A €1,000 monthly salary to manage a museum in Vittoriosa was not enough to get by, so Stephen Camilleri lowered the stated number of visitors and pocketed the difference in entrance fees.

Mr Camilleri, 32, was considered one of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna’s best museum managers and was doing very well at the Malta at War museum, the court heard.

Police Inspector Anna Marie Xuereb said it was “with a heavy heart” that the NGO decided to file a report against Mr Camilleri but it felt it had no option when it realised what was happening after viewing CCTV footage.

She said Mr Camilleri cooperated with the police and admitted he could not make ends meet when depending only on his salary, from which he had to pay for child support for his six-year-old daughter.

Mr Camilleri admitted before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli to misappropriation and stealing visitors’ entrance fees. He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for four years, and was given six months to pay back the €7,000 he had taken.

Police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino also prosecuted.

Lawyer Vince Micallef was defence counsel.