Daren Debono has been jailed for six months and fined €4,600 for refusing to honour the conditions of his plea deal. His lawyer, Edward Gatt, gave notice of appeal as the sentence was handed down by Magistrate Victor Axiak this morning.

Daren Debono it-Topo had been arraigned before the magistrate on Friday over his refusal, whilst under oath, to identify all of his accomplices in the 2010 HSBC armed robbery.

Debono was charged after being summoned to testify during a sitting held last week in the compilation of evidence against Vincent Muscat over the hold-up. In that sitting, Debono had reneged on his part of a plea deal under which he was to serve ten years in return for testimony. He is currently serving a 10-year sentence.

From the witness stand, Debono had insisted that he would only testify against Muscat and would not name the rest of his accomplices, telling the court that he feared for his family's safety.

Specifics of the plea deal have not been made public.

Part of the arraignment was held behind closed doors, with the court understood to have been told details of the threat against Debono, who pleaded guilty to today's charges of refusing a court order to testify and recidivism. A copy of the judgement finding him guilty of participating in the 2010 hold up was exhibited to substantiate the latter charge.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Ishmael Psaila appeared for Debono.

Inspector Mario Xiberras prosecuted.