Updates for Thursday, 11 February 2016
News, sport, travel and weather updates resume at 08:00 on Friday
BBC Sport
League Two side Stevenage have signed Chesterfield striker Byron Harrison on a one-month loan deal.
The 28-year-old previously had a spell at Boro, scoring eight goals in 23 games to help them win promotion out of League Two in 2011 via the play-offs.
Image source, gett
Carol Abercrombie
BBC Three Counties Radio
The government has confirmed the closure of five courts in Beds, Herts and Bucks as part of £500m of savings across England and Wales.
Image source, GoogleThose set for closure include Bedford and Mid Beds Magistrates and Family Court, Bedford County and Family Court, St Albans County Court and Watford Magistrates and Family Court.
Aylesbury Magistrates, County Court and Family Court will also close. The plans have been opposed by the Law Society, external which says the only alternative to Aylesbury for some is in Milton Keynes, which is up to a two-and-a-half hour trip by public transport.
Carol Abercrombie
BBC Three Counties Radio
The government has confirmed the closure of a number of courtrooms across the country including five in Beds, Herts and Bucks.
More to come.
Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio
Here's the top stories we're looking at this lunchtime:
Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio
Luton Town are through to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 1997.
The Hatters youngsters won on penalties away to Preston, after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra-time.
They will be back in Lancashire for the quarter-final away to Blackburn. They are the only club from outside the top two divisions definitely into the last eight.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
BBC Travel
There are delays through Denham on Chiltern Railways , externalof up to 10 minutes due to a road vehicle hitting a bridge.
One MK
A petition will be presented to Milton Keynes Council, external to protest against the decision that all taxi drivers must re-take their driving tests.
Carol Abercrombie
BBC Three Counties Radio
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police have been told to improve in key areas of their operations, in the latest report by the police inspectorate. .
Image source, Getty ImagesHMIC, external looked at how fair and ethical the forces are. While identifying the areas that require improvement, the report gave both forces a good rating overall. Thames Valley police was found to be good in all areas.
Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio
Former Stevenage manager Teddy Sheringham has revealed that he went to the club's first game after his sacking in disguise.
Image source, Getty ImagesIn an interview with The Times, external, Sheringham says he wanted to see first hand how the players and supporters responded to his departure.
The former England striker's eight-month spell in charge at Stevenage ended on 1 February but he still went to watch last Saturday's game against Crawley.
Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio
A man who deliberately attacked his former girlfriend to kill their unborn baby, will be sentenced today.
Image source, Metropolitan PoliceKevin Wilson, 22, of Longfield Estate, Bermondsey, met Malorie Bantala when they were both students at the University of Bedfordshire.
Mr Wilson, a teaching assistant, and a 17-year-old boy ambushed her near her home in London last June.
Sara Thornton
BBC Weather
After a frosty start, the day should be mostly dry with bright or sunny spells and a maximum temperature of 8C (46F).
Reaction to the death of John McCafferty, the world's longest heart transplant patient, is still coming into BBC Look East's Facebook, external page.
Jacqueline Amey said, external he was " such an inspiration to have kept healthy for so long with his new heart".
Carl Wyatt said, external: "It's amazing to think that this procedure have him an extra 33 years of life."
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
John McCafferty's widow Ann has said that the couple did so much in the 30 years since his life-saving heart transplant.
The British Heart Foundation, external has confirmed that after recovering from surgery patients should indeed be able to return to a wide range of activities including driving, holidays and physical activity.
It said that while patients need to take a number of medicines for the rest of their lives to stop their bodies rejecting the new organ, more than three-quarters of heart transplant patients live for more than five years.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
Newport Pagnell man John McCafferty was officially recognised as the world's longest surviving heart transplant patient by Guinness World Records in 2013.
Image source, Alexander P Kapp/GeographMr McCafferty was told he had five years to live when he underwent the life-saving operation at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex in October 1982 - carried out by world-renowned surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.
He surpassed the previous Guinness World Record of 30 years, 11 months and 10 days set by an American man who died in 2009.
People have been reacting to the death of John McCafferty, the world's longest surviving heart transplant patient, on BBC Look East's Facebook, external page.
Pam Walker said she had met Mr McCafferty, external soon after his transplant and that his death was "a loss" that "without the miracle of his surgery, would have occurred 30 years ago".
Mary Heath said, external: " How wonderful this man was given such a chance of living a full life by the kindness of others...."
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
John McCafferty's heart transplant was carried out by the pioneering surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital in October 1982.
Sir Magdi said that at the time they had estimated he would survive for five years because "we did not know how long patients [could] survive after transplantation".
"John showed quite clearly that people can survive in excess of 30 years... so that's remarkable. It shows how transplantation can give life and that's entirely due to the generosity of the British public, the donor family that is."
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
John McCafferty and his wife Ann had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in October. His widow said the years they had together after his heart transplant were "brilliant" and they had "travelled the world and met so many people".
She told the BBC: "He took part in the transplant games and did so much. We wouldn't have been able to do that without the transplant.
"He was in pain for the last three years of his life and was taken to hospital in Milton Keynes on 27 January. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to return home."
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
John McCafferty, who has died 33 years after his life-saving heart transplant operation, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, external when he was 39.
The condition is a disease of your heart muscle where it becomes stretched and thin.
It leads to scarring of the heart wall and damage to the muscle which causes the heart to become weakened and enlarged, preventing it from pumping efficiently.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
The British Heart Foundation, external has said that not everyone who could benefit from a heart transplant is able to have one because there are not enough suitable and available donor hearts.
Image source, GoogleBut last year, there was new hope that the number of hearts available could increase by at least 25% after pioneering surgery at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.
In March 2015, surgeons performed the first heart transplant in Europe using a non-beating heart. Donor hearts are usually from people who are brain-stem dead, but whose hearts are still beating.
Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live
A heart transplant, external is when a diseased heart is replaced by a healthy human heart from a donor in an operation which usually takes between four and six hours.
Image source, ThinkstockIn 2014/15 there were 181 heart transplants at seven hospitals around the UK, the British Heart Foundation, external says.
The first-ever successful heart transplant operation was performed in South Africa in 1967 by Prof Christiaan Neethling Barnard and a team of 30 physicians at the Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. The patient, Louis Washkansky, survived for 18 days with the new heart.