Four young men, who last year stole plastic statues of baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary from the Manwel Dimech Bridge the day before Christmas Eve have apologised for their "shameful" and drunken behaviour.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, on condition of anonymity, the youths said they would have liked to return the statues to their original place but feared prosecution.

"We were very drunk and as we were driving home it seemed like a funny idea. We had left Paceville around 5 a.m. and acted on the spur of the moment," said one of the culprits, a 21-year-old.

"They were being put up for Christmas and there we were ripping them off, just to have a few laughs. It wasn't like us.

"When we were pulling off the statue from the roundabout, we were using a lot of force and electricity started to spark. It was rather shameful, but we were drunk and for some reason we thought it was funny... but soon, I started feeling guilty about what we had done."

The statues formed part of a colourful crib on the bridge, and were taken just days after a similar theft in Floriana - though the man said he was unaware of that incident.

However, they were alerted by a friend when their own actions were reported to the media.

"When we saw the story on the timesofmalta.com website the next day, we felt really bad. There were comments suggesting we should be burned at the stake. At Christmas lunch, our families were discussing the story and saying it was shameful. Some even thought the people who did this were satanists," he said.

"To be honest, I would have thought and said the same things if I wasn't involved," he added, describing himself as a "typical Maltese Catholic", who attends Mass, though not as regularly as he should.

The group stored the statues in a car before discarding them in Mellieħa.

He said none of his friends would dream of doing the same thing again, since many people were offended by the incident.

They also advised the public not to repeat their antics, but their appeal was clearly not being heeded. Another statue of baby Jesus was stolen from the same spot on Manwel Dimech bridge last week, prompting last year's overwhelming condemnation.