A DESPERATE Rowley Regis mother, who masked her face when she robbed a shop to get money for her daughter’s birthday, has been spared a prison sentence.

Judge Martin Walsh said it was clear Marcia Anderson turned to crime when she had a number of “personal and emotional problems”.

He said it was an extremely serious offence because the shopkeeper had been pushed when Anderson made a grab for money in the till.

But he ruled it was in the interests of the public for the 42-year-old to undergo treatment for her drug problems to keep her on the straight and narrow “You made an attempt to disguise your face,” he told Anderson. “You had a grill handle which the victim thought might have been a weapon.”

He added: “This was a spontaneous act - an act committed in desperation. There are reasons that allow me to go outside the sentencing guidelines.”

Anderson, of Greenwood Avenue, admitted robbery at the Samra Stores, Victoria Park Road, Smethwick, on the basis she had not threatened to kill anyone or been armed with a gun.

She was sentenced to 21 months in prison suspended for two years and placed on supervision for two years on condition she attends the drug treatment programme.