Updates on Thursday 23 June 2016
More news, sport, travel and weather from 06:00 on Friday
Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live
That's it for live updates today. We'll be back from 06:00 on Friday with the latest news, sport, travel and weather for Birmingham and the Black Country.
We'll also be bringing you extended coverage of the EU Referendum.
Two school pupils have been injured after being shot by a pellet gun, police say.
Police were called to Waverley School in Yardley Green Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, just before 10:30.
One received swelling to the head, police say, while the other sustained a hand injury. Both are in Year 11 and their injuries are said to be minor.
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage.
Shefali Oza
BBC Midlands Today
Staying dry for many overnight, with some clear skies for a time.
Cloud will gradually increase from the west by dawn, bringing the risk of very isolated showers with lows of 11C (52F).
Shefali Oza with the afternoon weather forecast for the West Midlands
Mobile phone footage captures Babur Karamat Raja as he makes his way through Sutton Coldfield town centre with a rucksack up his jumper to try to disguise his build.
Sentencing him to 18 years in prison, Judge Simon Drew QC said it was a "deliberate, pre-meditated attack".
Image source, West Midlands PoliceNatalie Queiroz stands outside court as her statement is read by a police officer. It follows today's 18-year prison sentence for her partner who admitted her attempted murder.
Natalie Queiroz, the woman repeatedly stabbed by her partner while carrying his baby, says she is continuing to recover following the attack four months ago.
In a statement, issued today after Babur Karamat Raja was sentenced to an 18-year prison sentence, she said: "I am unable to find the words to describe how I feel about today and the events of the last 16 weeks, other than I have been left devastated by the attack on 4 March.
"The attack he committed on me was completely unprovoked and totally unexpected. Luckily I was saved and my baby was born alive."
Police say the intervention of bystanders saved a pregnant woman and her baby from death following a frenzied knife attack in Sutton Coldfield town centre.
Babur Karamat Raja, 41, of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, attacked his partner, Natalie Queiroz, in the street on 4 March.
DI Ingram
DI Ian Ingram of West Midlands Police said of Raja's attack: "He tried to cut her throat but was prevented. Without the interaction from members of the public and life-saving from police, and taken straight to the QE by air ambulance, she wouldn't be here."
Sentencing Raja for his "merciless" assault on Ms Queiroz, Judge Simon Drew QC said: "Once you chose your mother over your partner and child, you resolved not only to terminate your relationship, but to terminate them.
"This was a deliberate, pre-meditated attack designed to kill and destroy your partner and unborn child."
Judge Simon Drew heard that Ms Queiroz's breast implants "were probably what saved her life" during the frenzied assault.
Prosecuting barrister Benjamin Aina QC said if the knife had stabbed Natalie Queiroz a further 2mm in her abdomen, "it would have killed the [unborn] baby".
Raja's legal team says he was "tipped over the edge" by his mother, who didn't agree with the couple's relationship.
Jane Humphryes QC said the stress lead to a temporary mental illness or "adjustment disorder", leaving him with little memory of what he had done.
Raja admitted attempting to murder his pregnant partner, attempted child destruction, possession of a knife in public and the wounding and assault of two passers-by.
Raja's barrister, Jane Humphryes QC, said his conservative Muslim mother "literally drove him mad" in the run up to the attack by forcing him to choose between her love and that of his partner.
Here's more on the jail sentence for the man who tried to murder his pregnant partner - and their unborn child - by stabbing the woman 24 times in a town centre.
Babur Karamat Raja, 41, was forced to choose between his Muslim mother's faith and the "love of his life", Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceBabur Raja
Quote MessageHis mother had not been happy he was in a relationship with a white woman, and told him he must leave her or she would not be in contact. This man of impeccable character is driven literally to distraction, forced by his own mother to choose between her and his chosen partner and their unborn baby.
Jane Humphryes QC, Raja's barrister
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News
The baby which the victim was carrying was delivered by caesarean section on the day of the attack.
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News
On 4 March this year, Raja arranged to meet his partner, Natalie Queiroz, in Sutton Coldfield town centre on the pretense of going to the bank, but he effectively ambushed her; stabbing her 24 times.
Four men who were walking by intervened and helped to save her life.
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News
Babur Karamat Raja, 41, will serve 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of his pregnant partner and baby.
Raja sat in the dock today with his head bowed, not meeting the gaze of Natalie Queiroz, the woman he tried to stab to death in March in Sutton Coldfield town centre.
She sat at the front of the public gallery staring at him and crying through most of today's hearing which lasted several hours.
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News
A man who admitted the attempted murder of his pregnant partner by repeatedly stabbing her in a street in Sutton Coldfield is to be jailed for 18 years.
A prison officer charged with smuggling drugs into HMP Birmingham in Winson Green has been remanded in custody, West Midlands Police says, external.
The force says Richard Stack, 35, from Kingstanding Road, Kingstanding, was arrested on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old is charged with possessing cannabis, steroids and a psychoactive substance with intent to supply, two counts of conveying items into prison, and misconduct in a public office.
He is due to appear again in court next month.
Victoria Derbyshire
A woman from the West Midlands who says she was pressured to have FGM in order to get married has spoken to the BBC about her experiences.
The woman says the fear of having to undergo FGM led her to develop mental health problems.
Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live
This polling station in Halesowen, in the Black Country, is among the many across the UK where people will cast their referendum vote today - but as you can see, this one's a little different.
Polling station 119 didn't exactly fall off the back of a lorry, but that's where you'll find it. The council truck carries the generator powering the portable cabin behind - and it's there, in the metal box, where people have been marking their papers.
Image source, PAPolling stations opened at 07:00 and will close at 22:00.
After polls close, sealed ballot boxes will be collected and transported to the count venue for each of the 382 local counting areas.
Image source, PA
Image source, PA