Grainy CCTV footage of a man identified by the police as a thief was not enough to have him convicted yesterday.

Two policemen said they recognised Pierre Cassar, 36, of Marsaxlokk from his stature and walk. He was accused of stealing a laptop computer.

In the footage, he is allegedly seen walking up to a car in the driveway of a house in Marsaxlokk, doing something near the vehicle and walking out again. But by no stretch of the imagination could one say he was the accused, Magistrate Edwina Grima said yesterday.

Two policemen, Sergeant Malcolm Pace and Constable George Zammit, testified that they recognised Mr Cassar from his stature and walk while PC Zammit insisted that he could also recognise his face.

Magistrate Grima said his face was not visible because the image was out of focus and the person was wearing a baseball cap.

In handing down judgment, the magistrate said the two officers were probably influenced by the fact that there were a number of police reports filed about the accused regarding him skulking around houses and cars.

Furthermore, the identity of the person on the CCTV footage could not be determined. Another factor which also favoured the accused was the fact that the charge stated the crime happened on the June 7, 2010 when all the other evidence pointed to it having been committed the day before.