STIPENDIARY John Finestein told a Wallasey woman she was close to prison.

"If we meet again, you will go down the stairs and I warn you it will be awful. I have seen grown men cry over it," he told 32-year-old Julie Suzanne Maddocks, of Hampstead Road, Wallasey, at the Wirral court.

She admitted theft of items worth £17.49 from Superdrug and had previous conditions for dishonesty. She was put on probation for two years.

MORETON Afternoon Townswomen's Guild is appealing for new members.

The group promises a varied programme including arts and crafts, gardening, social studies, theatre visits and outings to various places of interest. For further information contact Mrs D. Jones on 677-4973.

WALLASEY MP Angela Eagle has welcomed the government White Paper, Learning to Succeed, as a positive response to the learning needs of the over-16s. A long-time critic of TECs, she has welcomed the rationalisation of a system which "has proved excessively bureaucratic, unaccountable to local people and lacking in innovation."

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