A man who admitted to growing around 60 cannabis plants has been jailed for five years.

Steven Micallef, 39, from Żebbuġ was arrested and charged with the cultivation of cannabis on May 2, 2007.

Mr Micallef admitted to the charges before a magistrate, and repeated his admission when the case was heard before a judge in February 2015.

The accused’s lawyers had presented a joint note of submissions with the Attorney General with regards to punishment, which the court had accepted.

In handing down sentence, Madam Justice Edwina Grima took the accused’s early guilty plea into consideration.

Mr Micallef was handed a five-year prison sentence and fined €16,000.

He was warned that failure to pay the fine would result in additional jail time.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Amadeus Cachia appeared for the accused.