TWO thieves have stolen nearly £200 worth of Yankee Candles from a Stourport garden centre.

CCTV footage shows two women stealing the candles from Cook's Garden Centre, in Worcester Road, Stourport, at around 5.55pm yesterday (Wednesday, December 16).

Watch the video here.

 

THREE men fled the scene after attempting to raid a cash machine at a supermarket on Alcester Road.

The crooks attempted to enter the front of the premises through the metal shutters just after 2.45am on Thursday, December 17.

An alarm was activated and no entry was gained. 

Offenders returned to the darkly-coloured car they arrived in and left the scene in the direction of Alcester.

For information on how to contact police for this story, click here.

 

A BELBROUGHTON woman has been sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work, after she entered a guilty plea to charges of fraudulently claiming Housing Benefit.

Thirty-three-year-old Helen O’Nions, of The Glebe in Belbroughton was sentenced at Redditch Magistrates Court on Tuesday, December 15, after pleading guilty to the charges of fraudulently claiming nearly £7,000.

O’Nions claimed £6,798.37 between February of 2014 and September of this year, failing to let the local authorities know that her earnings had increased.

Officers at Bromsgrove District Council launched an investigation into the incident as a result of a data match, between the authority and HMRC which is designed to prevent and detect fraud.

Read the full story here.

 

A COMMUNITY has been left heartbroken after arsonists targeted the High Acres Woodcraft Folk hut, burning it to the ground.

Bob Sandall and his family have been running the Kinver-based camp for more than 45 years, pouring thousands of pounds of their own money into its upkeep.

But their life’s work went up in smoke in the early hours of Tuesday morning (December 15) when vandals set fire to the popular hut and equipment container.

Read the full story here.

 

DEMANDS for resignations at the top of Sandwell Council hit fever pitch this week after the Government stepped in to run its children’s services department after “over a decade of letting down vulnerable children”.

The role of London-based company Impower, which was paid at least £1.5 million of taxpayers' cash to improve children’s services over two and a half years without success, is now coming under the spotlight.

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that a commissioner will run the crisis-hit department until a trust or another council can take control.

Longstanding critic of Sandwell Council, former Langley councillor Mick Davies, who runs the only children’s centre in the country to get two outstanding Ofsted reports, demanded resignations.

Read the full story here.

 

POLICE are looking for two women who stole hundreds of pounds from an elderly man in Dudley.

The 74-year-old was in Wilkinson, High Street, when the pair approached him, distracted him and stole the cash from his pocket on November 30.

For information on how to contact police for this story, click here.