Allen Cook
BBC News

Pupils at a Stoke-on-Trent school are being used to test out new online safety lessons aimed at stopping them being groomed and exploited on the internet.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Dot Com Digital was launched this week with the help of Staffordshire Police, external which said the scheme was aimed at teaching them the risks of the digital world.

The youngsters at St Paul's Primary School, Longton, are among 2,000 across the country trying out the lessons before they are set to be rolled out nationally in October.

Technology firm DataArt is behind the project and promises changes will be made based on feedback from pupils and teachers.

Solihull Moors have been invited to compete in the Scottish Challenge Cup next season, as a result of finishing second in the National League in 2018-19.

Last season, Boreham Wood and Sutton United became the first two English league clubs to play in the competition, which has been running since 1990 and has also contained teams from Wales and Ireland since 2016.

As the highest ranked two teams still competing in England’s fifth tier, along with Wrexham, who finished fourth, Tim Flowers’ (pictured) Moors will enter the 2019-20 competition on the weekend of 7/8 September.

Image source, Getty Images

No non-Scottish side has yet won the cup, although Welsh side Connah's Quay Nomads did reach the final last season.

The first English side to face Scottish opposition in this competition was The New Saints of Oswestry, the League of Wales champions, whose ground is on the English side of the Shropshire/Wales border.

But several Midlands sides took part in the old Anglo-Scottish Cup, which ran from 1975 to 1981 - founder members West Bromwich Albion, followed by Birmingham City and Shrewsbury Town.

This season's Scottish Challenge Cup first-round draw was made today north of the border, hosted by the new competition sponsors Tunnock's, at their factory in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.

BBC News

Food delivery platforms are undermining public trust by hosting outlets with poor hygiene ratings, the Food Standards Agency has said.

The comments come after the BBC discovered hundreds of takeaways with low FSA hygiene scores available on Just Eat and Deliveroo.

A BBC investigation focused on the cities which offer the biggest markets for the services: Birmingham, Manchester and London.

It found more than 400 outlets with an FSA rating of one - in need of "major improvement".

The delivery companies say they are committed to improving standards.

Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Ward joins Stoke City on a one-year deal after leaving Burnley earlier in the summer.

Allen Cook
BBC News

The lack of regulation in the online pornographic film industry's been criticised by a woman after the death of her daughter. , external

Staffordshire Police said Hope Barden's body was found in a flat on Wood Street, Burton-upon-Trent, in March 2018 and she'd died of asphyxiation.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Their investigation found the 21-year-old been in an online relationship with a man who encouraged her to carry out "dangerous" sex acts.

The force arrested Jerome Danger, 45, from Cornwall, over her death and wanted to charge him with manslaughter but he died in prison in April.

Today, Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh recorded a verdict of unlawful killing at an inquest into her death.

Her mother said Hope was earning extra cash by working in the online adult film industry and warned of the potential risk of harm to others in the sector.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A rooftop football pitch is going to be build in Coventry, after being given planning approval.

The caged artificial pitch is created on the top of the Coventry Boys and Girls Club and the charity says it will be open between 08:30 and 22:30 for games involving up to seven a side.

Image source, OEA

Image source, OEA

The Coventry Boys and Girls Club opened its new premises at 50 Whitefriars Street in February and a new community cafe there is due to open next week.

It's now looking for between £250,000 and £350,000 to pay for the pitch.

Burton Albion sign Chelsea defender Richard Nartey on a season-long loan deal.

Hereford Times

Here are three of the headlines from the Hereford Times today:

• £2bn plans to improve train service, external
• Helicopter search for wanted man, external
• Signalling problems causes train delays, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

People going to a carnival are to be encouraged to be swabbed to try and find a stem cell match for a boy with a life-threatening condition.

Image source, Jo and Paul Hill

Finley Hill, from Belbroughton, Worcestershire, has a rare immune system disorder and needs a transplant.

Organisers of the Halesowen Carnival on 6 July, external say the seven-year-old will be their VIP and visitors will be urged to see have a mouth swab to see if they're a match.

The Good Food Chain is not the source of the outbreak, says the Food Standards Agency.

The BBC's Antiques Roadshow will be filming at Compton Verney in Warwickshire next month.

The show says it's expecting thousands to turn out to have their possessions valued on 2 July and admission to the event is free.

Compton Verney, near Wellesbourne, is a Grade I listed house set in parkland created by the architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown and is home to a collection of British and European art.

The RSPCA says the person who left a dying dog tied to a tree in Telford was "callous" and left the animal "to suffer a lingering and lonely death".

The crossbreed was found in Onny Grove on 19 June and the charity said when she was found she was struggling to stand.

Image source, RSPCA

X-rays revealed she had several large tumours causing her pain and she was put down to end her suffering.

Inspector Nayman Dunderdale said she had been left without food or water and it wasn't clear how long she had been there before she was discovered.

"It seems whoever owned her callously decided to abandon her rather then get the veterinary treatment she obviously needed."

League Two side Port Vale sign striker Mark Cullen and re-sign midfielder Ryan Lloyd on one-year deals.

Trading standards inspectors have been busy at Edgbaston today, where a Cricket World Cup match is being played between Pakistan and New Zealand.

They say they've seized a number of counterfeit shirts from street-sellers.

Image source, Birmingham Trading Standards

Inside the ground, New Zealand have recovered from 83-5 to score 237-6 off their 50 overs.

This is probably the cutest photo you will see all day.

These newborn hedgehogs were found abandoned on Monday night when farmers near Stratford-upon-Avon moved the hay bale they were hidden under and disturbed their mother.

Volunteers from the Hedgehog Friendly Town, external group were called to help and they initially thought their chances of survival were slim, because they were freezing cold and just a few hours old - so they needed their mother's milk.

Image source, Hedgehog Friendly Town

With the help of the farm, they were able to find the mother and reunite her with the hoglets.

The group said there was a risk she may have ignored them or even killed them, but she has accepted them back and is now feeding them again.

The family will now be left undisturbed for the next fortnight, in a safe, dark place, before being returned to the farm they came from.

Uzair Shahid, 19, was charged with attempted murder after the shooting in Walsall in May.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
George Makin

A former travel agent's is set to be demolished in Sandwell to make way for a Sikh temple, despite objections to the plans.

Image source, Google

Afghan Sikh Ekta Charitable Foundation wants to get rid of the current office building in South Road, Smethwick, to build a two-storey place of worship with 24 off-road parking spaces.

But Sandwell Borough Council's had objections to the plans from people both wanting the existing building saved from demolition and concerns at the amount of parking.

However, a planning report by the authority , externalrecommends approval next week, saying there's enough proposed parking for 150 people and the planned building would be purpose built.

Rachel Worwood said she had not slept since the vulnerable teenager disappeared.

A teenager from Walsall has appeared before magistrates, charged with attempted murder, following a shooting at a barbers shop in the town.

Uzair Shahid, who is 19 and from Lichfield Road, was remanded in custody, to appear before Wolverhampton Crown Court on 24 July.

West Midlands Police said the 23-year-old victim was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Victoria Leadbetter relies on the transport to attend school, her mother says.