Two brothers on holiday in Malta missed their flight back home and ended up in court instead after going on a drunken spree and racking up some €2,000 in damages to vehicles parked near the Valletta cruise liner terminal. 

Yann Jean-Marie and Morgan Michel Gilbert, 30 and 32 years old respectively, both French, were targeted as the suspects matching the description given by a person who called police in the early hours of Thursday morning to report the wrecking spree. 

Acting on the report which reached the Valletta police station at around 2am, a police patrol headed to the area close to Lascaris Wharf, noticing the trail of damage.

A number of vehicles had broken mirrors, a motorcycle had been overturned, and a table and a garbage bin outside a pastizzeria had also been targeted. 

The officers then spotted two men making their way up Crucifix Hill.

The men, who were in a drunken state, matched the description supplied to the police. 

They were tourists who were meant to fly back home on Friday but instead ended up in court facing charges for wilfully damaging some eight vehicles and other third-party property, as well as being drunk in public. 

Both pleaded guilty.

The prosecution informed the court that the co-accused had settled the expenses which totaled some €2,100. 

In light of their early guilty plea and the fact that third-party damages had been settled in full, the court, presided over by Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, condemned each to a one-year jail term suspended for two years.

Lawyer Josette Sultana was legal aid counsel.