Fabio Psaila, who is accused of robbery and the attempted murder of two policemen, will spend six months behind bars for breaching bail after a court threw out his appeal.

In December 2010 the Magistrates’ Court jailed him for six months when he admitted that he had failed to sign regularly at Ħamrun police station as he had been ordered to do.

At the time the police had wanted him for questioning in connection with an attempted hold-up at the HSBC headquarters in Qormi in June 2010, which ended in a shootout between police and the robbers.

The police had sought him for several weeks until he handed himself in.

He filed an appeal in which he argued that the jail term was too harsh and did not reflect what he did. He gave examples of similar cases where the accused got away with less. He said that media attention given to his case may have influenced the decision of the court.

However, Mr Justice Michael Mallia, in the Court of Criminal Appeal, said that bail conditions were there to be respected and the jail term handed down to Mr Psaila was within legal parameters.

Mr Psaila has several pending court cases in which he is pleading not guilty, among them the attempted hold-up of 2010 and the attempted murder of two police constables during the shootout.

He is also charged with the attempted theft from jeweller Michael Mizzi and his son Silvio in Attard in December of the same year.

Fabio Psaila covered his face while taken to court in December 2010. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli