A man who had been jailed for six months after he was found guilty of handling stolen property this morning had his jail term converted into 100 hours of community service

The court heard that the accused had initially experimented with cannabis, eventually turned to alcohol and then moved on to cocaine and heroin, becoming an addict.

Such abuse influenced his character and his actions and his criminal record was testament to this.

He has another two pending court cases.

Mr Justice David Scicluna said that according to a Caritas Social Worker report, it seemed that the man had changed his ways and needed to focus on finding a job to improve his quality of life.

In the past four months, he was making positive progress and it was recommended that he continued to get the necessary guidance and assistance.