Vicky Norton
BBC Radio Stoke

A man from Newcastle-under-Lyme has been charged after a police chase through Stoke-on-Trent.

The 35-year-old's facing offences including dangerous driving and driving while disqualified, police say.

The force says, after he eventually stopped, they found cash, a hammer and several knives in the car., external

Carl Pugh is disqualified from keeping animals for two years and the dog, Jeff, is with the RSPCA.

Efforts are being made to get more people visiting Shrewsbury Castle.

The Shropshire Regimental Museum is based inside the castle grounds and hopes to attract more customers after losing funding from the Ministry of Defence.

The museum trust says it needs £32,000 a year to keep running and is contacting former members of the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry for donations and is hoping to sign people up to annual subscriptions.

Allen Cook
BBC News

This may - or may not - put you in the Christmas spirit today, a rousing rendition of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer by staff at Birmingham New Street station.

Send us your thoughts via email!

Paul Smith had initially denied letting five-year-old Charlie Dunn wander off.

A gang of teenagers carrying what appeared to be a gun have robbed two boys in Telford, West Mercia Police say.

The two victims, who were also in their late teens, were walking on Leegate Avenue in the Leegomery area at 18:15 on Monday when they were threatened by the group of four young men and forced to hand over cash.

Police say the robbers then joined up with another group of four, getting away.

The victims were uninjured but left shaken by the incident.

Jennie Aitken
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

Staff at a Stoke-on-Trent dogs home say pet sales on the internet have led to them dealing with rising numbers of abandoned animals.

City Dogs Home in Bucknall says in most cases little is known about the dogs' backgrounds.

Staff at the home have told BBC Radio Stoke that they have been taking dogs from owners after they realise they've been misled or duped by breeders who sell online.

Shrewsbury's regimental museum could start asking people for regular, annual donations, to meet its running costs.

Volunteers and veterans of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry have already been successful in raising money to keep it going until March next year.

The museum, which is based inside Shrewsbury castle, was getting a grant from the Ministry of Defence, but that has now stopped.

Heather Burman
Journalist, BBC News Online

In sentencing Paul Smith and Lynsey Dunn, Mrs Justice Jefford said she did not doubt they "had genuine love and affection for Charlie", but said Smith was "completely indifferent" to the boy's "whereabouts and safety".

"This was not a case in which there was an isolated and momentary lapse in care and supervision," she said.

Mrs Justice Jefford also praised three boys, aged 10 to 12, who pulled Charlie from the pool, saying it "must have been a horrific experience for them".

Smith was sentenced to five years and two months for manslaughter, with a consecutive two-year term handed down for threatening to petrol-bomb the home of a witness.

He was also given a further four months for driving while disqualified.

Charlie's mother Lynsey Dunn was given an eight-month suspended sentence after she admitted neglecting Charlie in a separate incident in 2015.

A Tamworth boy who drowned at a water park in Leicestershire had previously been on the child protection register when he was allowed to walk off unsupervised last summer, a court heard.

Birmingham Crown Court was told his stepfather, 36-year-old Paul Smith, was heard swearing and blaming other people when five-year-old Charlie Dunn went missing.

He also threatened to petrol-bomb the home of a witness.

Mrs Justice Jefford sentenced Smith to five years and two months for gross negligence manslaughter, with a consecutive two-year term handed down for threatening the witness.

And he was given an extra four months for driving while disqualified.

Steve Hermon
Journalist, BBC WM

Aston Villa`s Robert Snodgrass says the team want to get back to winning ways, starting this Saturday against Sheffield United.

Image source, Getty Images

Villa have drawn two and lost one of their last three and are now 10 points behind second-placed Cardiff City.

This weekend Steve Bruce`s side face a Blades team that have taken only one point from their last five games.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A Stoke-on-Trent MP's written a letter to the government asking for help to build on the legacy of bids to become UK's City of Culture for 2021.

Coventry won the accolade earlier this month over challenges from Swansea, Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent and Sunderland.

Image source, Helen Marshall

Now, the Stoke Central Labour MP Gareth Snell's written a letter to the Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, external, signed by himself and MPs from the other communities which missed out on the title.

In it, they ask to meet with the government to discuss ways to build a "lasting legacy" from their own bids, saying their plans could "still be transformative for our local areas".

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories making the headlines on the Shropshire Star website today:

• Changes to be made after Shrewsbury river tragedy, external
• Telford care service failed to give out proper medicines, external
• Groups formally join forces to help revamp of Shewsbury Flaxmill, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

Charlie Dunn, the five-year-old boy who died in July 2016, couldn't swim and had to be pulled from the water at Bosworth Water Park by other children.

Image source, Dunn family

He was found submerged in a 1.4m-deep lagoon at the busy attraction and, despite the efforts of a paramedic at the scene to give him CPR, he was pronounced dead later in hospital.

Police had said that there were about 1,000 people at the park on the day Charlie drowned.

Charlie's stepfather Paul Smith, 36, from Tamworth, who's been jailed today, had denied letting the boy wander off alone for more than two hours but changed his plea during the trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Walsall Manor Hospital says it is continuing improvements as it is brought out of special measures,

Allen Cook
BBC News

The mother of Charlie Dunn, the five-year-old who drowned at a water park, has been given an eight-month suspended jail term.

Image source, Family handout

Lynsey Dunn, 28, Glascote Heath, Tamworth, had previously admitted a charge of neglect in connection with Charlie after an incident between July 2014 and July 2016, in which she failed to supervise him near a busy road.

Earlier, Charlie's stepfather Paul Smith, 36, of the same address, was jailed for five years and two months for manslaughter by gross negligence along with a consecutive two-year term for threatening a witness and another four months for driving while disqualified.

Allen Cook
BBC News

The stepfather of a five-year-old boy who drowned in a pool at a water park has been jailed for seven-and-a-half-years.

Image source, SWNS

Charlie Dunn, who could not swim, was pulled from the water at Bosworth Water Park in Leicestershire on 23 July 2016.

Paul Smith, 36, Glascote Heath, Tamworth had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence, witness intimidation and a driving offence.

Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City's assistant manager Mark Bowen says everyone at the football club needs to be "pulling together".

Image source, Getty Images

The calls for the Potters boss Mark Hughes to go have increased in volume from fans, with chants of "Hughes out" and "sacked in the morning" in their last game, a 3-0 defeat to West Ham.

Stoke are just above the Premier League's relegation zone after losing five of their past six and face fellow strugglers West Brom this weekend.

Louise Hancock
Newsreader, BBC WM

A hospital's been told it still needs to make improvements, external, more than a year after it was put into special measures.

The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) latest report on Walsall Manor Hospital acknowledges it has made improvements since it was rated "inadequate" in 2015., external

Image source, Google

The CQC, however, says it still has concerns over staffing and training at the site and that staff weren't always "managing deteriorating patients appropriately".

Chris King
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

A man who got into trouble with his local council over bottom-baring gnomes has now set up a "naughty gnomes grotto" in his garden.

Over the summer, Laurence Perry put the ornaments at a road junction near his home in Wistaston, Cheshire but was told to move them by Cheshire East Council.

The local authority, which said the gnomes were a potential distraction for drivers, ended up removing them.

Now Mr Perry says he's created a grotto of "naughty gnomes" including ones donated by members of the public.