A MAN who stole from the 74-year-old woman he had done odd jobs for has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Alan Bonehill, of Meadow Road, in Droitwich, admitted stealing £5 from the pensioner who lived in the same road when he appeared before Worcester Magistrates.

The 20-year-old had also already pleaded guilty to taking a mobile phone from a car in the street where he lived on Saturday, August 30.

The second theft which put him in breach of a 12-month conditional discharge handed down in May for assaulting his current girlfriend.

Sallie Hewitt, prosecuting, said Bonehill often went round to help the elderly woman with her odd jobs and was paid for his work.

When £25 went missing from her handbag she called the police who interviewed Bonehill about the money.

Mrs Hewitt said he denied taking the £25 but “admitted taking £5 from her purse” on Sunday, October 12.

Rob McCrory, in mitigation, said his client was among the younger of 14 children and “sometimes emotionally immature” but had grown up recently with news his girlfriend was expecting the couple’s first child.

He was given concurrent three-month jail sentences suspended for a year with a supervision order for all three offences and ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work and attend a general behaviour programme.

Bonehill was also told to pay £5 compensation to the pensioner and £50 costs.