A convicted fraudster, currently serving time behind bars, has landed a further jail term after being found guilty of having defrauded a company out of some €3,000 nine years ago.

Duncan Buttigieg, 34 from Għaxaq, pleaded guilty to having, in the period between May and August 2009, defrauded a wholesale business, dealing in tobacco, wines and spirits.

The man stood accused of misappropriation, fraud, forgery and use of a public document and unauthorised use of a computer password. He was further charged with being a recidivist.

Magistrate Josette Demicol condemned him to an effective jail term of 11 months, taking note of the gravity of the offences, the circumstances of the case as well as the man’s criminal record.

The court observed that although the accused had partly refunded his victim, he could no longer do so since he was serving a prison term.

Mr Buttigieg’s first fraud conviction dated back to 2005 when he pretended to be a medical practitioner, landing a three-year Probation period. Ten years later, he was sentenced to a nine-year jail term after defrauding some 100 customers who entrusted him with their money for the purpose of being supplied with vehicles imported from the UK.

Other jail terms followed in 2016 when he swindled funds paid by victims as deposits on the lease of a Gozo farmhouse which never materialized. On another occasion, the man purchased a Rolex watch with a cheque with later bounced, landing the fraudster with another six-year jail term.