A Romanian man was jailed for 18 months yesterday after admitting a string of thefts, some of which had not even been reported to the police.

The police apprehended the man after they used the Find my iPhone App to track an iPhone6 that had been stolen from the Go outlet at Bay Street.

The police went to an apartment in St Julian’s where they found Anton Ilief, 29, surrounded with items he had stolen during the one-and-a-half months he has been in Malta.

He pleaded with Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona to let him go to Romania to be with his wife who was giving birth, and even burst into tears.

This is a bare minimum for what you have done

“Eighteen months is the least I could give you. I wish I could help you by going lower but I honestly cannot. This is a bare minimum for what you have done. Had you done this in another country you would have been locked up for much longer,” the magistrate said.

“This should serve you as a lesson,” he added.

He admitted the theft of more than €3,000 worth of jewellery from a residence in Mosta on Wednesday, before he proceeded to Bay Street for the iPhone6. On the way, he stopped at Marks and Spencer and then Eurosport, both in Sliema, from where he stole several items.

He also admitted stealing a laptop, a Garmin watch as well as electronics and jewellery from a room at the Ramla Bay Hotel. In April, he stole an iPhone 5S from the Vodafone outlet in Sliema and a Samsung S5 on another day.

During his interrogations, the Romanian admitted with the police to thefts that had not even been reported to the police. He pleaded guilty to all 12 charges.