A man who masterminded two raids on gambling machines has been handed a 14-month effective jail term after failing to mend his unruly ways.

Jeffrey Cassar, 34, had been targeted by prosecution over the aggravated theft of cash from the games room of a Qawra hotel on May 2, 2017 as well as the attempted theft from a gambling machine at another Buġibba outlet, nine days after the first coup.

The man was charged as a recidivist on account of a number of past convictions.

Late in the evening of May 11 last year, police had been alerted to an attempted robbery from a slot machine establishment in Buġibba. Mr Cassar and another man had been arrested on site after they were caught red-handed with the tools they were using to force open a slot machine.

The failed coup came just days after another theft from the games room of a Qawra hotel, which had been caught on CCTV. The pair had fled away in a getaway car driven by a third person.

The accused’s partners in crime both pleaded guilty to the charges. His male friend was placed under probation, while Mr Cassar’s girlfriend was conditionally discharged for three years.

Upon the evidence put forward, the court, presided over by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud, declared the accused guilty of the theft but without the aggravation of value since the prosecution had failed to prove the exact amount of cash stolen in the first coup.

The accused was cleared over the attempted theft due to an error in the charges related to the name of the establishment, with the magistrate strongly urging for precision in the drafting of the charges.

Inspector Godwin Scerri prosecuted.