Stuart Bailey
BBC News

The partner of a father-of-two found dead at the bottom of a 5ft (1.5m) hole in Luton has accused a water company of negligence.

Matt Wilmot, 40, was found in the excavation, dug by Affinity Water, near his home in Devon Road on Sunday.

His partner of 24 years, Tania Banks, said the hole was uncovered and barriers around it knocked down.

Affinity Water declined to comment while investigations into Mr Wilmot's death were taking place.

Image source, Tania Banks

Ms Banks said: "There wasn't a cover over the hole and we were told the barriers had been knocked down, so the hole was there.

"I think it definitely should have been more secure. They came around after (Mr Wilmot's discovery) and put up metal barriers - why secure it more now if you thought it was safe enough to begin with?

"I would class it as negligence," she said. "There is no way it should have been left like this."

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

Part of the A1M through Hertfordshire has been closed after a serious collision and it looks like there could be disruption all morning.

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

A London Midland engine named after the former Watford and England manager, Graham Taylor, will be unveiled today.

One of the company’s Class 350 models has been fitted with a commemorative plaque, which will remain for the rest of its working life.

Image source, Getty Images

A ceremony will be held at 12:00 on platform 10 of Watford Junction station, which will include speeches and music from a string quartet.

But the company has warned that members of the public may be refused entry to the platform if numbers exceed safe levels.

The train will be used on the West Coast Main Line and pass through stations serving many places where Taylor was manager including Watford, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton and Wembley.

Steve Helfet, head of West Coast services at London Midland, said: "We hope that passengers travelling on this train will take a few moments to remember Graham, a true football hero."

Scott Duxbury, chairman at Watford Football Club, said: "London Midland’s respectful suggestion about Graham was put to his family for approval and we’re delighted they accepted this offer.

"Alongside other planned tributes, this gesture is a mark of just how widely Graham’s work and warm personality were appreciated across our town."

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

A crowd funding page has been set up to raise money for the family of a man found dead at the bottom of a hole in the pavement in Luton.

The body of Matt Wilmot, 40, was found on Sunday morning in the excavation dug by Affinity Water on Devon Road.

His partner's sister, Donna Banks, has started a web page, external to try and raise £2,000. It's already reached 60% of its target.

She said: "I want her to have time to grieve, to give her [the dead man's partner] some breathing space.

"It's unbelievable the amount of support we've been getting from everyone.

"A lot of their friends can't get their head around it either. It's just such a shock for everyone."

Bedfordshire Police said it was not treating the discovery as suspicious.

A file on the case has been sent to the coroner.

It's been revealed that Special Constables, external with expertise in IT systems outside of the police force stepped in to help the Lister Hospital in Stevenage when it fell victim to a cyber attack last month.

Hertfordshire Police SC James Hyde, whose day job is at communications company EE, was one of the team who helped diagnose and clean computers in order to thwart the ransomware/malware which struck the NHS in May.

He even came back to finish when he was officially off the clock.

He said: "Due to the nature of the computer virus, each computer had to be visited in person and with several thousand computers on site; it soon became apparent that it was going to take some time to get through them all.

"A few of us voluntarily returned in a civilian capacity the next day to continue the efforts of helping the hospital get back to normal."

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

Hot and humid conditions will trigger heavy showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon in many places.

Not all areas will get them but where they do it could lead to surface water flooding and difficult driving conditions.

Heavy showers will ease during the evening but more are possible during the early hours near to the coast.

Minimum Temperature: 15C (59F)

More details from BBC Weather:

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

Good morning and welcome to our feed of regular updates for Beds, Herts and Bucks.

The weekend is just around the corner and we'll be here from now until 18:00, rounding off the week with the very latest news, sport, weather and travel.

Speaking of the weather, from the pictures our BBC Weather Watchers have captured so far this morning, it looks like the sun is at least trying to break through. We'll have a full forecast shortly.

Image source, BBC Weather Watchers/carlas garden

You can contact us at any time via email, Facebook, external or Twitter, external.

Thank you for joining us at BBC Beds, Herts and Bucks for the debate. Quite lively at times, we hope it helped you gain a better understanding of the issues.

Andy Holmes
BBC Three Counties Radio political reporter

Four well-spoken candidates and an audience of more than 200.

Presenter Roberto Perrone promised an informed and knowledgeable debate, and he wasn't wrong.

Our Bedford hustings tackled the big issues like the NHS, education and what each party would do for pensioners.

Candidates were asked for the "idiotic" parts of their manifestos and whether they trusted their leaders (the good news is they all do!).

Surprisingly the state of Bedfordshire Police and worries over Bedford Hospital weren't really touched on, nor for that matter was Brexit.

Only time will tell how much impact this hustings has had on the voters in a week's time, but with this seat holding a slender majority of 1,097, surely every vote and therefore every answer will count.

The panel was asked what their view was of the Conservative manifesto commitment for a vote on the repeal of the act banning fox hunting?

Richard Fuller (Conservative) said: "I stood on a manifesto in 2010 which had that in it and nothing happened. I stood in 2015 on a manifesto that had that in it and nothing happened.

"My guess is that nothing is going to happen."

When asked what his view would be he said he was "sitting on the privet hedge".

Image source, Thinkstock

Henry Vann (Lib Dem) said: "If something is in the Conservative manifesto and may not happen I would welcome that.

"Including fox hunting in the manifesto at this time, I don't know what's going through the Conservative's minds."

Lucy Bywater (Green Party) said: "There was a time when bear-baiting and cock-fighting was supported.

"I don't know why they would waste time trying to repeal the fox hunting ban. It is monstrous."

Mohammad Yassin (Labour) said: "All of the manifesto is not going to happen it is just a storybook.

"I am completely against fox hunting and would vote against it [the repeal]."

Henry vann, the Lib Dem candidate, says it's an issue the government needs to be "really hot" on.

"What we need is to be absolutely transparent on where the money goes if anything does happen to any of the assets of the NHS.

"I think the concern is that this Naylor Review may cause some people to sell too quickly and just get it out of the door and, as a result, not necessarily get a good market rate to re-invest into the NHS.

"And I'm worried the money won't be re-invested into the NHS and will go elsewhere."

Green candidate Lucy Bywater says: "We should do something about inefficiencies [in the NHS, but] we don't throw the baby out with the bath water and say, 'let's scrap the NHS and privatise it and let it be a profit-led organisation'."

Mohammad Yasin for Labour says: "If the NHS has to sell their assets to pay for NHS [services] and they have to sell it very quickly so it means they may have to sell it at a cheap price, it is very, very worrying."

Richard Fuller, the Conservative candidate, says the NHS currently badly manages its estates and raised the example of GP surgeries in Bedford who were unable to create their own super surgery.

"The Naylor Review, in terms of where it's directing the NHS estate to be more effective and efficient so money can be found for the NHS, is a good thing to do. I would be very worried if that money was not put back into NHS."

Matt Wilmot fell into the hole near his home on his way back from watching the FA cup final.

A member of the audience asked the panel of candidates for Bedford and Kempston about the Naylor Review in March which called on the NHS to sell off its assets.

Audience member Keith asked for the candidates' views on Conservative plans to cut the triple-lock on pensions by 2020 and means-test the winter fuel allowance for pensioners?

The triple-lock sees the state pension rise in line with wages, inflation or by 2.5% - whichever is highest.

However, it is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and some have called for it to be scrapped.

Richard Fuller (Conservative) said: "The reason I voted for the triple-lock when it was brought in was the derisory increase in state pensions under Labour.

"I promised to keep the lock until 2020. It is extremely important to me to protect pensioners. But there is another issue which is fairness to the generations."

Henry Vann (Lib Dem) said: "You can fight back against these policies by not voting Conservative."

He said unlike the Labour Party and Conservative Party, the Lib Dem manifesto is costed. "We are keeping the triple-lock," he added.

Lucy Bywater (Green Party) said: "The triple-lock needs to be maintained. The money is there. We are the fifth wealthiest economy."

She said the issue of a growing elderly population needs to be "grappled with".

Mohammad Yassin (Labour) said: "You won't get a straight answer from Mr Fuller. Theresa May is hitting pensioners hard. The government trying to take savings away from them.

"Labour guarantees the triple-lock."

The panel has also been asked about the NHS and the 1% cap on pay rises for nurse and public sector workers.

Richard Fuller (Conservative) said: "I voted to cap the increase in public sector. One of the reasons for that was the rapid increase in public sector wages compared with the private sector in the previous five years.

"A disparity remains. We are still trying to reduce the budget deficit."

Mohammad Yassin (Labour) said: "Richard Fuller talked about voting for the cap. He voted for every single cut. We need somebody to oppose those cuts. To stand up for people.

"Mr Fuller is asking for votes, but does not stand up for the people of Bedford."

Lucy Bywater (Green Party) said: "We all value the NHS. We have to spend a lot of money on it because it is really important.

"We are the world's fifth richest economy, we can and have to afford to pay people properly. But we don't want to waste money making the NHS compete with private firms."

Henry Vann (Lib Dem) said: "We would lift the cap on public sector pay. We will pay nurses properly.

"People are living longer, so the NHS needs more money and we have a plan to do that."

Lucy Bywater, for the Greens, says schools in Bedford are seeing cuts of £300 per pupil.

"We're going to lose teachers, we're already losing teachers.

"You've got less staff, less support staff, the children's welfare suffers... so you end up with exam factories."

Richard Fuller says the Conservative government has protected school funding over the last five years, but admits that more pupils has meant that per head funding in the country has gone down.

"[But] as a member of parliament for Bedford and Kempston, and through the Free Funding Formula for our town, for our schools, I have protected per pupil funding for our town - and that will happen in Bedford and Kempston because I've been member of parliament."