A BUNGLING Stourbridge thief who used a car to smash a heavy car park cash machine containing £1,000 worth of coins has been jailed for two years.

Father-of-four Wesley Bristow was hooded and with an accomplice when he used the Peugeot as a battering ram, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The 25-year-old managed to tear the cash dispenser from its base but his actions tore off part of the bodywork of the vehicle - Kevin Jones, prosecuting, told the court.

He said the two men then finally managed to get the dispenser into the car through the passenger door before Bristow drove away.

But there were sparks flying from underneath the vehicle because the weight of the dispenser forced part of the car to scrape the ground.

Then, just a mile later, Bristow lost control of the car, demolished a bollard and crashed into a wall in Bull Street, Brierley Hill, added Mr Jones.

He said: "The machine that contained the £1,000 was quickly recovered by police."

But, he went on, Bristow left behind nearly £5,500 worth of damage at the car park by the Asda supermarket in Pearson Street.

Bristow, of Church Road, Oldswinford, admitted theft, criminal damage and dangerous driving and he was banned from the roads for two years.

Judge Nicholas Webb jailed him for a year for the offences but ruled he should have to serve a further 12 months because they constituted a breach of a suspended prison sentence.

The judge told Bristow: "The vehicle was in a very dangerous condition. It was only good fortune that you did not lose control at a spot where people would have been about."

Devon Small, prosecuting, said the car belonged to another man who had threatened Bristow with violence unless he came up with money to clear a drug debt.

He said that when he was arrested police recovered two mobile telephones and they were ringing. The officers were then able to confirm the caller was "someone who would put pressure on people".

Mr Jones told the court the whole incident on the car park was caught on CCTV with camera's filming Bristow as he and his accomplice struggled to uproot the cash machine.

He said the second man left the scene in another vehicle, which had the third man behind the wheel, just before police arrived on the scene.