Former judge Patrick Vella, who was recently given a two-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to reduce a drug trafficker’s prison sentence, has withdrawn the appeal he had filed in court, in which he claimed that the punishment was “excessive and disproportionate”.

Handing down his judgement on 13 March, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo said it was true that, because of the extraordinary circumstances, the case had attracted considerable negative publicity, but this had had no effect on the punishment being handed down. Vella, 62, was found guilty of committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.

At a later point, the defence filed an application calling on the court to order that Vella not be detained at the Corradino Correction Facility because of concerns over his security. In his reply, the Attorney General said he did not see why Vella should be given preferential treatment.

Handing down his decision, Mr Justice Caruana Demajo said that the prison authorities were in a position, and sufficiently competent, to ensure Vella’s security while he is in jail. In fact Vella is currently being detained in a section for vulnerable persons at CCF.