A Halesowen man who has ‘turned his life around’ has avoided being sent to jail. Jonathon Peter West, aged 34, of Codham Road, Halesowen, admitted stealing alcohol worth £72 from the Co-op, and was given a conditional discharge for a year and ordered to pay £72 compensation. The theft meant he had breached a 27-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months imposed in April. But magistrates decided that sending him to prison would have been disproportionate given the changes he had made to his life and instead extended the sentence by three months.

Other cases at magistrates court included

A Cradley drink driver has been ordered to pay £685 and banned for a year. Reece Mills, aged 23, of Manson Drive, was found to have 42 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliliters of breath when tested after driving along Manor Way, Halesowen on December 5. The limit is 35. He pleaded guilty and was fined £500 and ordered to pay £185 in costs.

A Stourbridge woman who drove while over the limit has been banned for 16 months and ordered to pay £369. Kayleigh Rose John, aged 23, of Dell Road, Bromley, admitted being over the limit while driving on Dudley Road. She had 65 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The limit is 35. She was fined £200 and ordered to pay £169 costs.

A Dudley teenager who assaulted a police officer at Brierley Hill on December 6 has been fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 compensation. Elizabeth Marsh, aged 19, of Marigold Crescent, pleaded guilty.

A driving offence has cost a Brierley Hill man £339. Damian John Groves, aged 23, of High Street, admitted driving his Saab at Bells Lane without insurance and was fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and £34 into the victim service fund.