A man was yesterday jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of handling stolen property, damaging another person’s property and of relapsing in view of previous convictions.

The man, from St Paul’s Bay, was found guilty of handling stolen property, consisting of a car, on 1 June 2003 in Gzira. He was a minor at the time of committing the crime.

He was also found guilty of causing more than Lm500 in damage to the vehicle by replacing the engine, relapsing in view of previous convictions and of breaching the terms of a conditional release.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, noted that the accused had a number of convictions to his name, mostly related to vehicles. The court therefore said that it had no choice but to use a heavy hand in the hope that the accused might learn to stay away from crime. He was therefore jailed for 18 months and fined Lm262 in court expenses. Police Inspector Stephen Gatt prosecuted.