A MARRIED couple who staged a bogus robbery at the Droitwich newsagents' shop they ran have both been jailed.

Manageress Theresa Stevens stole £1,500 from the safe and hid the cash in a Birmingham flat her husband had secretly acquired, Worcester Crown Court heard.

She poured petrol over herself and lied to police saying a robber had doused her and threatened to set her ablaze, said Tim Sapwell, prosecuting.

Her husband Alan - who claimed she beat him with a frying pan during their troubled marriage - went along with the scam.

But police who interviewed the couple separately, broke down their story after they gave differing accounts.

Theresa Stevens, aged 44, of Crofters Green, Droitwich, admitted theft and perverting the course of justice. She was jailed for eight months.

Her 55-year-old husband, of Roman Way, Edgbaston, also admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for four months.

Judge Michael Mott said it was the wife's idea and she would have been jailed for much longer were it not for serious psychological and physical problems.

He said the couple had not only wasted police time but had also risked innocent people being arrested for a sham crime.

The husband rang police on October 8 last year to tell them of a robbery at Martins newsagents and post office on the Westlands estate.

He claimed a man had come to the shop, thrown the petrol over his wife as she sorted the newspapers, and then produced a cigarette lighter.

He said his wife was forced to open the safe and gave the assailant the cash box. But his wife insisted her husband had handed over the box, said Mr Sapwell.

Police became immediately suspicious and Theresa Stephens then confessed. She had found keys to her husband's flat and stashed the money there behind a fridge.

She told police she thought her husband was going to leave her - so staged the robbery in a bizarre bid to keep him.

Thirteen police officers worked on the case for 18 hours.

Alan Stevens claimed he was bossed around and attacked with a frying pan, said his barrister Kirsty Real. "He had to go along with the scheme and back his wife up."

He suffered from depression, had suicidal tendencies and there was a risk of self-harm in jail, added Miss Real.

Peter Arnold, for Theresa Stevens, said the mother-of-two was "a wretched woman" who had profound hearing problems, low esteem and was also a potential suicide.

He said her marriage had broken down.

Commenting on their conviction, DC Jim Bayliss of West Mercia Constabulary said: "The sentencing reflects the seriousness of such irresponsible behaviour, but unfortunately cannot redress the fear that was generated in a community that has a considerably lower than average level for violent crime."