A fingerprint on a biscuits box has landed a prison inmate another two years behind bars after he was convicted of burglary.

Kenneth Ellul, 42, was accused of burglary from a house in Bontadini Street, Birkirkara and another house in Pembroke in 2009.

He was found guilty of the first case but acquitted of the second.

With regards to the Birkirkara case, Police Inspector Keith Arnaud said jewellery worth more than €2,300 and a Samsung mobile phone were stolen.

In March 2009 the police received information that the mobile phone was being used by Jocelyn Sammut. The police called at her house and found that the phone was being used by her daughter. She said it had been given to her by Amanda Camilleri, the former girlfriend of the accused Kenneth Ellul.  

The police questioned her and the accused. Ms Camilleri claimed she had found the phone in the glove compartment of a car used by a friend. 

Meanwhile, the police found that a fingerprint from a biscuit tin box found in the bedroom of the burgled house matched that of Kenneth Ellul.

His defence argued that this did not prove that he had been in the house since he could have touched the biscuit tin somewhere else.

The court held that the presence of the fingerprint and the way how the mobile phone came into the possession of the girlfriend of the accused proved that Mr Ellul had been in the house that was burgled.

Meanwhile, with regard to the Pembroke burglary, the court said it had to discount a statement given to the police by the accused, where he admitted his involvement. The statement was given without legal assistance.

Furthermore, evidence by another man found guilty of this burglary did not prove that the accused had actually entered the house and stolen anything.

In handing down sentence, Magistrate Josette Demicoli noted that the accused had previous convictions for theft. He was therefore sentenced to an effective jail term of two years and ordered to pay for the damage caused in the break-in.