A court case that started four years ago was brought to a close yesterday after 10 co-accused admitted to illegal betting on horse racing.

The police carried out a raid on Mona Lisa Bar in Marsa in December 2004 and caught 14 men allegedly illegally betting on horse racing.

The case started in October 2005 but, because a number of the accused were either sick or did not show up in court a number of times, it dragged on for four years.

In yesterday's hearing, Darren Attard, 41; Andrew Fenech, 73; Anthony Sultana, 77; Emanuel Bonello, 62; Joseph Galea, 68; Philip Agius, 63; Alfred Ellul, 59; Cliferty Calleja, 26; Dennis Zammit, 35 and Lourdes Kert, 34, pleaded guilty to illegal betting on December 7, 2004.

Carmelo Ellul, 59, failed to turn-up for yesterday's court sitting and Espedito Bellizzi, 62, and Mario Abdilla, 55, pleaded not guilty.

Alfred Ellul also admitted to relapsing and Mr Kert pleaded guilty to running his bar without the necessary permits.

Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna heard that Anthony Borg, who was also allegedly involved, died recently.

Police Inspector Raymond Aquilina presented different batches of money he said had been taken from the men during the raid. These ranged from Lm10 notes to stashes of Lm100 (€233).

After taking into consideration their "early" guilty pleas, the court fined them €233 each while Alfred Ellul was given a three-month jail term suspended for a year.

Police Inspector Raymond Aquilina prosecuted.

Lawyers Raphael Fenech Adami, Victor Scerri, Anġlu Farrugia, Gianella Busuttil and Martin Fenech appeared for the men.

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