Evening news round-up for the Black Country and north Worcestershire

A missing Brierley Hill man is believed to have slipped and fell into the canal he drowned in, an inquest was told.

Simon Smith's body was discovered in the water near Meeting Lane, Brierley Hill, by a member of the public on December 27 last year.

An inquest, held at Black Country Coroners Court on Friday, was told that the father-of-two, who lived in Yorke Avenue, was last seen on December 3.

To read the full report click here.

A drug addict who raided the flat over a Halesowen pub the day after he was released from a prison sentence has been put back behind bars for six months.

Scott Tandy, aged 38, stole the keys for a Nissan from above The Fairfield pub, but he only drove the vehicle to the other side of Fairfield Road before falling asleep across the steering wheel.

Tandy, who was high on heroin and diazepam, was found by the owner of the vehicle once she realised it had gone missing and after taking the ignition keys she quickly notified police.

To read the full story click here.

A thief from Oldbury has been given a six-month community order.

Dawn Powell, of Mallard Drive, stole items worth £566 from Marks and Spencer, Merry Hill, on January 24.

The 42-year-old must pay a victim surcharge of £85 and £135 court costs.

To see who else has appeared before Dudley Magistrates Court click here.

KFC in Redditch has closed after delivery problems meant they ran out of chicken.

Last week, the fried chicken chain switched its delivery contract to DHL, which blamed "operational issues" for the supply disruption.

Since then a number of its 900 stores, including the one at Trafford Retail Park and the one on Clews Road, have been closed.

KFC said the issues were down to "teething problems" and admitted it was unclear when the delivery problems would be rectified..

To read more click here.

A housing group is looking to finally demolish a derelict Kidderminster school and redevelop it to provide nearly 60 new homes in the town.

The Community Housing Group (CHG) has purchased the former Sion Hill Middle School, which has lay empty for more than 10 years, and announced up to 59 houses could be built in its place.

It is hoped a planning application will be submitted later in the year to push the scheme forward.

To read more click here.

Bromsgrove council has the expertise to make the town centre market a success and should not offer the operations contract to an external provider, says a councillor.

Current operators CJ Events Warwickshire will end its deal to run the market in June, telling the Advertiser the site wasn’t successful enough and is no longer financially viable.

Bromsgrove District Council said they will begin the procurement process to find a new operator in March, but Labour cllr Michael Thompson feels this isn’t the best option.

To read more click here.