A magistrate sentenced a 31-year-old man to three years in jail yesterday after hearing that he had not taken advantage of the various opportunities he had been given to make a new start.

Sebastian Farrugia from Qormi was found guilty of attempting to break into Qormi Bocci Club in October 2003, stealing a portable CD player from a car parked in Qormi, committing a crime during the operative term of a suspended prison sentence and breaching a probation order.

The court heard a probation officer testify that Farrugia had continued to take drugs and had not kept his appointments with his probation officer.

Handing down her judgement, magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said that Farrugia had not taken advantage of the chances he had been given to get his life back on the right track and instead had continued to use drugs. She therefore jailed him for two years and brought into effect a one-year suspended jail term handed down in a previous conviction.

Police Inspector Michael Mallia prosecuted.