That's it from the Beds, Herts and Bucks Local Live team on Wednesday - we'll be back from 08:00 tomorrow, bringing you the news, sport, travel and weather updates as they happen. 

If you have any photographs from around the county that you'd like to share, or if there's anything happening that you'd like us to know about, you can contact us via email or Twitter, external.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

A chilly night with showers moving southwards during the evening, and overnight, with temperatures dropping to 2C (36F). 

Tomorrow a chilly start with some patchy frost and a mostly dry and bright day to follow, with a high temperature of 6C (43F).  

BBC Sport

As his team head for Old Trafford tonight, Watford head coach Quique Sanchez Flores has said he knows Louis Van Gaal's Manchester United have improved recently but the Hornets are "positive".

Image source, Getty Images

He said: "We have in our mind the opportunity to add these points against Manchester United but, of course, we are expecting a difficult match, very tough... United are on a good run, playing well; a young team, very quick with skill.

"But we are always in our line, our way, respecting the teams but always we are there to be competitive and add points in the matches."

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

As Watford head to Old Trafford tonight to face Manchester United in the Premier League, these head-to-head match facts won't make encouraging reading for Hornets fans.

Image source, Getty Images

But don't despair, just look at who's topping the league at the moment to remind you the strangest things can happen in football.

• Manchester United are on a 10-game winning streak against Watford, including a 2-1 victory in November's reverse fixture
• This run includes all five previous Premier League matches, in which United have scored a total of 14 goals.
• Watford have never won an away league match against Manchester United in eight attempts
• The Hornets' only victory at Old Trafford was a 2-1 League Cup victory in October 1978

Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

Evening headlines for Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire: 

• Burglars forced their way into a woman's home in Bedford when she refused to let them in when they pretended they were there to check on the water pipes
• A pre-inquest hearing has taken place into the death of a 19-month-old toddler from Bedfordshire
• Bedfordshire's double Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton has won her first horse race

Nic Rigby
BBC News

Police are appealing for information after a fatal crash in which a Jaguar car hit a stationary lorry.

The driver of the Jaguar died in the crash on the northbound carriageway of the A509 at Newport Pagnell, near Chicheley Hill at about 08:00 today. 

Investigating officer PC James Lacey of Thames Valley Police, external, said: "I would appeal to anyone who witnessed the collision, has footage of the collision, or saw either vehicle before the collision to contact police as soon as possible."

BBC Sport

Bedfordshire's double Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton has won her first horse race.

Image source, Getty Images

She took the Switching Saddles Hunters Chase at Wincanton on Pacha Du Polder.

Her trainer said earlier that her performance today would decided whether she will compete at Cheltenham in a fortnight.

Nic Rigby
BBC News

A car driver has been killed in a crash with a lorry in Newport Pagnell this morning.

Image source, Google

It happened at about 08:00 on the A509 near Chicheley Hill.

Thames Valley Police, external says the lorry was stationary in a lay-by when the crash happened. It closed the road for six hours.

Bedfordshire Police, external are appealing for information after a woman was subjected to a "vicious and intolerable" attack when three men forced their way into her house on Monday, stealing cash and jewellery in the process.

Image source, Google

The men, all described as white, called at the house in Chestnut Avenue, Bedford, between 19:30 and 19:50, claiming they were there to check the water pipes. But when the woman refused to let them in, they forced their way in, threatening and assaulting her.

PC Lucy Craddock, said the victim had been left "shaken and upset" and urged people to contact them if they had witnessed any suspicious activity in the area at the time.

Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio

A woman from Hertfordshire, who stole more than £2.5m in a bogus Spanish property investment scheme, has been ordered to pay back more than £100,000.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

Margarita Clark, 64, from Broxbourne, was jailed for 40 months in November after defrauding six people out of a total of £2,562,000 by persuading them to join the fictitious scheme.

A Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation and compensation order has been made against her at St Albans Crown Court which says she has three months to pay back the money which will be shared on a percentage loss basis between her victims or face a further 20-month prison sentence.

Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio

Several community centres in Luton look set to be closed because of cuts in funding.

Image source, Google

London Luton Airport, external, which is largely owned by Luton Borough Council, is cutting £1m of funding to community services to help pay for a train link. The money is also needed to help the council run services like libraries and waste collection.

Katherine Knights, who uses the centre in Bushmead, (pictured) said she would be "absolutely gutted" if it closed because it was her "regular weekly bit of exercise with other members of the community" and she could not see where the service could be picked up elsewhere.

BBC Sport

Watford travel to Old Trafford in the Premier league tonight to take on Manchester United.

Jose Jurado will again miss out for the Hornets with a calf injury. Etienne Capoue is fit despite being substituted because of tiredness in Saturday's draw with Bournemouth.

Image source, Getty Images

MOTD commentator, Steve Wilson, said: "Watford's only win at Old Trafford came back in 1978 with a League Cup brace from Luther Blissett. With United suddenly bouncing with youthful confidence, an end to that sequence looks unlikely."    

BBC Weather

Brighter conditions will arrive this afternoon, but it will remain windy with scattered showers.

Maximum temperature: 7C (44F).

Get more on the forecast where you live from BBC Weather.     

BBC Sport

A decision about whether Bedfordshire's double Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton will compete at Cheltenham in a fortnight will be made after she rides in Somerset later today.

She'll partner the Paul Nicholls-trained Pacha Du Polder in the Betfair Switching Saddles Hunters' Chase at Wincanton this afternoon.

Image source, Getty Images

Jane Killick
BBC Three Counties Radio

Here are the top stories we're looking at this lunch time:

• A court has heard claims a political activist from Cambridgeshire suffered "inhuman and degrading treatment" in the weeks leading up to his death on railway tracks near Sandy
• A woman from Hertfordshire, who stole more than £2.5m in a bogus property investment scheme, has been ordered to pay back more than £100,000

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

At this morning's pre-inquest hearing into the death of young Tory activist, Elliott Johnson, his family had called for the scope of the full inquest to be widened to include allegations of bullying.

Their barrister, Heather Williams, said they believed his death was "directly linked to a series of events that occurred in the last few weeks of his life" and that under article three of the Human Rights Act 1998, public authorities were obliged to investigate when there were allegations of inhuman or degrading treatment.

But George Alliott, representing Conservative Way Forward, external, where Mr Johnson had worked as political editor, said only selected parts of the suicide note had so far been made public and "if the scope were to be widened, it is going to have to include reference to Elliott's mental health and his sexuality".

Tom Barton
BBC Look East political reporter

Bedfordshire coroner Tom Osborne has said he will make a ruling on the scope of the inquest into the death of young Tory activist Elliott Johnson, who died on railway tracks near Sandy, by 16:00 on Friday.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

At a pre-inquest hearing at Ampthill Coroner's Court this morning, the barrister for Mr Johnson's parents, Ray and Alison (pictured leaving the court), argued that it should be widened to include bullying allegations.

The barrister for Conservative Way Forward, external, which Mr Johnson had joined in June 2015 as political editor, said the inquest would need to examine his mental health history and sexuality.

Charlie Jones
BBC Local Live

A pre-inquest hearing into the death of Conservative activist Elliott Johnson has concluded. Here's a timeline of events:

• June 2015: Elliott Johnson starts working for the campaign group Conservative Way Forward, external as political editor
• 12 August: He makes a complaint to the Conservative Party about activist Mark Clarke. Around the same time, he is demoted to part-time social media consultant due to budget cuts
• 5 September: He withdraws his complaint after meeting with Mr Clarke
• 15 September: Mr Johnson is found dead on railway tracks near Sandy station, Bedfordshire
• 16 September: Police find a letter in his room accusing Mr Clarke of bullying. He denies this allegation
• 18 November: Mr Clarke is expelled from the party
• 28 November: Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps resigns as a minister amid claims he failed to act on bullying complaints while he was party co-chairman

Tom Barton
BBC Look East political reporter

An inquest into the death of Conservative activist Elliott Johnson would need to examine his mental health history and sexuality if its scope was to be widened, a barrister for campaign group Conservative Way Forward, external had said.

Image source, PA

Speaking at a pre-inquest hearing, the barrister told the coroner Mr Johnson's family had not made public part of his suicide note referring to his sexuality.   

The barrister said the note had mentioned Mr Johnson's failure to give his parents a chance of grandchildren.

The Johnson family's barrister said the passage about his sexuality was the only passage that did not relate to bullying within the Conservative Party.

Elliott Johnson's family barrister Heather Williams told today's pre-inquest hearing there was a prospect that some of the treatment the 21-year-old Conservative activist received in final weeks of his life was "inhuman or degrading".

Mr Johnson, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, was found dead on railway tracks near Sandy, Bedfordshire, last September

Ms Williams said his suicide note indicated that a "terrible train of events" was the direct reason for his death and argued the coroner should extend the scope of the inquest to include bullying allegations.

She quoted a passage from the note in which Mr Johnson wrote: "These past few weeks have been the most difficult of my life... I've failed in money, failed in life, failed in politics."