Sandwell criminals complete more than 1,000 hours of community service

The figures have been released as part of the 'Safer 6' six-week campaign being carried out across Sandwell to crack down on anti social behaviour.

Community payback is unpaid work ordered by the courts as part of a community sentence.

The group worked across Oldbury, Wednesbury, Tipton and West Bromwich clearing 11 tons of waste in the process.

Work taken out during the campaign included litter picking pavements, clearing overgrown land, laying wood chippings, laying stones to prevent area's from becoming overgrown and clearing three tonnes of rubbish from Tipton Green.

Community payback unity manager for the Black Country, Martin Walton, said: "My team is proud to have been involved once again in this annual event. It is gratifying to see so many partner organisations and local people working toward a common goal of improving communities."

Across Staffordshire and the West Midlands last year more than 506,000 hours of of community payback were completed by over 4,000 offenders, all of this added up to £3 million worth of labour provided to local communities by offenders as payback for the crimes they committed.

Head of community payback for Sandwell, Simon Lomas, said: "Sandwell safer six is a great opportunity for community payback to work with partnership organisations and the community to make real improvement to the local environments. The community payback workers can see both the progress made and the benefits for local residents. It is great for them to realise that their efforts are worth while and appreciated."

Anyone can nominate a project as long as it fits with the community paybacks criteria. So, if an individual, member of a club, community group, faith group or voluntary organisation has a project that fits the criteria, they should call 0121 248 2688 or look online for 'SWM Community Payback'.