A former hotel manager, who was charged with crimes ranging from drug possession and theft to dangerous driving, has been sentenced to 40 months behind bars and banned from the roads for five years.

Police saw Jeffrey Busuttil, 37, of Mqabba, acting suspiciously inside a Vauxhall Astra in Kirkop at around 3.30am on November 10, 2010, and signalled for him to stop.

He sped off, then lost control of the car and crashed into a parapet before he and his unidentified passenger tried to escape.

Inside the car, officers found a gun, drugs, counterfeit money printed on A4 paper, tools such as grippers and a side cutter, Swiss Army knives, torches, a crash helmet and a pair of gloves.

Mr Busuttil denied stealing the gun, handling stolen property, possession of a gun without a licence, producing counterfeit money, possession of heroin, possession of tools without giving a reasonable explanation for why he had them, driving dangerously, disobeying police orders and relapsing.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke said the gun had been reported stolen from the shop Gun and Rod in San Ġwann but no evidence was brought to prove he had stolen it.

But Mr Busuttil had not given a legitimate explanation for having the gun and she found him guilty of handling stolen property.

She said he had already been sentenced to three years in jail in 2002, and then to a further two years that had been suspended for four years in 2005, which meant that he was guilty of relapsing.