Five Romanian thieves who last February were jailed three years for stealing thousands of euros worth of clothing have filed a constitutional application against the Attorney General, complaining of discrimination.

Ilie Nicolae, 28, Niculae Dragos, 22, Dumitru Marius, 26 and Christian Panaitescu, 25, had pleaded guilty to the charges and Florica Niculae, 27 had originally pleaded not guilty but eventually changed his plea to a guilty one.

In their application, the Romanians claimed that they had been told that, if they pleaded guilty, they would be jailed for a maximum of one year.

Mr Niculae, who initially pleaded not guilty, claimed he had been told it was useless for him to try to contest the case because he was going to be treated exactly the same as his friends.

The Romanians are claiming that they were not informed about their right to appeal the court decision in breach of their fundamental right to a fair hearing by an independent and an impartial court.

They are also claiming they were discriminated against because of their race.