A man who appeared in the media three years ago to say he had put his criminal past behind him was jailed for another 13 months for stealing a Melita Cable van in 2004.

The jail term will be added to the 10 years he was given in June after he pleaded guilty to beating a septuagenarian with a broomstick and then trying to strangle her with a bed sheet in 2003.

Daniel Lanzon, 27, from St Julian’s, was found guilty of stealing a van belonging to Melita Cable plc from a garage at the Mrieħel Industrial Estate on April 11, 2004 and attempting to break into another garage. The van was being repaired.

It was found abandoned some time later in the same industrial estate and the police charged Mr Lanzon on the strength of closed circuit television footage in which he could be seen attempting to break into the second garage before the alarm went off.

The court heard how Mr Lanzon’s fingerprints were found on the stolen vehicle.

In finding him guilty of the theft and attempted theft charges brought against him, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli cleared him of relapsing because the judgements presented in court as evidence were handed down after April 2004, when the crimes has taken place.

Other convictions resulted in either conditional discharges or simply warnings so were not admissible as proof of relapsing. However, Magistrate Demicoli said it was clear Mr Lanzon had not taken advantage of the several chances he had been given to reform. She therefore jailed him for 13 months and ordered him to pay nearly €1,500 in court expenses related to the appointment of fingerprint experts.

In June, Mr Lanzon was jailed for 10 years after he admitted to attempting to kill 76-year-old Carmela Cachia in Dingli Street, Sliema, on April 6, 2003.

He also pleaded guilty to committing a string of thefts between 1999 and 2003.

The court heard him admit to forcing his way into the elderly woman’s residence after knocking at the door, beating her with a broomstick, hitting her on the head with a bottle and attempting to strangle her with a blanket. Mr Lanzon in 2009 had appeared in the media saying he was a reformed man and wanted to become a politician.

“I robbed to survive. I stole clothes because I had nowhere to wash my own and I stole money so that I could eat. I never took part in any hold-ups or any violent acts,” he had said.

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