Alfred Bugeja, Il-Porporina, was yesterday jailed for five years and five months after confessing to robbing a woman and leading the police on a car chase in Valletta on Thursday.

Mr Bugeja refused to be represented by a lawyer telling Magistrate Anthony Vella that "it would not be worth it coming to court... the expenses... I would rather just plead guilty".

He complained to the court that the police had not treated him fairly while he was being interrogated. They told him to cooperate, he said, but failed to mention that they were also going to charge him with breaching the conditions of three previous releases.

Police Inspector Anthony Portelli immediately rebutted this and said that Mr Bugeja was caught red-handed, "so how much more proof could you want than that?", adding that the case was clear-cut and, furthermore, he had breached bail conditions.

Mr Bugeja alleged that a member of the mobile squad had hit him as he was being arrested. The police inspector said the officer in question was being investigated.

The magistrate asked the accused whether he wanted to plead guilty and Mr Bugeja replied he would first want to know what sort of punishment he was facing. After going through the charge sheet, the magistrate remarked that there were quite a lot of charges and, thus, a lengthy jail term would result.

The accused decided to plead guilty to robbing and slightly injuring a 65-year-old woman, stealing an Austin Mini, damaging a parked van, disobeying police orders, driving dangerously and breaching the conditions of two previous releases.

In submissions on punishment, Inspector Portelli pointed out that Mr Bugeja had first snatched two bags from a 65-year-old woman containing cash and gold and then fled in a stolen Austin Mini. When he realised that the police were on his tail, he led them on a wild chase in Valletta and drove up a one-way street before being stopped as the police surrounded the car.

The inspector noted also that Mr Bugeja had been granted bail on December 15 last year against a personal guarantee of €15,000 and granted bail again on July 6 against a personal guarantee of €10,000.

After adding up all the charges and the relative punishment as provided by law, the court jailed him for five years and five months.