Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

It's been a busy news day across the three counties:

• A woman was arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of another woman in Letchworth

• The husband of a murdered Luton woman Saima Khan paid tribute to her as a loving mother, devoted wife and beloved daughter
• Police are considering the possibility a person was hit by a train in Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire before their severed head ended up in a quarry in Cambridgeshire

To see more on these stories and others scroll down this page.

The Student Illustrator of the Year is Kate Milner from Leighton Buzzard.

Image source, Barrington Stoke / V&A

She received a cheque for £3,000 for her work on My Name is Not Refugee, a picture book about a boy's experience of setting off on a long journey to another country.

Her illustrations will be on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, external in London until 21 August.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

This evening will be a dry and bright, with lows of 6C (44F).

Tomorrow will be a dry day with sunny spells. Highs of 19C (66F).

Lee Agnew
BBC Three Counties Radio

Allotment holders in Watford have lost a long running battle to stop their plots being built on.

The Secretary of State for Communities has ruled land at Farm Terrace can be developed.

Image source, Google

The land is earmarked for housing and an extension of Watford Hospital.

The co-owner of LL Camps in Bushey has declined to give evidence at his trial, which has heard he failed to act when images of naked young children were found on the phone of his business partner, Ben Lewis.

Staff told the court Lewis was allowed to keep working at the American-style summer camp for children - although not directly with youngsters - after Mr Landsman was told about the images, but Mr Landsman's barrister said he had agreed to report Lewis the night before his arrest.

Image source, south beds news agency

Tal Landsman (pictured), 26, from Stevenage denies cruelty to a child.

Ben Lewis, also 26, from Borehamwood has pleaded guilty to possessing, downloading and taking indecent images.

Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

A woman is in a serious condition in hospital after a motorbike with a pillion passenger came off the A1 at Sandy.

She was airlifted to Addenbrooke's after the crash on Tuesday night at 20:30, closing the road up to the Black Cat roundabout.

A man was treated at Bedford Hospital for minor injuries.

BBC Sport

Aliaz Bedene, who trains at the Gosling Tennis Centre, external in Welwyn, is through to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in is career. 

The British number two beat Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in five sets at the French Open.

Image source, Getty Images

He'll now play world number one Novak Djokovic.

For every 100 beds in Milton Keynes hospital, more than eight-and-a-half days are lost through bed-blocking.

Image source, Thinkstock

Delays in discharging patients who are medically well, but can't leave hospital for some other reason - most commonly because they are waiting for a nursing home or home care - vary widely, according to the National Audit Office.

Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

Thames Valley Police say bullets were fired through windows of a house and a car in Mill Way in Aylesbury last night.

People living in the house found what looks like bullet holes in a downstairs window and a car windscreen. 

Police are trying to establish a motive, but think it could be a case of mistaken identity.

BBC Sport

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo came first in second practice ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, with Hertfordshire's Lewis Hamilton second.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Weather

This afternoon is looking fine, as this picture of Millbrook from BBC Weather Watcher 'Dog Walker 23' shows.

It will continue to be warm, with some sunshine and just the chance of an isolated shower.

Maximum temperature: 18C (64F).

Image source, Weather Watchers/Dog Walker 23

A prisoner tried to escape from The Mount jail in Bovingdon near Hemel Hempstead this morning.

Image source, HMPS

The alarm was raised at 09:30 when the 36-year-old went on the road.

A police helicopter was called in to help with the search and the man was re-captured at 10:41.

Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

Police searching the railway line in Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire say one theory is the person whose severed head ended up in Cambridgeshire might have been hit by a train.

But they insist they are keeping an open mind and haven't decided if the death is murder, accident or suicide.

Image source, south beds news agency

It's thought the head ended up at a skip in a quarry in Cambridgeshire after being brought from a construction site beneath a railway viaduct in Sharnbrook.

Police are awaiting on the results of DNA tests, as a post-mortem examination failed to establish the cause of death or the sex of the deceased.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of another woman in Hertfordshire.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

The body of a woman, in her 20s, was found at an address in Ivel Court, Letchworth on 24 May. A 52-year-old woman, from Hitchin, has been detained and is in police custody.

Det Insp Fraser Wylie from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit said: "The wider community may be concerned by what has happened but I would like to reassure people we are fully investigating the circumstances."

The husband of Saima Khan, who was murdered at her home in Overstone Road, Luton on Monday night, has paid tribute to "a loving mother to four beautiful children, a devoted wife, a beloved daughter and the most caring of sisters".

Image source, South Beds News Agency

Hafeez Rehman said: "This was a junction in our lives where we intended to watch our children grow, to love them and spend quality time as a family and make memories. We have been left with a gap in our lives and we can only pray that she is resting in peace."

Asking for privacy for the family, he added: "At this moment in time we would request that our privacy is respected by everyone and the media."

A woman's been arrested after the sudden death of a woman in Letchworth on Tuesday evening.

Bedfordshire Police have named a woman killed at a house in Luton on Monday night as Saima Khan, 34, of Overstone Road.

Det Ch Insp Adam Gallop said police are "keeping an open mind" as to what led to her death.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio

A serial killer from Hertfordshire has lost her High Court claim that she is entitled to damages for human rights violations after being placed in solitary confinement in jail.

Joanna Dennehy, who grew up in Harpenden, was given a whole-life sentence at her Old Bailey trial for murdering three men and stabbing two more.

Image source, Cambridgeshire Police

A group of independent transport experts is describing the proposed new high-speed rail link, HS2, as "an over-priced project that will fail in many of its objectives".

The academics say they support the project - which passes through Buckinghamshire - in principle, but claim it could be completed much more cheaply, and with lower carbon emissions.

Image source, PA

Luton News

Following the death of a woman at a house in Overstone Road in Luton on Monday night, the police and crime commissioner for Bedfordshire, Kathryn Holloway, has added her voice, external to calls to end speculation about what happened.