Last Updated Thursday 7.37am. First uploaded Wednesday 11.49am

The police this morning denied claims made in court yesterday that they had been informed about bombs kept in a garage. 

The claims were made by Jason Galea, who told a court that the bombs have now disappeared. 

The court was hearing evidence against Mr Galea, 41, from Birzebbugia and Ronald Urry,49, from Paola, who stand charged with the murder of taxi driver Matthew Zahra.

The two had allegedly lured the victim to a field in Birzebbugia where they shot and buried him.

Mr Galea had told the police that Mr Zahra had been blackmailing him with a photograph which could potentially destroy his marriage.

The former taxi driver’s remains were found buried in the same field in which the bodies of Mario Camilleri, known by his nickname l-Imnieħru, and his son Mario had been discovered, after they were murdered in July 2013.

Appearing in court unassisted, Mr Galea said that he required a legal aid lawyer.

He then turned towards prosecuting officer Inspector Fabian Fleri, and said: “Mario (sr) used to keep three bombs in Matthew’s garage. Have any investigations been carried out? We know what just happened. They’re still running around,” Mr Galea continued.

He said that he had once gone to police headquarters to speak to an inspector about the explosives but had been directed to a junior official and had not been sent for since.

The court attempted to explain to the accused that this was not the way things worked and that the Inspector could not legally send for him without his lawyer being present and neither could he do so seeking information that was not connected to the case in which he was accused.

Insisting that he wanted to speak to the inspector, the man continued: “You know that two days ago a woman was killed by a bomb, right?” 

But in a reaction this morning, the police said that Jason Galea never gave any information about bombs to the police. 

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