A KIDDERMINSTER man took a distinctive sports bag to carry away items he had stolen from a house he had burgled, a court was told.

A few hours later, he was given a lift near the town centre by someone who remembered the initials MW on the bag, said prosecutor Paul Whitfield.

John Stancer lied at first that he just used the bag to go shopping and accused the van driver of making up a story. Eventually, he came clean.

Stancer, 35, formerly of Mill Street and now living in Avon Road, Rifle Range, pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court last Friday to burglary of a house in Pitt Street, Kidderminster and stealing £55 in cash, a mobile phone and charger, Play Station and electrical items.

The premises belonging to Stephen Fox and his son Nathan were entered and searched on May 3, said Mr Whitfield. Stancer had been spotted near the house.

Stancer had a history of dishonesty and violence and had been made the subject of two community orders in recent months by Kidderminster magistrates but Toni Muller, mitigating, said Stancer had responded well to the last order and had not re-offended since June. He had also given up using drugs.

Revoking the existing community orders, Judge Michael Cullum made a new 12-month one, with a specified activity requirement for 25 sessions to be supervised by the probation service.