Two self-confessed unemployed drug addicts were yesterday jailed for 13 months each after admitting stealing a car and using it to drive past a woman to snatch her handbag early on New Year’s Day.

Clifton Attard, 22, of Msida, and Roderick Zammit, 31, of Sliema, stole a Lada after they had unsuccessfully tried to take three other cars earlier that night.

The court heard they attempted to force open a Morris, a Lada and a Suzuki but managed to get into the Lada in a parking area in Luqa Briffa Street, Gżira.

They then snatched a woman’s handbag as they drove the car through one of the nearby streets.

They were also charged with damaging the cars and relapsing. Police Inspector Fabian Fleri, prosecuting, told the court that during investigations Mr Attard admitted to stealing a cash register from Orthopaedic Sleep System in Ta’ Xbiex last November.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit advised them to use the time to reform and get a job after release, “rather than roaming streets stealing people’s things”.

She fined Mr Attard a further €100 after hearing that he had breached a probation order.

Mr Zammit was jailed for another two years – bringing the total to three years and a month – after pleading guilty to committing a crime during the operative term of a two-year suspended jail term handed down on December 13.

Both men said they had a drug problem and the magistrate recommended they followed a rehabilitation programme while serving time.