A magistrate yesterday told a 52-year-old drug addict who “wasted his life in prison” it was never too late to reform.

Before jailing him for another year and four months for attempted burglary, Magistrate Miriam Hayman told Anthony Abela he had two very serious problems in life: drugs and unemployment.

It was too late for him now, he told the magistrate.

It was never too late to reform, was her prompt answer.

The exchange took place during his arraignment, when he admitted to trying to steal over €2,300 worth of jewellery from a flat in Ta’ Xbiex on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, policemen caught him red- handed inside a bedroom.

The magistrate reviewed Mr Abela’s criminal record and started reading out his various convictions, including drug possession, for which he has spent three stints in jail, among other punishments. She then stopped, telling legal aid lawyer Leslie Cuschieri there were too many convictions.

Turning to Mr Abela, she said he had been given many, many chances to reform but had failed to grasp each one of them.

He retorted that prison had not done him any good, to which she replied her hands were tied because if she let him go he would steal and take drugs again.

As she calculated punishment, the magistrate remarked it was “unbelievable how he never seemed to learn”.