Man who insulted policeman has jail term reduced

A man, who was jailed for two months for insulting a police inspector at the law courts, had his jail term reduced to two weeks on appeal.

Massimo Caruso, 37, had been found guilty of threatening and insulting Police Inspector Jeffrey Azzopardi when he called him "corrupt" while at the law courts on July 31 2008. He was also found guilty of disobeying the police and relapsing. He was jailed for two months after the court applied a section of the law that increased his punishment by a grade.

The Appeal Court, however, upheld the appeal since the charges of which Mr Caruso had been found guilty were contraventions and the punishment should not have been increased according to law.