This oil painting has surprised auctioneers in Ludlow by selling for £84,000, well above its guide price of £40-60,000.

It was created in 1958 by the Taiwanese painter Richard Lin and was bought by a private buyer who was bidding over the phone from Germany.

Phillip Blackman Howard, the auctioneer at McCartneys, said: "“Richard Lin is regarded as one of the leading artists of the 20th Century and his reputation in Taiwan and East Asia has never been higher."

Image source, McCartneys

A motorcyclist has died in a crash with a car in Warwickshire today.

Emergency services were called to Ettington Road, Loxley shortly before 10:50, said the ambulance service.

The man was confirmed dead at the scene.

The driver of the car was uninjured.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is being investigated over baby deaths.

Thieves have taken a wooden box containing the ashes belonging to the late husband of a 71-year-old woman.

Staffordshire Police said they were taken in a burglary at a house on Six Ashes Road in Bobbington yesterday and the thieves later threw the ashes out of their vehicle as they drove away.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

A small amount of cash and costume jewellery were also taken and the force said the woman was left "feeling understandably distressed and heartbroken".

Shropshire's two health commissioning bodies have started their search for a new leader, ahead of their planned merger,

The new accountable officer will need to be in place soon, to help the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group join with its Telford and Wrekin counterpart and the closing date for applications is 7 July.

Image source, Getty Images

The two CCGs have both voted to approve the merger and they aim to do that by April 2020.

League Two side Crawley Town sign midfielder Beryly Lubala from Championship club Birmingham City.

This is the moment police officers raided a multimillion-pound Solihull farmhouse being used as a cannabis farm.

More than 100 cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of £21-27,000, were discovered at Heathfields farm house in Hockley Heath - a six-bedroomed property set in 11 acres, police said.

Also recovered was a cannabis shredder to reuse the cannabis waste in the growing process, said Warwickshire Police.

Image source, Warwickshire Police

Three people arrested after the raid admitted conspiracy to produce a controlled drug and were sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on Thursday.

• Lisa Scotney, 54 of Broadway North, Walsall was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.
• Shaun Wilkinson, (pictured centre), 50 from City Heights, Snow Hill, Birmingham received a sentence of 18 month, suspended for two years.
• Edward Ambrozewicz, of Roebuck Glade, Willenhall, Wolverhampton was sentenced to 21 months suspended for two years.

Worcestershire and Sussex settle for a draw in their County Championship Division Two match at Kidderminster.

Remember the long, hot summer of 12 months ago?

Here are two photos taken by the Environment Agency on the River Teme in June 2018 and June 2019.

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

Mansfield sign striker Andy Cook from fellow League Two side Walsall for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson

A redevelopment of Sutton United Football Club’s ground has been approved by planners at Birmingham City Council.

Image source, Birmingham City Council

It will see the grass pitch replaced with an all-weather 3G surface, eight 49ft tall floodlights installed, the building of two 150-person capacity covered stands and a new changing block.

Parking spaces will also be increased from 46 spaces to 75.

A number of conditions have been attached to the planning approval including limiting the pitch use until 22:00 on weekdays and 20:00 on weekends.

Up to 100 school and college students in Shrewsbury have staged another climate-change protest today.

They've been demonstrating and handing out leaflets as part of a wider campaign to highlight issues surrounding global-warning.

Callum, from the group Extinction Rebellion, said the students chose to strike "to show that we can fight for our climate".

"We're skipping education because we think that our climate is more important."

He called on local councillors and schools to take action.

Tyler Morgan was smothered at his home in Burntwood, Staffordshire in April 2014.

An independent review has found police could not have reasonably foreseen the murder of Cheryl Hooper from Newport.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct also concluded that both Staffordshire Police and West Mercia Police took appropriate precautionary steps after she contacted the Staffordshire force with concerns about her estranged husband's intimidating behaviour.

Image source, Crown Prosecution Service

Andrew Hooper has been sentenced to 31 years in jail for shooting her dead with an unlicensed shotgun (pictured), but the IOPC said the two forces took steps to stop him holding licensed firearms and that the concerns raised beforehand did not to amount to a criminal offence.

The report concluded no disciplinary action was needed, but recommended the two forces continue to look for ways to cooperate with each other.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A former railway bridge in Ross-on-Wye is going to be demolished, to allow 32 new homes to be built.

The Ross Alms House Charity wants to build them on land next to Cawdor Gardens, but Hereford and Worcester Fire Service advised that it wouldn't be able to reach the new homes in an emergency, because Cawdor Arch is too small to get through.

Image source, Google

Herefordshire councillors have granted planning permission for the homes and the demolition of the arch, which used to form part of the now disused Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway.

The woman cried out in pain when she was manhandled by Ashikiah Reid in her own home.

Police in Crewe will be carrying out more stop and searches this weekend, following another stabbing in the town.

A man was attacked on Nantwich Road in the early hours of Sunday morning and three teenage boys have been bailed in connection with the investigation

Image source, Cheshire Police

Officers have again been given temporary powers to search anyone they suspect of carrying a weapon from 19:00 today until 04:00 tomorrow morning and the same tomorrow night.

This is the second time these powers have been granted to the police in June.

The Environment Agency is at Worcester Racecourse this morning, looking for fish that have been stranded after the recent flooding.

Spokesman Dave Throup said the work there would probably continue through the weekend, as water levels fall further, and they may visit other sites too.

Image source, Environment Agency

Mr Throup said they would also be testing water chemistry and asked people to call the Environment Agency if they saw stranded fish.

Warwickshire sign Lancashire left-arm seamer Toby Lester on a one-month loan deal.

Eleven men and one woman have been arrested over a number of allegations, Staffordshire Police say.