Two men have been placed under probation and a third jailed for theft from three apartment blocks in summer 2007.

All had serious drug problems and stole to support their habit.

Silvio Camilleri, 23 and a man who is not being named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, had broken into an apartment block in central Paceville and stole two computers and a photo camera.

They forced the apartment door open but failed to notice the security cameras which caught them breaking into the flat and making off with the loot. Mr Camilleri alone also stole items from another apartment block a week after the second theft.

Reuben d’Amato, 24, and the minor stole two mobile phones from a block of flats situated just around the corner from the first theft.

The court took into consideration Mr d’Amato’s clean police record and the minor’s relatively clean one and decided that a prison term wasnot ideal. Both were given three years probation each.

However, Mr Camilleri, who had already been convicted nine times by the age of 23, was jailed for three years and eight months.