A 26-year-old man, who was put on probation for arson, had his punishment increased to six years in jail after an appeal court also found him guilty of torching seven cars.

Anthony Borg had originally been put on probation for three years when the Magistrates' Court found him guilty of setting fire to a feast decoration and a shop window in Birkirkara three years ago.

He was also found guilty of handling stolen property and relapsing but was acquitted of setting seven cars on fire and stealing stereos from two cars. The court had ruled that Mr Borg could not be found guilty of setting fire to the cars according to the article of the law under which he was charged.

The Attorney General appealed the judgment and contested the manner in which the first court interpreted the law.

The law dealt with causing damage from a general perspective without specifying the method used, unlike other articles of the law. The Magistrates' Court had interpreted this to mean that the law did not include damage through fire.

But Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono upheld the appeal of the Attorney General and explained that the law under which Mr Borg was charged did not exclude fire as a means of executing the crime.

The judge moved on to examine whether the evidence produced by the prosecution was sufficient to find Mr Borg guilty.

Evidence showed that on December 29, 2006, Mr Borg had gone to drink at the Birkirkara band club. When he left he drove his car to the square near the parish church.

There, an eyewitness, who had been at the band club earlier, saw him break into her mother's car.

After calling for help the eyewitness realised that the car was on fire and another two cars parked nearby were also damaged by the flames.

Another car parked close by had been broken into and, inside it, the police found matches and a partly burnt towel.

The police were later alerted that a fifth car had been torched in a neighbouring road. That fire spread to another two cars.

A court expert found that the method used to cause the blaze suggested that the fire had been ignited by the same person.

On evaluating the evidence the judge ruled that he was morally convinced Mr Borg was guilty of all charges.

He jailed him for six years after taking into account the serious nature of the crime and that Mr Borg had several convictions on his criminal record.