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

THE 20-year-old biker who died after a crash in Brierley Hill in the early hours of Saturday morning has been named as Elliott Beddow from Stourton.

Tributes have been paid to the popular apprentice engineer who died after he came off his Harley Davidson in Brettell Lane at around 2.10am.

Emergency crews battled in vain to try and save his life but he was pronounced dead at the scene – near the junction with Silver Street, just 100 yards from where two men were killed in a road smash before Christmas.

His untimely death has left family and friends heartbroken – and his mum Katie Beddow said in a statement: "We have lost the brightest light, our ray of sunshine and the family joker. We are struggling to come to terms with the fact that Elliott has gone. He has left an enormous void that we will never fill.”

To read more click here.

Two women were left terrified after being car-jacked in Stourbridge by armed robbers who had hit two convenience stores.

The women, aged 88 and 37, were in the back of a Ford Mondeo outside of the One Stop store in Hungary Hill just after 9pm last night (Sunday) when masked men - who had just raided the store - ran to the vehicle as the family stopped to use a cashpoint.

They drove off with the women in the back, but the pair were soon dumped on the roadside several yards further on after the gang realised they had unwanted passengers.

The same men are believed to have raided the Co-op store on the corner of Witton Street and Glebe Lane, Norton, less than an hour before.

To read the full story click here.

A Dudley shop fitters is celebrating 50 years of making shops as they are today.

The Alan Nuttall Partnership, which has its largest division in Hall Street, was set up by Alan Nuttall in his garage on his wife’s birthday, September 2, 1966, at the age of 24 with just £137.

Now employing 600 members of staff working from a million square foot of manufacturing, engineering and office space, it has grown from a small display firm into a multi award-winning interior fit-put and display business, which counts many of the UK’s top retail and hospitality brands amongst its customers.

To read more click here.

The heartbroken daughter of a former usherette from Cradley Heath is appealing to her mum’s ex-colleagues after she died from asbestos-related cancer.

Lynne’s Halls' mother Margaret Rose Edgington was 71 when she first became ill in 2012 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma the following year.

She died on September 8, 2014.

Margaret worked as an usherette in Quinton's Classic Cinema between 1975 and 1976 and Birmingham Hippodrome from 1976 until 1986.

To read more click here.

Giant house spiders are invading Bromsgrove homes as mating season begins.

An influx of giant house spiders have already crawled into the homes of unsuspecting people and pictures are being shared on social media as people compete to see who has the biggest arachnid house guest.

To read more click here.

A former Kidderminster man has been jailed for sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl.

Christopher Noyle, aged 51, now living in Sand Farm Lane, Weston-super-Mare, has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for what Judge Nicolas Cartwright at Wolverhampton Crown Court described as a "gross breach of trust".

To read the full court report click here.