Ta' Maksar killer accessed internet from prison, minister confirms

Updated 4.18pm

The Home Affairs Minister on Friday has confirmed that a convicted murderer had access to the internet from inside prison.

Speaking in a video statement, Glenn Bedingfield said an internal inquiry has been launched after prison officials discovered a laptop connected to the internet in a prison cell.

He does not name the prisoner but multiple sources confirmed with Times of Malta the laptop was seized from the cell of Adrian Agius, known as Ta’ Maksar, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop.

Bedingfield confirmed a prisoner was found using a laptop “irregularly” in his prison cell, pointing out the prisoner did not bring the laptop into the prison clandestinely but was granted authorization to use it in May 2024, on condition that it is not connected to the internet.

However, prison officials discovered that the laptop was in fact connected to the internet.

“We now know that the laptop was used irregularly as it was connected to the internet,” Bedingfield said.

“The prisoner was caught because prison officials did their job,” he added as he thanked them for taking swift action and confiscating the device.

He also insisted that whoever broke the rules must be “punished and investigated”.

“I want to know the facts,” he said.

An internal inquiry has been launched and is being led by judge emeritus Antonio Mizzi. He has 30 days to establish the facts and report back to the minister with recommendations.

“Once the inquiry is closed, nothing will stop me from taking decisions or making sure every executive authority takes the actions needed,” Bedingfield added.

Prison authorities are separately investigating the matter.

Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio were condemned to life in prison in June 2025 after being found guilty of the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop.  Agius's brother Robert and Jamie Vella were found guilty of complicity in the 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Prison regulations state that inmates allowed to use educational laptops must source them from outside the prison, after which authorities sweep the hardware clean and physically seal all ports to prevent data transfer.

Inmates are also strictly prohibited from accessing the internet.

A random search conducted last week revealed that the physical seals applied by the prison authorities to block Agius’ laptop’s data ports had been broken, exposing at least one port.

The incident was first flagged publicly on social media by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.

‘Not enough’ – Momentum

Momentum has called for a magisterial inquiry pointing out that an internal inquiry is “not enough” as findings from such an investigation cannot be used by the prosecution in the event of a court arraignment.

“A public magisterial inquiry should be immediately held,” Momentum leader Arnold Cassola said.

He added that the inquiry should investigate how the laptop and internet connection got into Agius’s hands, who were the accomplices in providing him with them, any connections between prison authorities and Agius’s personal legal team, and “the contents of the conversations going on secretly in Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and email”.

“This is not simply a matter of security in the prisons, this is a very serious case that impacts national security itself”,  Cassola said.