Stuart Bailey
BBC News
That's it for another week of live updates for Northamptonshire.
You can scroll down here to catch up with anything you might have missed.
We'll be back with more news, weather, sport and travel for the county at 08:00 on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Image source, .Stuart Bailey
BBC News
That's it for another week of live updates for Cambridgeshire.
You can scroll down here to catch up with anything you might have missed.
We'll be back with more news, weather, sport and travel for the county at 08:00 on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Image source, .Stuart Bailey
BBC News
That's it for another week of live updates for Beds, Herts and Bucks.
You can scroll down here to catch up with anything you might have missed.
We'll be back with more news, weather, sport and travel at 08:00 on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Image source, .Stuart Bailey
BBC News
A group of boys from Luton who travelled to St Albans to rob young people at knifepoint have been banned from the city for three months.
St Albans Crown Court heard that nine teenagers - some wearing ski masks over their faces - walked to Sherwood Park late at night and stole three phones, a bag and a wallet from four victims.
Prosecutor Ann Evans said the victims of the robberies were schoolboys aged 15 and 17.
One of them told police he was threatened with "cheap kitchen knives".
Eight defendants, who are now aged 16 and 17, denied conspiracy to rob on 4 June last year. One had pleaded guilty.
One was sentenced to a 12 month Youth Referral Order and supervision.
The others each received an 18-month Youth Referral Order, were ordered to carry out 20 hours unpaid work and were banned from St Albans for three months.
The criminals cannot be identified due to their age.
Craig Lewis
BBC Northampton Politics Reporter
The money has to be found to help homeless people - according to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
I spoke to Mr Corbyn during a visit to Northampton's Hope Centre earlier today.
He told me housing is a "national crisis" and a "waste of resources".
He said: "Children growing up in expensive, badly-run private rented accommodation, being made homeless every six months or a year, changing schools, moving around, don't achieve in school.
"They don't achieve so much as they could in life."
Stuart Bailey
BBC News
A second man from Northampton has been arrested as part of a terrorism investigation centred on the Royal Anglian Regiment of the British Army, external.
He was originally detained by the Royal Military Police in Cyprus and is now being questioned by the West Midlands Police Counter Terrorism Unit on suspicion of links to the banned neo-Nazi National Action group.
Another 24-year-old man from Northampton and three other serving members of the Army were arrested on Tuesday. Three of them are believed to be from the Royal Anglian Regiment; the fourth with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
Police say the arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led and that there was no threat to the public's safety.
The men are being held on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000; namely on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organisation.
National Action, described by the Home Office as "virulently racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic", became the first extreme right-wing group to be banned under terrorism laws in December 2016.
Stuart Bailey
BBC News
Northamptonshire have beaten Sussex on day four of their County Championship match against Sussex at Wantage Road.
The final scoreboard: Northamptonshire 426 & 140-4 v Sussex 172 & 393 (f/o).
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Stuart Bailey
BBC News
A woman who moved the body of her dead friend using a mobility scooter - and left it in a park - has been jailed for two years.
Kelly Ann Almond of Oundle Road, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to disposing of a corpse to obstruct the coroner.
The 34-year-old moved Stuart Wilkinson, 53, who died in her home on 4 April, to a nearby play park in Queen’s Walk, Fletton.
She was originally arrested on suspicion of Mr Wilkinson’s murder, but after further investigation his death was not believed to be suspicious.
However, the post-mortem examination could not establish a definitive cause of death.
Image source, Cambridgeshire PoliceIn police interview, Almond (pictured) claimed she was afraid of losing the tenancy of her home if Mr Wilkinson was found to have died there, so she moved his body to the park where it could be discovered.
Det Insp Lucy Thomson said: "Moving a body in this way is extremely serious as it prevents us from properly investigating following a death.
"It also shows a complete lack of respect for the deceased.
"Almond committed a very foolish act and the sentence she received reflects the serious nature of this offence."
An inquest into the death is still due to take place.
Craig Lewis
BBC Northampton Politics Reporter
Jeremy Corbyn has been visiting the county today as part of his summer campaign tour.
The Labour leader has been to the Northampton's Hope Centre, which works to tackle the causes of homelessness, and the Pen Sure Start Centre in Corby.
While there he spoke to homeless people and volunteers at the centre.
Mr Corbyn told me homelessness was increasing due to "expensive private rented accommodation, a lack of new-build council accommodation and individual cases of family break-up".
He said he is determined to regulate the private rented sector and build more council housing.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
All lanes are now open in both directions on the M11 at J12 for the A603 after yesterday's collision where a lorry went into the central reservation.
Highways England said there will be further repairs carried out tonight.
Meanwhile, the agency said the exit slip road from the A428 to the A1303 at Madingley will remain closed until tomorrow while emergency repairs are carried out following this morning's collision.
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Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
A man has been jailed for 18 years for a string of sexual offences against children in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
Image source, Bedfordshire PoliceAfter pleading guilty to the offences in May, Andrew Williams, 50, of no fixed address, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court for 18 counts of sexual abuse offences relating to five victims, who were aged between four and 10 years old at the time of the crimes, which were committed between 2001 and 2015.
As well as imprisonment, Williams must serve a seven-year licence period and remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
Det Sgt Beth Hanna said: "Williams knew his young victims and abused their trust to groom them and carry out his abuse over a prolonged period of time.
"The young victims and their families have been incredibly brave during the police investigation and the subsequent court case.
"I hope this sentence will allow them to begin to move on with their lives safe in the knowledge that Williams can cause no further harm."
Craig Lewis
BBC Northampton Politics Reporter
I'm at The Hope Centre in Northampton where Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party, is visiting in the final two days of Labour's summer marginal campaign.
There'll be more on this later...
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Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
A man in his 60s suffered fractured ribs when he was attacked by five youths in South Oxhey and said he felt like he was being "stoned to death".
Hertfordshire Police said the victim was walking through South Oxhey Playing Fields at 21:35 on 27 August when he was approached by the youths.
The attackers, who are described as five white youths aged between 13 and 17, asked him what was in his bag before throwing large sticks, stones and a lump of concrete at him.
The victim suffered two suspected fractured ribs, bruising to his face and a cut near to his left eye.
One, described as being about 13, was wearing a make-shift black balaclava. Another was on a bicycle and wearing a grey hoodie with the hood up, while another is described as being about 17 and 5ft 8in tall with brown hair, wearing a T-shirt and with a breaking voice.
PC Daniel Cunningham called the attack "nasty and unprovoked".
"The victim told us that he felt like he was being stoned to death and he was even followed by the youths as he attempted to flee their abuse," he said.
Martin Heath
BBC Radio Northampton
The mayor of Daventry has urged district council officials to remove a restriction on pupils using a new school building in the town.
The Parker E-Act Academy, external has taken over the former University Technical College building and had hoped to house its new Year 7 students there - but there's a covenant which states it can't be used by pupils under the age of 14. Year 7s are aged 11 and 12.
Mayor Lynne Taylor said: "I know that parents are concerned [as to why their children can't go to that building] because they were supposed to come here from September and now they're not and when I see the facilities I think it's disappointing that they can't.
"I think those who have the power to do something about it should listen very carefully to the parents of 210 children."
Daventry District Council said that the lease included a requirement that the site is used primarily for students age 14-19 and following discussion about options, the council received assurances from E-Act and The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) that these terms would be complied with.
Business manager Simon Bowers said: "E-Act was well aware of the requirement for 14-19 use back in April 2017.
"The council was content with this arrangement.
"However it would appear that the message received by parents may have been somewhat different to the position reached by the council, E-Act and the ESFA.
"The council remains happy to discuss a way forward with E-Act.”
BBC News UK
Buckinghamshire author Roald Dahl's final children's book has been illustrated by his longtime collaborator Sir Quentin Blake, 26 years after it was first published.
Image source, RDNL 2017/Quentin BlakeBilly and the Minpins was originally published as The Minpins in 1991, shortly after Dahl's death, with illustrations by Patrick Benson.
An updated version has now come out with new pictures by Sir Quentin.
It was the only children's book by Roald Dahl that Sir Quentin had not provided illustrations for.
The author lived in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, for 36 years and penned titles including The BFG and Matilda from a hut in his garden.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
We've told you before about the concern over the dilapidated state of Northampton’s Eleanor Cross.
The scheduled and Grade I listed monument has been a feature of the town since the 13th Century and it is now in urgent need of repair.
Image source, Geograph/John ApperleyThe good news is that comprehensive survey work and emergency maintenance will start on 16 October.
The cross, situated at the southern end of London Road close to Delapre Wood, is one of just three surviving monuments of 12 commissioned by Edward I between 1291 and 1294.
Each cross marks one of 12 nightly resting places of his wife, Queen Eleanor of Castile, during her funeral procession from Harby, near Lincoln, to London.
The cross itself is missing from the top of the one in Northampton.
Northampton Borough Council claims it does not own the cross. The county council says the same, but with the cross deteriorating, the borough has taken responsibility for its maintenance.
It said it is continuing to investigate ownership, but in the meantime has taken the decision to carry out emergency maintenance work and commission a full condition survey to inform any necessary future work.
Councillor Tim Hadland said: "We continue to work with Cliveden Conservation and Historic England to ensure this project is carried out in the right way and to the monument’s benefit.
"We all want to see the cross protected and that is precisely why the borough council has pushed ahead."
A Historic England spokesperson said: "We welcome the commissioning of a condition survey by Northampton Borough Council to assess what works are required to safeguard the town’s nationally important Eleanor Cross for our own and future generations."
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
Earlier we told you about an accident on a bridge over the A428 at Madingley to the west of Cambridge.
Image source, BCH Road PolicingWe've now heard that a driver in his 20s was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital after he collided with the barrier on the A1303 above the A428 just after 05:00. His car was the only vehicle involved.
His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
The collision has caused severe delays on the roads this morning and, while the A428 has since opened, the exit slip road onto the A1303 at Madingley remains shut.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
Central Bedfordshire Council has taken legal action to evict travellers from the new Woodside Link at Houghton Regis.
The travellers have been alongside the road, which was only opened to the public a few months ago.
The council said it served notice on Wednesday and, if they don’t move on, the next step is to take them to court.
Councillor Ian Dalgarno confirmed legal proceedings were under way, but health issues had caused a delay.
He said: "A number of the ladies that are living in these caravans are pregnant and two of them gave birth over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
"We've had to work with them to ensure that they've got the right medical attention and subsequently following those births we've given them time to settle and then we've served the notice to move them on."
Lee Agnew
BBC Three Counties Radio
The body of a decapitated cat has been found in Milton Keynes.
The cat was found in the cemetery opposite Oakridge Park in New Bradwell on Thursday morning and the RSPCA believes it was deliberately killed.
The Milton Keynes branch of the RSPCA said an initial examination by a vet indicates the attack was malicious.
The cat, which was black with a small patch of white underneath, was chipped, but the chip was unreadable, and they can't tell if it was male or female.
The charity says its inspectors have contacted other agencies who're investigating a similar case.
Blink and you might have missed it, but today's Stage 6 of cycling's Tour of Britain made a brief visit to Cambridgeshire.
The 183km (114 mile) race travels from Newmarket to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast.
After leaving Newmarket, the race proper started in Exning, before leaving Suffolk, heading through Fordham in East Cambridgeshire, and then re-entering Suffolk again.
Follow all the action on our dedicated BBC Live page.
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