A 29-year-old man has admitted stealing bronze plaques which were chiselled off a Quarry Bank war memorial.

Mark Mellor pleaded guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday to the theft of six plaques from the memorial in Stevens Park - on the basis he received them knowing they had been stolen and intended selling them for scrap.

The treasured plaques bore the names of men from the Quarry Bank and Brierley Hill areas who died in the two World Wars and were valued at just under £200.

They were regarded highly by the community and were eventually recovered from a scrapyard in the Stourbridge area.

Mellor, of Furlong Lane, Colley Gate, was remanded on bail for a pre-sentence report until October 1.

His 28-year-old brother Anthony Mellor, of Windmill Hill, Colley Gate, pleaded not guilty to stealing the plaques and handling stolen property and was cleared on both charges by a jury today after a three day trial.

The seven man, five woman panel retired to consider the evidence for two and a half hours before returning unanimous not guilty verdicts.

Prosecutors alleged Anthony Mellor went in a van to the Lye scrapyard where the plaques were sold but, in evidence to the jury, he maintained he had been at home with his girlfriend when the plaques disappeared from the park in January.

He said he had accepted a lift in the van because his own car was off the road and the driver asked if they could stop off at the scrapyard.

Anthony Mellor stressed to the court he did not know the bronze plaques, which weighed 16 stone each, were in the back of the van.