before a court of law. 

Until All Saints Church recently updated its website it did contain a reference to Daniel Scales' tombstone and the inscription upon it.