Midlands Live: Snow and ice disruption latest

Summary

Rail services finishing early
Gunman jailed for 12 years for bowling alley siege
Freezing weather 'worst in a decade'
Several train services suspended
Man arrested over grandmother's murder
Live updates from Friday 2 March
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Live Reporting

Driverless shuttle company awarded £3.2mpublished at 15:12 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Coventry autonomous technology company, Aurrigo, has successfully bid for £3.2m government funding to develop a self-driving shuttle.
Image source, Aurregio
The company, which is a division of RDM Group, has teamed up wtih Smart Cambridge and will work to develop the shuttles to operate on a busway - a guided route that is not shared with cars.
The service, seating 10-15 passengers, will initially run out-of-hours when the buses aren't running.
The shuttles will be manufactured in Coventry with the first passengers set to step on board in 2020.
Should PM worry about local elections?published at 15:02 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
The local elections in May will see many seats in the big metropolitan councils in England up for grabs, and the Conservatives may need to brace for a difficult night.
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Man in court on murder chargepublished at 14:55 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Lynn McNally was found at a property in Telford during the early hours of Wednesday.
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Warnings for snow and wind extendedpublished at 14:54 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Snow and freezing temperatures could affect parts of the West Midlands until Thursday, the Met Office is warning.
Snow showers or longer periods of snow are expected on Tuesday, accompanied by very low temperatures.
A yellow warning for wind and snow is in place on Thursday.
Image source, Met Office
Road, rail and air travellers could face severe disruption, with BBC Weather warning of possibly hazardous conditions in southern England later in the week as a low pressure weather system moves up from the Bay of Biscay and hits the already "exceptionally cold air".
Image source, Met Office
Pair in court accused of killing taxi driverpublished at 14:39 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Breaking
Tracey Higgins
BBC Local Live
Two men have been bailed for a month on charges of killing a Telford taxi driver.
Brandon Dowen, 19, from Telford, and 32-year-old John Cox from Wolverhampton have made their first appearance before magistrates, accused of the manslaughter of Ishfaq Hussain.
He died after crashing his red Skoda into a tree in Madeley last August.
The two men have been ordered to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court on 26 March.
Woman dead after car and lorry crashpublished at 14:27 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
A woman has died after a car was involved in a crash with a lorry in Warwickshire this morning.
Emergency services were called to the junction of the A426 and Calias Lane at Birdingbury at about 09:15, the ambulance service said., external
The woman, who was travelling in the car, was confirmed dead at the scene.
The lorry driver was shaken but otherwise uninjured.
NHS chief takes to Twitter for a 'yes or no' decisionpublished at 14:17 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Mark Elliott
BBC News
The chair of Shropshire's Clinical Comissioning Group has encouraged the Health Secretary to make a quick decision on funding for the reorganisation of Shropshire's health services.
Julian Povey took to Twitter this morning to press Jeremy Hunt for an answer.
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NHS bosses in the county are waiting to hear what money the government will provide to implement Future Fit, as well as decisions around the future of the A&Es, as well as maternity services and planned surgery in Shrewsbury and Telford.
University at centre of 'high-tech' futurepublished at 14:04 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
During his visit to Coventry this lunchtime, Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the work the university does in "cutting edge technology".
He praised its research, which he said was "ensuring that the skills of decades in Coventry - that built aircraft, that built cars that built so much else - are developed into the high tech that we want for the 21st Century sustainable industry and sustainable technology".
Image source, Reuters
In the papers: Man stabbed in car parkpublished at 13:53 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Worcester News
Here are some of the top stories to feature on the Worcester News website on Monday:
- Man suffered 'non life-threatening' arm injury in reported stabbing in car park, external
- What a mess! Household waste dumped near canal, external
- Worcester man Steven Cross jailed, external for "deliberate and cynical" fraud
Call to return murdered man's jewellerypublished at 13:44 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Arthur Gumbley, 87, died three weeks after a violent burglary at his home in Sutton Coldfield.
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Teen still wanted over pensioner's deathpublished at 13:36 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Police earlier appealed for help to trace jewellery and other items stolen during a burglary at the home of an 87-year-old in Sutton Coldfield.
Arthur "Bob" Gumbley died in hospital three weeks after the attack at his home in November.
Officers say they are still attempting to trace 17-year-old Tom Joseph Ward in connection with the attack.
Image source, Staffordshire Police
Members of the public are warned not to approach him.
Plastic pollution from bottle to binpublished at 13:26 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
How we can all do more to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the environment.
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WSL 2 renamed as Women's Championshippublished at 13:08 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Women's Super League 2 is to be renamed as the FA Women's Championship, while WSL 1 keeps the Super League branding.
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In the papers: Council set to build homespublished at 13:05 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Shropshire Star
Here are a few of the stories making the headlines on the Shropshire Star website today:
- Shropshire Council plans to build and sell houses in bid to plug financial hole, external
- Parish councillor hits out at Shropshire Council over HS2, external
- Jailed: Lorry driver smashed into stationary car leaving woman with life-changing injuries, external
Friend stabbed to death in 'play fight'published at 12:54 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Daniel Wyatt died was stabbed nine times when the fight escalated into serious violence, say police.
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Rogue builder jailed over DIY SOS liepublished at 12:52 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Ben Godfrey
BBC Midlands Today
A rogue builder who conned customers across the Black Country out of £140,000 has been jailed for five years at Stafford Crown Court.
James Carter, 40, from Stourbridge, boasted that his roofing business appeared on the hit BBC show DIY SOS but it was a lie to win customers, many of whom were left with leaking or half-finished roofs.
Woman loses £8k in fake police scampublished at 12:39 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
BBC Hereford and Worcester
Fraudsters have been targeting elderly and vulnerable people in Herefordshire
A 90-year-old widow in Kingstone was conned out of £8,000 by someone who called her claiming to be from Hammersmith police station.
The man persuaded her to withdraw the cash as he was investigating "corrupt staff" at her banks and needed to check the notes for fingerprints.
Image source, Getty Images
Quote Message
The lady asked how she could check he was genuine and has said to call him back on 161 which she did (but without clearing the line first). She then spoke to another male who confirmed DC Smith was genuine and transferred the call back to him. He asked the lady to keep the line open, checked she had no mobile and no one was due to visit."
Lowri Anderson, West Mercia Police
Neighbourhood officers in Herefordshire say the scam's been going for some time and has been reported all over the country, including across the West Midlands.
Poor parking crackdown continuespublished at 12:23 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Birmingham has recently earned a bit of a reputation for poor parking.
This morning, officers in Small Heath were quick to issue a parking ticket after this car was left blocking a pavement.
Image source, West Midlands Police
They tweeted, external: "Inconsiderate parking will not be tolerated".
West Midlands Police has been cracking down on "stupid" parking in Birmingham by posting photos on social media, including this one:
Image source, West Midlands Police
Fifty years since hospital fire killed 24 patientspublished at 12:10 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
Carlie Swain
BBC News
It's 50 years to the day that 24 women died in a fire at Shelton hospital in Shrewsbury.
The Victorian asylum closed its doors for good in 2012.
In 1968 a fire ripped through the women's wing, and changed the way people viewed fire safety forever.
It's believed the fire was started from a discarded cigarette end.
The patients had been locked in the ward next door, which was once an accepted practice.
At the time, more than 70 firefighters tacked the blaze, taking two hours to bring it under control.
What happened at Shelton was so shocking that fire safety procedures at hospitals across the region were reviewed.
In the papers: Man fighting for life after M6 accidentpublished at 12:00 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2018
The Sentinel
Here are some of the top stories being covered by The Sentinel today: