Nic Rigby
BBC News

A prison officer is to be charged with gross negligence manslaughter and misconduct in public office in relation to the death of an inmate at HMP Woodhill, near Milton Keynes.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: "Following careful consideration of all the evidence provided to us by the police, it has been decided that Joseph Travers should be charged with manslaughter and misconduct in public office, in relation to the death of an HMP Woodhill inmate on 8 May 2015."

Mr Travers will next appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 20 April.

Follow Final Score, text, images and analysis of the Premier League game between Watford v Southampton at Vicarage Road.

Nic Rigby
BBC News

A prison officer is to be charged with gross negligence manslaughter and misconduct in public office in relation to the death of an inmate at HMP Woodhill. 

Graham McGarry
Crewe Alexandra commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

The Crewe Alexandra manager, David Artell, has told BBC Radio Stoke the result against Stevenage was the most frustrated he's felt as a manager. 

The visitors held on for a 2-1 win against the Alex on Saturday despite having their goalkeeper sent off in the first half. 

Crewe had also seen striker Chris Dagnall sent off after an unseemly tussle between the pair.  

Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace urges the local council to act to support development at the Lamex Stadium.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue crews attended three separate incidents in Totternhoe in the early hours of this morning.

The first call came through at 01:43 to tackle fires on an allotment in Church End. Three sheds were involved and a crew from Leighton Buzzard extinguished the fires by 02:46.

At 02:39, Fire Control received a call about a barn blaze in Stanbridge Road. Two crews from Toddington and Dunstable were dispatched.

On the way to the barn fire, as the crews drove along Castle Road, they saw the thatch of the Cross Keys pub alight. One of the engines stopped to deal with it.

Image source, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Firefighters stripped away the thatch restricting the spread of the flames, thus saving the roof.

Group commander John Foolkes said: "This was a very busy night for us, but fortunately our firefighters quickly tackled the fires.

"It was fortunate the crews on their way to the barn fire spotted the fire in the thatch at the pub. Their swift actions kept the damage to a minimum. This could have easily destroyed the whole roof and possibly the building."

Craig Lewis
BBC News

A former chairman of Three Rivers District Council has died aged 89.

Derek Frankland was also head of St Peters Primary School in Mill End, Rickmansworth, and a governor at Chorleywood Primary School for 30 years.

A conference aimed at tackling hate crime is to take place in Luton tomorrow.

The Bedfordshire Hate Crime Conference is aimed at schools, housing agencies, council workers, health providers and other organisations that may come into contact with hate crime victims.

It will look into what constitutes a hate crime, what happens once such a crime is reported to police and the impact it has on victims and communities.

Sgt James Hart, from Bedfordshire Police, said: "Although we have seen a rise in people reporting hate crime, we know that it remains under reported and we're working hard with agencies to change this." 

The event will take place at Venue 360, in Gipsy Lane from 09:30 to 16:00.

Fiji centre Gaby Lovobalavu is to join Wasps for the 2017-18 season from French Top 14 side Bayonne.

Chris Goreham
BBC Radio Norfolk sport

The new manager of King's Lynn Town admits he watched with horror as his first match in charge ended with a thumping 5-0 defeat at Hitchin Town on Saturday. 

Ian Culverhouse saw The Linnets go 4-0 down before half-time against the side who are third in the Southern Premier.  Lynn remain 13th and appointed the former Norwich City coach last week after sacking Gary Setchell.

Culverhouse said: "Unfortunately we only train one day a week, which we'll be looking to change next year.

"There's a lot of hard work to do. Ten games to the end of the season and we'll get this right. We'll be challenging next year." 

The chief executive of Luton Borough Council has admitted some people will question the decision for the town to bid for the UK's City of Culture title.

Councillors are meeting tonight to discuss the move, which would see the council apply for the status in 2025.

Trevor Holden said despite people's doubts, Luton "competes, reacts and responds like a city". 

He said if the town was successful it would be "the icing on the cake" for Luton.

Craig Lewis
BBC News

A serious fire tore through a house in Luton yesterday.

The fire service and police have launched investigations after the blaze on Thornhill Road at 06:30.

Image source, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service

Image source, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service

Image source, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service

The ground and first floor of the semi-detached house were 100% damaged by smoke and heat, and the roof was 25% damaged, the fire service said.

There were no casualties.

Craig Lewis
BBC News

The number of suspected online child sex offenders identified across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire has nearly trebled in three years, the BBC has discovered.

In 2014, police across the three counties identified 430 suspects. By last year that figure had increased to 1,197.

In Thames Valley alone, in 2016, more than 800 people were suspected of downloading and distributing indecent images of children - although that figure includes people in Oxfordshire as well as Bucks.

The trend mirrors the picture  across the East of England , where more than 4,000 suspects were identified in the last three years.

Luton is "absolutely deserving" of bidding for the UK's City of Culture title in 2025.

Councillors are set to discuss the town's bid tonight, with large towns permitted to bid for the honour as well as cities.

Karen Perkins from the charity Luton Culture, which runs theatres and museums, said Luton is an "amazing town".

"We've got to set the marker high and be ambitious," she added.

Hull is the UK's current City of Culture.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

This morning the first day of F1 pre-season testing at Spain's Circuit de Catalunya has begun.

It's the first time fans and pundits will get to see how this year's cars will run.

Among those testing today are both Brackley-based Mercedes drivers, with Lewis Hamilton out this afternoon and Valtteri Bottas already on the track...

Image source, Getty Images

Sergio Perez is also testing for Silverstone-based Force India...

Image source, Getty Images

We'll bring you any significant news from Spain through the day.

Luton Borough Council is tonight set to discuss plans for an ambitious bid to become the UK's City of Culture for 2025.

Image source, Love Luton

The title of "UK City of Culture" is designed to raise the profile of an area's arts and creativity, attract business investment and boost tourism. It can be applied for by large towns as well as cities, hence Luton's eligibility.

Papers set to be discussed by councillors this evening say the aim is to make "Luton a flagship UK place of culture" by "building on the strength of the cultural scene".

It's a reasonably mild start, but this week it'll get much colder.

It'll be an unsettled day, with some frequent showers, which could be quite heavy as well.

They're blown through on fresh south-westerly winds.

There may be some hail mixed in the showers, some thunder, and some lightning potentially as well. 

Top temperature: 7C (45F).

Craig Lewis
BBC News

London. New York. Paris. Luton?

Welcome to today's news stream for Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Well done all, you've made it to the start of a brand new week.

Among other things, we'll be taking a look at Luton's bid to be named as a city of culture. Are they in La, La Land?

Scans reveal Watford forward Mauro Zarate suffered a cruciate ligament injury in Saturday's 1-1 draw with West Ham.

Jimmy Gopperth scores a hat-trick as Premiership leaders Wasps secure a bonus-point win over Gloucester.