Gareth Rafferty went into care aged three, but says he felt supported by the system and is now going to university.

John Platt
BBC WM Sport

Our top sports stories this afternoon include:

• The West Bromwich Albion head coach Tony Pulis has tried to avoid being drawn into a war of words with his former striker Saido Berahino

Image source, Getty Images

• April is a crucial month for Birmingham City that will determine the club's immediate future, says manager Gianfranco Zola
• Wolves striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson is determined to improve his all-round game with the hope that it will bring an end to his seven-month run without a goal
• Walsall will have their work cut out as they head to Bradford City who have yet to experience a home defeat in League One so far this season

Wales and Aston Villa left-back Neil Taylor is sorry for the tackle that broke Seamus Coleman's leg, says Steve Bruce.

Express and Star

A West Midlands man suspected of heading up an international drug and money laundering gang , external got a rude awakening when armed police stormed his Lithuanian hide-out – and arrested him in his pants.

UK workers making Minis and Rolls-Royces protest against plans to close their final salary pension.

Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News

At the end of the school week, students from Redhill School gather outside the family home of classmate Pierce Wilkinson who died after he and his family were stabbed at the property.

Aaron Barley, 23, of no fixed abode, has been charged with the murder of the 13-year-old and his mother Tracey Wilkinson.

Mr Barley has also been charged with the attempted murder of Pierce's father and Tracey's husband, Peter Wilkinson.

A man has been charged with the murder of a woman and her son in connection with a stabbing yesterday at a home in Stourbridge, West Midlands Police says.

The force says Aaron Barley, aged 23, of no fixed abode, is also charged with the attempted murder of the woman's husband and boy's father who remains in hospital in a stable but critical condition.

Bromsgrove Advertiser

Community spirit has helped a Lickey school win vital cash to patch-up their flooded playing field, external , which has been so boggy children have not been able to play on it.  

Giles Latcham
BBC Midlands Today

Teenagers with tears in their eyes stood outside a family home where the fatal stabbing of a mother and son took place.

Over the past 24 hours, school friends, neighbours and those who knew the family have left flowers at the home of critically injured Peter Wilkinson and his wife Tracey who was killed along with their son Pierce.  

The post mortems of Tracey and Pierce are due to take place tomorrow.

Peter remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News

More than 24 hours ago West Midlands Police arrested a man in his 20s about half a mile from where a family was stabbed - an attack that killed teenager Piers Wilkinson and his mother Tracey and critically injured his father Peter.

Image source, Other

Officers had intercepted a Land Rover that was taken from outside the Wilkinsons' house in Greyhound Lane, Stourbridge. It crashed nearby. 

Police have applied for an extension that would allow them more time to question the man.

He is suspected of murder and wounding.

BBC Sport

West Brom manager Tony Pulis says striker Saido Berahino went through waves of being in "a good place and a bad place" while at the club.

Berahino has given an interview to BBC Sport saying  the eight-week drugs ban he served  earlier this season came after his drink was spiked in a nightclub.  

Image source, Getty Images

Read more on BBC Sportsday Live.

Pierce Wilkinson, 13, who was killed alongside his mother, was "kind and thoughtful", his school says.

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Rushall Olympic have joined forces with former Aston Villa ace Bryan Small , external to set up a Saturday youth academy for five-to-nine-year-olds.

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

Baverstock Academy will close at the end of the school year  after being in special measures since November 2014, the Government has confirmed.  

Campaigners had hoped up until the last minute that there'd be a reprieve.

I'm told the idea that the school is under-subscribed is nonsense, with figures dropping very recently because of the potential closure and not the other way round. Parents opposed to the closure also say there's no reason a new academy sponsor couldn't be found given time.

The Department for Education says it's had to step in after a series of issues including poor performance and financial irregularity. It has decided the school will close its doors for good on 31 August.

Birmingham City Council is at pains to say this decision is nothing to do with them and it's not what they want. 

Politically there are plenty eager to point out that it's another example of the problems with academisation.

The biggest issue is what happens to more than 600 pupils in September. 

The DfE says it wants all of them to go to a good or outstanding school. 

The Save Baverstock campaign says it doesn't see how that can happen when so much of Birmingham is oversubscribed. One thing we do know is that the fight is over.   

Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News

Pierce Wilkinson's school has said he was a "loyal, caring and conscientious" student.

The boy, said to be 13, died after he and his parents were stabbed at their Stourbridge home yesterday - an attack that took the life of his mother, Tracey, and left his father, Peter, fighting for his life.

Pupils and staff at the school are being offered professional help and counselling.

The school also said its thoughts were with the rest of the family.

"[Pierce] was a loving son and brother, our thoughts and prayers remain with his family, in particular his father Peter and his sister Lydia."

Pierce's sister is said not to have been at home when the attack happened. 

A man in his 20s has been arrested and is suspected of murder and wounding.

You have been using Your Questions to ask about the West Midlands - here are some of our answers.

West Brom boss Tony Pulis wishes former striker Saido Berahino all the best at Stoke City and says life is too short to worry about the past.

Children's services have improved after being rated 'adequate' in 2011.

Families with children at Baverstock Academy in Druids Heath say they feel betrayed by its closure.

Yesterday, the government confirmed it would close the school  - in special measures since 2014 - in August. 

A parent who did no want to be named told BBC WM: "It's hard because I don't know where to put my child. All the schools in this area are full. The nearest one, Woodrush, which is the closest and it's got 155 on the waiting list already. As soon as it became an academy it's gone downhill."

Daz Hale
BBC WM

People were in tears as flowers were laid on the pavement outside a Stourbridge house where a family was stabbed yesterday, leaving a mother and her son dead.

One card on a bunch of flowers said: "A lovely family - they will be deeply missed."

A school friend of the teenage boy who died in the attack - a student at Dudley's Redhill School - wrote: "You will be missed. Redhill won't be the same without you. Rest in peace."

The young victim, 13, has been named locally as Pierce Wilkinson and his mother named as Tracey Wilkinson. A man named locally as her husband, Peter Wilkinson, is in a critical condition in hospital with stab wounds.

Dozens of flowers have been laid on the pavement outside the house, with some moving tributes. People there say they are in shock.