A pregnant 34-year-old Bulgarian woman who admitted to stealing a man's wallet broke down in tears in court today as she was jailed for 16 months.

The wallet was stolen last Thursday on the number 13 route bus.  

Police inspector Lara Butters told the court foreigners were coming to Malta with the express purpose of stealing.

And the suspended sentences being given to foreign pickpockets were not serving as a deterrent, she said.

“They do not even come here with luggage. They stay here till they get caught, they get a suspended sentence and then go back to their country,” Inspector Butters said.

The police inspector argued that pick pockets needed to be jailed to discourage more people travelling to Malta for that purpose.  

Legal aid lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar rebutted the argument saying the woman should not be made to pay for all the other pick-pocketing cases.

“The court should just look at this one individual case,” Dr Mifsud Cutajar said.

The lawyer argued that the woman was caught in abject poverty and was not seeking personal enrichment.

“She got caught up in the circumstances,” Dr Mifsud Cutajar said.