A man was cleared of driving recklessly after an appeal court found that the police had not proven he had been cautioned before being questioned by officers.

Mr Justice David Scicluna, presiding over the appeal court, also found that the main police evidence in the case against Josef Borg, 23, was based on hearsay.

The judge noted that in October 2012, Mr Borg had been jailed for a year after a magistrate found him guilty of driving dangerously and recklessly, speeding and driving without a licence in Marsa on February 12, 2012, at about 6.30pm.

Police had not proven he had been cautioned before being questioned by officers

He was also found guilty of driving when his licence had been suspended, disobeying police, breaching the conditions of a suspended jail term and relapsing. He was jailed for a year and banned from driving for the same amount of time. Mr Borg, through his lawyer, Kathleen Grima, appealed, arguing that the affidavit of a police sergeant, exhibited in the case against him, constituted hearsay.

The sergeant was quoting what another police officer told him but was not present during the investigation.

The officer the sergeant was quoting was not called to testify in the case against Mr Borg.

Moreover, he argued, the prosecution failed to prove he had been cautioned according to law.

The judge upheld his arguments and cleared him of the charges.