A MAN who lied to police to protect his brother from being arrested for theft of £10,500 from a service station has been ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work.

Oliver Bassral was acquitted of being involved in the raid on the Habberley filling station in Franche Road, Kidderminster but admitted perverting the course of justice.

Judge John Cavell said the normal penalty for such an offence was custody but he could just avoid it. He also ordered Bassral, aged 20, of Severnside Mill, Stourport Road, Bewdley, to pay £500 costs.

The trial jury at Worcester Crown Court heard he was the lone attendant at the garage on December 14, 2003, when he was found bound and gagged and the money missing.

He told police two men in balaclavas, armed with baseball bats, burst in and attacked him, said Miss Abigail Nixon, prosecuting.

Bassral maintained the cover-up story for six days before he went to police and revealed that one intruder was his brother, Mark. The other man has never been arrested.

The clerical worker had made a terrible mistake in a misguided attempt to protect his brother, said Michael Aspinall, defending.

The incident had left him in a state of shock, equivalent to being involved in a road accident, and he had lost his garage job as a result.

Bassral was normally hard working and law abiding.

His 28-year-old brother, Mark, of Milton Road, Prestwich, Manchester, who has admitted the theft, will be sentenced in February.