A 17-year-old UK national was yesterday given an 18-month suspended jail term after he admitted to trying to stab a barman in Qawra in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police Inspectors Edmond Cuschieri and Robert Vella, prosecuting, told the court how the teenage boy had come to Malta to visit his father, who lives on the island.

On the night of the incident he had been drinking at Bell Pub with his father for quite some time when he got involved in an argument with the barman. The incident blew over and the young man apologised to the barman and left with his father.

A few hours later the teenager returned to the bar with a knife and tried to stab the man, the police said.

A closed circuit television camera outside the bar caught the teenager entering the establishment armed with a knife.

Defence lawyer Josianne Cardona Gatt explained that her client carried the knife with him because, back in the UK, he lived in an unsafe neighbourhood.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke heard the 17-year-old admit to threatening and trying to stab the barman and slightly injuring him and gave him an 18-month jail term suspended for four years.