Parkfield School in Alum Rock, in Birmingham has been at the centre of a row about its teaching about same-sex couples.

Leary Dalton-Byrne, 18, recorded a boastful "confession" after stabbing grandfather Dean Ward.

A teenager, who repeatedly stabbed a man he met in the park, then bragged to friends about what he'd done, has been jailed for 17 years.

Leary Dalton-Byrne, 18, repeatedly stabbed Dean Ward with a carving knife in June 2018, in Finchley Park, Kingstanding after asking him for a cigarette.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Despite being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment, the 45-year-old died a week later from complications caused by his injuries.

Just hours after the attack, Dalton-Byrne bragged to friends about what he’d done. His confession was recorded and circulated on social media, leading to his arrest and subsequent charge, West Midlands Police said.

He was convicted or murder at Birmingham Crown Court in December following a trial, and today was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Court action against striking bin workers was described as a "dark day for Birmingham City Council" and there are "many who should hang their heads in shame," said Unite the union.

Image source, Unite

More than 300 workers started a series of walkouts over claims of "secret payments" made to non-striking GMB staff after a dispute in 2017 - claims denied by both the council and the GMB.

After the High Court rejected the council's application, the union called on the council to negotiate a settlement rather than wasting taxpayers' money on "futile" legal action.

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett, said: "The council needs to listen to their own workforce, stop blaming others for the situation they have created, do the right thing, end the disparity and so end the dispute."

It has called off strike action scheduled for Monday to "allow talks to proceed".

Sima Kotecha
Midlands Correspondent, BBC News

More than 600 students have been kept from attending a primary school in Birmingham today in protest of its teaching of same sex couples.

Parkfield Community School, in Alum Rock, has been facing criticism from parents over its No Outsiders programme, which involves story books with same sex couples.

The school has previously said it was promoting diversity and inclusion, and has no plans to change its teaching.

A "very reasonable" offer, made to striking bin workers in Birmingham is "still on the table", the city council says.

The local authority has lost its High Court bid to deem the strikes unlawful, but said it had done "everything we could to avoid going to court".

“We have made a consistent, significant and reasonable offer and we had every reason to believe that the Acas talks, which continued until the last minute, had been productive," it said.

According to a council report at the beginning of February, striking staff have been offered up to £3,000 each.

The council urged further talks "to avoid damaging action" but said the offer to workers was conditional on all current litigation and industrial disputes being brought to an end.

BBC Entertainment and Arts

Ryan Adams has cancelled his upcoming tour of the UK, in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct by the star.

Image source, Getty Images

Nine dates, including a date at Birmingham's 02 Academy have been scrapped.

Several fans had already sought refunds, saying they could no longer support the artist.

"Full refunds to ticket purchasers will be processed by end of day on Monday," said Ticketmaster in a tweet announcing the news, external.

A series of raids have been carried out and four people arrested, following a number of tractor thefts.

Staffordshire Police officers led raids in Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Walsall yesterday morning and recovered farm equipment, believed to be stolen.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Last month, six tractors worth more than £100,000 were taken from a site at Yoxall in Staffordshire and the recovered machinery is thought to have been taken from farms in Coven and Nottinghamshire.

Birmingham Bears sign Australia all-rounder Ashton Agar for their entire T20 Blast campaign in 2019.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Joe Sweeney

So-called "undetectable" blades that can pass through metal detector checks unnoticed should be outlawed, a Wolverhampton councillor says.

The knives, which are made of finely sharpened ceramic or fibreglass, are easily available on the internet, sometimes even for free, Councillor Phil Bateman said.

He has now made a renewed plea for a crackdown on the ease with which people can obtain the "undetectable" daggers.

He said he was "horrified" to have received an unsolicited email offering the weapon for free, and has passed the information on to police.

Sex offenders are grooming children on Instagram more than on any other online platform, a charity has found.

Police in England and Wales recorded 1,944 incidents of sexual communication with children in the six months to September 2018, the NSPCC said.

Image source, Getty Images

West Mercia Police recorded 140 offences with the Staffordshire force recording 85.

West Midlands and Warwickshire forces recorded 48 offences each during the 18-month period.

Instagram was used in 32% of the 1,317 cases where a method was recorded, Facebook in 23% and Snapchat in 14%.

Purple patches continuing, pink walls vanishing and a pot of gold appearing were among five EFL things you might have missed on Saturday.

Store closure plans by electric car company Tesla have raised questions over the future of its two sites in Birmingham.

Image source, Google

To help lower the price of cars, the firm plans to close showrooms and is switching to an online-only sales model.

Closing physical stores will allow the firm to cut costs by about 5%, savings it is using to reduce prices across its line-up of vehicles, chief executive Elon Musk said.

Tesla currently has 378 stores and service locations worldwide, including the two in the West Midlands, 10 in and around London and locations in Greater Manchester, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Leeds, Edinburgh and Dublin.

A spokeswoman for Tesla was unable to provide details of how the company's plans might affect its operations in the UK and Ireland.

Storm Freya will bring strong winds which are likely to bring travel disruption to the West Midlands with possible dangerous conditions, external late Sunday into Monday.

Image source, Met Office

The yellow weather warning for wind is in place from 15:00 on Sunday until 06:00 Monday, said the Met Office.

Injuries and danger to life from flying debris are possible, it said.

A freedom of information request found 161 of 192 council-run schools could contain the substance.

Birmingham Live

Some of today's Birmingham Live headlines are:

• Crisis-hit Birmingham Prison put on 'lockdown', external
• Parking row sparks 'intimidation, threats and vandalism', external
• Armed cops swoop on man cowering in shower , external

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Dare

More than 80% of council-run schools in Birmingham could contain asbestos, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information Request (FoI) to Birmingham City Council revealed that 161 schools of the 192 schools it is responsible for have the potential to contain asbestos.

But council bosses said that was the case for any building constructed before the year 2000.

The material was banned in 1999 but it was regularly used in construction until this date, including for some schools built between the 1950s and 1980s.

The Health and Safety Executive says that, if properly managed, asbestos presents a “very low risk” to people in school buildings.

Responding to the figures, shadow cabinet member for Education, Councillor Ken Wood, said there was no need for "undue concern".

“The important thing is that the council, or the responsible academy trust are carrying out regular checks and that particular care is taken during any works that are carried out," he said.

Academies and other schools not maintained by the city council were not included in the figures.

BBC News Travel

Emergency pothole repairs have closed one lane of the link road from the M6 on to the M5 south in the West Midlands.

There's queuing traffic in the area, said Highways England.

Express and Star

Here are some of the early headlines on the Express & Star website:

• Wolverhampton Civic halls reopening delayed to 2021, external
• Fatal bus collision prompts coroner's warning, external
• Revenge porn mainly being carried out by women, external

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a fairly cloudy day with some drizzle and highs of 11C (52F).