A man set up two social media chats with a police officer using fake profiles, which he then merged in an attempt to portray him as a paeodphile.

The plot backfired when he ended up facing criminal charges instead, landing a three-year jail term.

Jackson Micallef, 33, stood accused of fabricating evidence intended to incriminate a police constable, misuse of electronic equipment as well as being a recidivist.

The complex chain of events, ultimately leading to criminal action against the accused, had been sparked off by an envelope which reached the police via the Ministry for Home Affairs.

Inside this envelope was a pen drive containing what appeared to be chat between a man and a 17-year old, including photos of the man and pictures of male genitalia amid a chat interspersed with sexually-implicit remarks.

Accompanying this pen driver was a scrap of paper bearing the name and nickname of the police constable, as well as his place of duty.

The police launched an investigation, questioning the officer involved and presenting him with criminal charges as an alleged paedophile. However, closer analysis of the contents of the pen drive soon revealed that the chat had been fabricated: the conversation was not flowing and some comments seemed out of place.

Investigations eventually led to Mr Micallef who had fabricated the chat.

A mutual friend, who worked as a chief customer care officer at a ministry, had passed on the pen drive to the Home Affairs Ministry and on to the Police Commissioner.

Under interrogation, the accused said he had wanted to get even with the officer who, four years previously, had tried to chat up his younger brother at a gay bar.

In the course of criminal proceedings, it transpired that Mr Micallef had met the police officer at the home of the customer care officer.

After the meeting, he had set up two chats with the officer, one under an adult profile and another under a fake profile of a 17-year old. The policeman had broken off both chats upon being told that the user was a minor.

However, Mr Micallef had subsequently merged the contents of both chats and added photos from Facebook, creating the impression that the police officer was a sexual predator of minors.

He denied any knowledge of the note accompanying the pen drive, possibly inserted by his friend at the customer care office.

Upon the basis of all the evidence put forward, the court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, declared that it was “convinced that the accused knew of the intended use of the pen drive. He was the one who amalgamated and created the fictitious evidence to give the impression that [the policeman] was a sexual predator of minors”.

When taking the witness stand, the accused had failed to explain his full involvement in “this reprehensible act, in spite of evidence showing otherwise,” the court said, adding that the man had done “absolutely nothing to convince the Court that he deserved a minimum punishment”.

In the light of all this, the court declared the accused guilty of the fabrication of false evidence but not of misusing electronic equipment and condemned him to a 3-year jail term, also ordering him to pay €1,180 in court expert expenses.

The court further ordered the Police Commissioner to investigate the third player in the plot and to take steps accordingly.