A 27-year-old man found guilty of theft, was yesterday jailed for three years after a magistrate suspected that his alleged drug addiction problem was merely an attempt to impress the court.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera found Anton Vassallo, of Zabbar, guilty of stealing a car and making a false declaration when he altered its registration plates, stealing tools from a store in March 2003 and relapsing.

He was however cleared of breaking into two cars and a factory.

The magistrate heard how Mr Vassallo had successfully completed a drug rehabilitation programme and also heard a psychologist explain that he had overcome personality problems.

Although the court was glad that Mr Vassallo was changing his life in a positive way she could not ignore the damage suffered by society.

She noted that in the space of 10 years, Mr Vassallo had accumulated 17 convictions on his criminal record. However, strangely, none were connected with his abuse of drugs.

"For this reason the court feels that the help he was given for his alleged drug abuse problem was just an excuse so that the court would show mercy with him when handing down judgement."

The magistrate also noted that the psychologist had not mentioned the drug abuse problem. Mr Vassallo had not learnt from his past and she did not feel she should show any mercy in his regard.

Police Inspector Stephen Mallia prosecuted.