Prison inmate Mario Camilleri (l-imniehru) this morning apologised to journalist John Pisani after he admitted to having threatened him and his family in a phone call last month.

Mr Pisani accepted the apology, but the court, presided by Magistrate Antonio Mizzi, added a month to the jail term Mr Camilleri is currently serving. It also placed Mr Pisani under a protection order.

Mr Camilleri had been charged with having phoned from prison and threatened to blow up Mr Pisani and his family. He had told Mr Pisani that he had other pending cases and dealing with him would just add another one.

His defence lawyer, Joe Brincat, said the issue revolved around an item published about Mr Camilleri's son, Mario, who was charged with breaching bail, driving a car without a licence and insurance cover and threatening the police officers who had stopped him.

He said it was not fair to link the son to the father and using the nickname when the father had nothing to do with his son's actions. Dr Brincat said he had written to the Press Club to complain about the media's use of Mr Camilleri's nickname.

Mr Camilleri is serving a four-year jail term after being found guilty of being an accomplice in the bribery of disgraced former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and former Judge Patrick Vella.

Last year, he was jailed for a further three months for threatening Labour MP Josè Herrera over a parliamentary question he had asked in connection with a cleaning contract the courts had given to a company belonging to Mr Camilleri's family.