Was Patrick a slave-trading tax collector?

I caught this on the news this morning but didn't hear the whole of the story. So I thought I'd try to fond out more; after all, I've been teaching students of various kinds pretty much the standard story which -to be fair- is actually based on Patrick's own Confessions. Reading them you'd get the impression that Patrick was the victim of a slaving raid and eventually escaped. But ....

... a new study from Cambridge University based on his writings suggests Saint Patrick was not brought to Ireland as a slave, as the legend has it, but that in fact he may actually have sold slaves his family owned to pay his way to Ireland -- in order to avoid a job as a tax collector for the Roman empire

 In actual fact the study seems, from the report, merely to offer a possible reinterpretation based on noting a factor about the culture at the time:

According to his writings, Patrick's family owned several slaves -- a high value and easily transportable commodity -- and Flechner says in the historical context it makes sense that Patrick would convert his family wealth into slaves he could sell in order to pay his way..

The problem is, of course, that Patrick says he was taken as a slave: "... a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people ..."(see here): seems pretty clear to me. And basically Flechner's case at this point is to say that Patrick was being creative with the truth. I am finding it hard to think why Patrick should lie or 'spin' it in that way and on the admittedly brief report here, it is hard to think that the contextual clues Flechner adduces really add up to a case to doubt Patrick's fundamental veracity on this point; after all Patrick does not whitewash other aspects of his past, and slave holding and (presumably trading) wsa not, I understand, necessarily considered a big bad.

Flechner makes a point about the only way out of slavery was to be redeemed, but I'm skeptical that mainland Romano British would have felt that onse of their number stolen away and enslaved should be returned to their captors should they escape: a previously free Roman citizen escaping such a situation would likely be regarded as a returning free citzen not an escaped slave. Nor do I imagine that on returning to Ireland Patrick or any of his companions would feel that he should teturn to slavery in Ulster, and I imagine that no-one left alive in Ulster would actually remember him as a slave -he'd have been given up years before and hardly anyone would have really known him -he woud appear to have spent most of his time in Ireland out in the hills, alone, with livestock. So the redemtion issue seems to be a bit of a blind.

.Was Saint Patrick a slave-trading tax collector? - CNN.com:
The Confession of St Patrick.