Basildon gymnast Max Whitlock, originally from Hemel Hempstead, has been nominated for a national award recognising British athletes who were inspirational at the Rio Olympics. 

Whitlock won two gold medals in August - becoming the first British gymnast to win a top prize at an Olympic games.

The 23-year-old (pictured with BBC Essex presenter Sadie Nine) goes up against five other athletes, including Andy Murray and Mo Farah, for the Great Britain’s Choice Award, external.

You can cast your vote here, external.

A man who stole a double-decker bus while over the drink-drive limit, causing thousands of pounds of damage, is jailed.

A man who stole a double-decker bus while under the influence of alcohol has been jailed.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Police have released footage taken by a member of the public after they spotted a bus being driven erratically through Watford last July.

The driver, who had stolen it while drunk, caused thousands of pounds worth of damage in the town and was jailed for 21 months this week.

Deepak Malhotra, 35, of Edgware Road, London, forced his way on to an empty bus at Watford Bus Station in Woodford Road on 7 July at about 21:50.

He drove almost three miles around the town damaging the bus, roadside furniture and two parked cars.

He eventually stopped the bus in Bushey Mill Lane and attempted to make off but was arrested nearby.

He was jailed by a judge at Harrow Crown Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to aggravated vehicle taking, driving whilst disqualified and driving with excess alcohol. He was also banned from driving for three years and must take an extended driving test before regaining his licence.

Ex-England captain Rio Ferdinand plans to build social and affordable housing in London to help combat the housing crisis.

Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio

Watford travel to Swansea in the Premier League on Saturday with Hornets striker Isaac Success an injury doubt after his impressive debut in last week's win at Middlesbrough.

Manager Walter Mazzarri said: "We need to check on him. He didn't train for the whole week with the team... for me to make the final decision I don't look at how they played at their last game but I look at how they trained."   

Image source, Getty Images

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

It's Friday, which means not only are we on the countdown to the weekend, we're on a countdown to the next episode of Strictly Come Dancing.

As the build-up continues, Milton Keynes long jumper Greg Rutherford has admitted that while he is "really struggling to figure out" a lot of the Cha Cha Cha as he prepares for this weekend's dance, his Olympian experience has helped.

Appearing on the show's sister programme It Takes Two, with professional partner Natalie Lowe, he said: "What always seems to happen is that we have terrible rehearsals and I forget a few things and I get a bit stressed by it, but then as soon as the music starts and I'm in a crowd environment, then this different side of me clicks and it's just about performance which I think is similar when I compete. 

"We enjoy the actual performance [but] the build-up to it is nerve-wracking."  

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

A driver who knocked down and killed a five-year-old boy in Milton Keynes is being sentenced today.

David Cowell, 42, ran over Riley Ferguson on the driveway he shared with boy's family in June 2015.

A jury found him guilty last month of causing death by careless driving following a retrial at Aylesbury Crown Court.

Footballers' regeneration project will see a new sports academy and affordable housing for Bedfordshire town.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Watford's deputy mayor has defended the cost of an ongoing legal battle with allotment-holders in the town.

Image source, Google

Campaigners are back at the High Court today in another attempt to stop their plots on Farm Terrace at the back of Vicarage Road being built on as part of the Health Campus scheme.

Deputy mayor Peter Taylor said: "It's cost significant thousands of pounds which has been unfortunate, but we think because this site is so crucial to this project it's been money we've had to pay; we've had no choice.

"The West Herts Hospital Trust confirmed last week that Watford is central to its plans in the future, right next to it is the allotment site and that's the site that needs to be used to improve our hospital."   

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

The row over the allotments site behind Vicarage Road in Watford has been going on for about four years - here's what's happened so far in case you're only just catching up:

• The Farm Terrace allotment site has been in use since 1896
• The original Health Campus master plan drawn shows the development being built around the allotments but then the council changed its mind and wanted to use the land
• Watford Borough Council said plans for 750 homes and commercial buildings in a proposed £250m development on the 30-hectare site behind Watford Football Club would not be viable if it could not build on the 128 plots  
• Allotment holders won an appeal against the council's plan in August 2013 but this was overturned the following December when a revised scheme was accepted by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles
• In April 2014, Save Farm Terrace Allotment , externalcampaigners won the right to challenge that ruling and later the council plan was quashed by the High Court as a judicial review found Watford Borough Council had not kept the communities secretary updated on the number of homes included in the development
• In May this year, the Secretary of State for Communities Greg Clark ruled that Farm Terrace could be developed
• Today campaigners are back at the High Court for an appeal against that decision

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Austin

Lewis Hamilton says he will "take it like a man" if he loses this year's Formula 1 title to Brackley-based Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton is 33 points behind the German with 100 available in the last four races, the first of which is the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on Sunday.

Image source, EPA

The driver from Stevenage said: "You can't win them all. Look at the great champions who lost titles. It's part of the game.

"I'm going to give it everything I've got and everything is possible."

Should he lose, Hamilton said "life would move on" and he would hopefully "come back stronger".

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

A man being questioned over the deaths of two people in Luton has been released on bail.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

The man, who has not been named, was being quizzed by Bedfordshire Police after the body of a man was discovered in a wheelie bin outside a flat in Essex Close on Monday evening.

He was also being questioned about the death of a woman found dead inside the flat a week earlier.

The man has been bailed to return to the police station at a later date.

A man being questioned this week over the deaths of two people at a flat in Luton has been released on bail.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

A teenage girl was assaulted by a man while walking to school in Leighton Buzzard yesterday morning.

Bedfordshire Police said it happened between 08:45 and 09:55 as the girl was walking along a footpath over the canal between Grovebury Road and Mentmore Gardens.

The man is described as white, in his 30s, slim, with black hair and stubble. He was wearing a light grey hoodie with a black puffa jacket over the top and grey tracksuit bottoms.

Matthew Lockwood
BBC Three Counties Radio

Allotment holders in Watford are going back to the High Court today in a last ditch attempt to stop their plots being built on.

Image source, Watford Council

For the past four years campaigners have been battling the council to save Farm Terrace at the back of Vicarage Road.

In May, the Secretary of State for Communities said that the allotments could be built on as part of the Health Campus scheme which the council says will deliver more than 1,000 jobs and about 750 new homes. The authority says the allotments are needed to ensure the viability of the development.

But campaigners disagree and say the development can happen without the plots being destroyed.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Police in Luton have confirmed that the body of a murdered man lay undetected inside a wheelie bin outside a flat as officers investigated the death of a woman inside. 

Image source, South Beds News Agency

The man's remains were found in Essex Close on Monday night this week by a member of the public.

Police had found the woman on 10 October and at first thought it was a suicide. She had recently given birth, and her baby has been placed in care.

Det Insp Fraser Wylie said: "That black wheelie bin was outside the block of flats on 10 October.

"Would it have been searched as part of these circumstances? No.

"But it subsequently became very apparent about a week later when the male body was found in that wheelie bin that they were linked deaths which is why we've escalated them and treated them both as suspicious deaths." 

A man has been arrested on suspicion of two murders and police have until this morning to charge or release him. 

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

A chilly start to the day, but it'll be dry in many parts with bright spells, although there's a chance of showers the closer to the coast you are. Top temperature: 14C (57F).

Watch my full regional forecast:

There'll be clear skies overnight, allowing temperatures to drop to around 5C (41F).

BBC Weather has the full forecast.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome to another day of regular live updates of news, sport, weather, travel and more. 

This morning we'll bring you the latest on the double murder investigation in Luton, plus - do you remember the Watford campaigners who took vegetables to the High Court to challenge a government decision to allow the council to build on the 118-year-old plots?

Well, today is possibly the last chapter in the row as campaigners are due back at the court in a last-ditch attempt to stop their plots behind Vicarage Road being built on.

Image source, PA

We'll also see what the weather has in store with a full forecast.

If you'd like to get in touch, you can email us, tweet us, external or contact us via Facebook, external.

A woman, whose death has been linked to the discovery of a body in a bin, had recently given birth is it revealed.