A burglar serving time for theft and threatening to bomb a police superintendent’s car was yesterday jailed for a further 18 months after he was caught red-handed stealing a van loaded with items from a shop he had broken into.

Alexander Gialanzè Whiteford, 27, from Sta Venera broke into the Brooklyn shop in St Paul’s Bay in 2005 and then made off with the items and a van owned by Francis Sant. Mr Sant and his brother, Joseph, realised the van was about to be taken. So they gave chase and managed to stop the van. They then carried out a citizen’s arrest, handing over the suspect to the police when they arrived.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli noted that the items stolen had been returned and that the accused had cooperated with the police during investigations.

In 2010, Mr Gialanzè Whiteford had been jailed for three years and six months for stealing about €13,000 in jewellery five years earlier.

He was jailed again for four months last year after he threatened to bomb the car of Police Superintendent Stephen Gatt, who, he believed at the time, was picking on him.