Three men were this morning acquitted of taking the law into their own hands when they stole tools from their former employer who failed to pay their wages.

The men were cleared because the charges were declared time barred.

Samuel Schembri, 49 from Zebbug, George Debono, 41, from Qormi and Brian Baguley, 34, from Mosta, were originally charged with theft but the charges were changed during the case to taking the law into their own hands.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke noted how the charge of taking the law into their own hands was actually time barred by two years which meant that because the crime was committed on August 29, 2011 and the charges were changed more than two years later, they could not be found guilty.

Lawyers Edward Gatt, Adrian Camilleri and Joe Ellis appeared for the men.