Dudley News

From the Dudley News:

• Outrage over nature reserve homes plan, external
• Chamber of Commerce chief says region has plenty to shout about, external
• Wellbeing boss talks tough as BBC data shows rise in fast food takeaways, external

Golf club staff are trying to catch the pet after it escaped from a nearby village.

James Bond
Sports Producer, BBC Shropshire

Shrewsbury Town's manager John Askey admits last night's win over Barnsley has eased the pressure on him after picking up just two wins in their previous 14 games.

He took the job in the summer and said it's been a tough time for him personally, with criticism from some fans.

Image source, Getty Images

Askey said the challenge now was to put a string of performances together, explaining "in every game we're competing and we've got to make sure we do that for 90 minutes in each game."

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

A man's been jailed for raping a woman at Keele University., external

Police say Steven Christian was a student at the the time when the assault happened in September 2017.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

They say the victim had gone to a pub quiz where Christian was present and, later that night, she was escorted back to his room and rape.

Christian denied two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and one of sexual assault by penetration but was convicted of one count of rape and cleared of the others.

The 20-year-old, of Raddington Drive, Solihull, was given a five-year prison sentence.

Criminals are "aware" police in the West Midlands are "stretched", Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told Parliament.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, he said the chief constable of West Midlands Police had reported the force was "struggling to deliver a service to the public".

Mr Corbyn also said neighbouring force Staffordshire Police had lost 500 offices in recent years and quoted chief constable Gareth Morgan, who earlier this week apologised for cancelling rest days in order to staff a local derby between Stoke City and and Birmingham City.

PM Theresa May told MPs the government had given police an extra £460m.

Richard Helm was stabbed to death in Wolverhampton in the early hours of 12 October, police said.

There's a meeting today to discuss the future of Shropshire's maternity units.

Health commissioners have previously said the new model would see the rural midwife-led units turned into centres for ante- and post-natal care, with birthing services only provided in Shrewsbury and Telford.

The three rural maternity units, in Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow, have suffered a series of temporary closures, with the NHS saying it needs to concentrate its available staff in Shrewsbury and Telford for safety reasons and because that's where the majority of births take place.

Birmingham's Sea Life Centre will be closing for six days after half term for a multimillion-pound redevelopment.

It won't say what's involved, but teased the remodelling would allow it to "house new creatures in the future, some of which will never have been seen before in the UK".

Image source, National Sea Life Centre

It will be the first time the centre has been closed since it opened 22 years ago.

Shropshire Star

Here are three of the headlines from today's Shropshire Star:

• Seriously injured van driver airlifted to hospital, external
• Thief steals £1,000 of jewellery, external
• Pregnant Oswestry stablehand wins £20,000 payout, external

A man has been charged with murdering a father-of-four in Wolverhampton on 12 October.

Richard Helm was stabbed to death on Raven Crescent and Danny Cooper, 31, from Coneyford Road in Shard End was arrested on Sunday.

Image source, West Midlands Police

He appeared at Walsall Magistrates' Court this morning and is now due to appear before Wolverhampton Crown Court on 26 October.

He was also charged with two counts of assault, two counts of criminal damage and arson.

West Mercia Police says it wants to reduce the number of unintentional 999 calls.

Last month its control rooms took 1,050 calls from people accidentally dialling the number, pocket dialling, or from small children.

The force said that number wasn't unusual, but as every call has to be followed up, it's a strain on resources.

Its advice, if you do call by mistake, is to stay on the line and tell the police you don't need them.

Police say a "grotesque level of violence" was used in the car-jackings in the West Midlands.

John Acres
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

The man in charge of a pottery firm in Stoke-on-Trent says the boom in demand for gin is helping drive its expansion plans.

Image source, Getty Images

Wade Ceramics is preparing to officially reopen part of the old Aynsley factory in Longton tomorrow.

The firm says the move's helped created 13 new jobs and it's also seen interest from firms looking to swap plastics for ceramics.

But it's the boom in craft gins and demand for them in the UK which has led to it manufacturing more ceramic bottles.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Oswestry could lose another of its Lion pubs, with plans to turn the Golden Lion on Upper Church Street into two flats and build another three homes on land next to it.

A planning agent for the owner, Lee Ryan, said "the pub has never been popular" and that "the pub has no future" and "many nights the pub is empty".

Image source, Google

There were once five Lion pubs in the town - The Black Lion, the Red Lion, two White Lions and the Golden Lion.

The first female leader of Wychavon District Council has announced she's stepping down.

Conservative Linda Robinson took on the role in 2015 and says she's stepping down now to give her successor Lynne Duffy a chance to settle into the role, before next year's elections in May.

BBC News England

The summer's heatwave has led to a bumper-crop of pumpkins across the country with Halloween on the horizon.

Farmer Richard Simkin says it's been almost perfect weather at Essington Farm in Staffordshire.

Image source, Sophie Stokes

He says they are "very weather sensitive. They had nice warm weather which they like. They were a bit short of water so we had to irrigate them most days."

His top tip for making them last?

"If you want to keep it for longer than a few days then it's important you keep the stalk on. If that is removed it creates a wound which rots.

"And if you want to keep it then don't carve it because it only has a life off about three to four days after it's carved."

Image source, West Midland Safari Park

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

An armed robbery that saw staff forced to empty a safe at gunpoint could be linked to another firearm raid, external, police say.

Image source, Google

The latest case saw the gunman threaten workers at a Game store on Market Street, Crewe, Cheshire, this morning.

After ordering them to open their safe, officers say he fled with a lot of cash and a game console.

The force says they're keeping an "open mind" as to whether it's linked to a robbery at the Subway store on Market Street last Thursday.

In that case, a man wearing a wolf mask took money from the till after threatening staff with a gun., external

Golf club staff are using a buggy to try and catch the 6ft rhea, which escaped from a nearby village.

A fresh appeal's been made for the government to foot the bill for more than 200 residential tower blocks in Birmingham to have sprinklers fitted.

Image source, PA

In May, the city council re-approved the £31m plan to install them in light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy last year.

The authority's now visited Croydon, where it says the council there's nearly completed fitting sprinklers to 26 tower blocks, and has joined it in appealing for government funding., external

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government hasn't yet responded to their latest appeal, but previously asked councils to contact them about funding concerns.

The man, believed to be aged in his 30s, was found on grassland in Coventry Road, Small Heath.