The men conducted themselves in a manner "far from fitting" of their costumes, a judge says.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 tomorrow.

The death was described as a "horrifying act of cruelty" with the cat's owner saying he was "very upset".

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Another £5m is still needed to fund a trial 5G mobile network in the West Midlands, more than a year after the government announced it would contribute £25m to the project.

The West Midlands Combined Authority wants to make the Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton the country's first 5G test bed, but the government funding announced in September 2018 depends on it contributing £5m itself.

Image source, Getty Images

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s monitoring officer Tim Martin said that discussions were currently ongoing as to how the project would be funded long term.

He also said it was "a really exciting programme and it’s starting to have impact across the West Midlands" and thought things were moving in the right direction.

Cheshire Live - Crewe

Here are three stories from the Cheshire Live website today:

• Serial rape accused 'stole bike and hid in tree', external
• Rail travellers warned over strikes, external
• Call for memorial to historic wall, external

Benjamin Monk and Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith face charges over the death of Dalian Atkinson.

Kate Griffiths is rejecting the support of estranged husband Andrew, whom she is divorcing.

Andrew Hewkin
Newsreader, BBC Shropshire

A Shifnal woman who had proton-beam therapy, paid for after a big fundraising campaign, has returned home.

Local people raised more than £70,000 so 26-year-old Christel Callow could have treatment aimed at killing off a rare form of brain cancer.

In a Facebook post this afternoon, friends say Christel's treatment went well, although she now faces a year of chemotherapy.

Kate Griffiths said she was not standing as an 'act of retribution' against her estranged husband Andrew.

BBC Shropshire

A man who killed three members of the same family nearly 20 years ago is up for parole.

Lucy Lowe, who was 16, died along with her mother and sister when their home in Leegomery, Telford, was set on fire by Azhar Ali Mehmood.

He was in a relationship with Lucy and she gave birth to their first child, Tasnim when she was 14.

Tasnim is now 19 and will be consulted about Mehmood's potential release by a parole board today and said she had concerns about the safety of her family.

Image source, Family photos

Tasnim has told the BBC she thought he should have been prosecuted for the sex crimes against Lucy as well as the murders, but doesn't know the truth about their relationship because it wasn't investigated by the police at the time.

West Mercia Police declined to comment.

The anniversary marks a night of bombing which killed 500 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

The trial of a Birmingham couple charged with murdering a homeless woman has been told the police were tipped off by the brother of one of the defendants.

The prosecution also told a jury at Birmingham Crown Court that Kevin Flanagan and his girlfriend Kathleen Salmond drowned Lisa Bennett in a bath after telling her they were cooking her a final meal.

It is alleged they then dumped her body in a wheelie bin.

Image source, Family photo

In opening the case against the defendants, prosecutor Simon Denison QC said Flanagan's brother had come forward after seeing a TV appeal for information.

Ms Salmond who is 40 and from Hodge Hill in Birmingham and Mr Flanagan who is 39 and from Kings Norton both deny murder.

Ms Salmond also denies benefit fraud and preventing Miss Bennett's burial - charges which Mr Flanagan has previously admitted.

The trial continues.

Boris Johnson has promised more money for research and development while delivering a campaign speech at an electric car manufacturer in Warwickshire.

Earlier, he had a go at driving one of the taxis at the London Electric Vehicle Company's plant at Ansty Park.

Mr Johnson said if elected, the Tories would "double" funding for research and development to £18bn over the next five years.

He called this the "biggest ever increase in support for R&D" and added the government would also increase investment for electric vehicles.

The visit follows news overnight that Tesla would build its first major European factory in Germany.

Founder Elon Musk said Brexit "made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK".

The company Mr Johnson was visiting, LEVC, previously urged the UK to retain the benefits of being in the EU's single market.

According to the West Midlands Combined Authority, the region's automotive workforce is more than double the size of any other in the country, external- employing 28% of the sector's overall UK workforce.

While the Conservatives spent the day focussing on manufacturing and transport, Labour is highlighting its NHS policies, pledging to cut waiting times and boost mental health services by spending billions.

The Lib Dems meanwhile are pledging £500m a year for youth services to tackle knife crime.

The Royal visit to Ross-on-Wye last week has left the town council more than £2,000 over budget and it's looking to Herefordshire Council to help pay the bill.

Prince Charles was there to officially launch next year's Gilpin Festival and the town council is arguing that as the whole county benefits from the visit, the county authority should contribute.

The Gilpin Festival aims to celebrate the work of an 18th Century travel writer who is credited with creating the first UK tourism guide.

BBC Weather Watchers

There's plenty of water around at the moment, and not of all of it in the right places.

Here are some photos taken by BBC Weather Watchers in Worcester, Burntwood and Upton Warren.

Image source, Margrose

Image source, Mr Bee

Image source, Chris n Ginny

The replacement for Telford's accident and emergency department is likely to have an emergency consultant on-site for at least eight hours a day, the head of Shropshire's health commissioners has said.

It's not yet been confirmed what the proposed A&E Local will include, but David Evans said he expected it to offer treatment for less serious conditions 24 hours a day and be manned by a specialist who could deal with more serious cases for a number of hours.

Local politicians and health campaigners have spoken out against the plans, which were given the backing of the health secretary Matt Hancock, saying they want the town to keep its 24-hour emergency cover.

West Midlands Trains has criticised the planned strike action by the RMT union, external this weekend and says "there is no need for this action".

The Rail and Maritime Union has told its members not to accept any more shifts on a Saturday this year, "over plans by the company to bulldoze through Driver Only Operation".

The row centres on who opens the doors on trains - the driver, or the guard - amid fears on the part of the trade union that the guard's safety role will be downgraded or removed completely.

West Midlands Trains responded by saying it had "never proposed driver only operation" and added, that it was "committed to keeping a safety-critical conductor on every passenger train".

It also claimed it had proposed a solution which "meets the latest demands from RMT".

Unless the strike is called off, it has warned passengers there will be a reduced service on Saturday.

Plans for "an ambitious new City Learning Quarter in Wolverhampton" have been given the green light by the city council's planning committee.

Image source, City of Wolverhampton Council

The facilities, for young people and adults, will be based around the Old Hall Street and St Georges Parade area, following the demolition of the former Faces nightclub building on the corner of Garrick Street and Bilston Street.

The learning quarter would involve the existing City of Wolverhampton College Metro One Campus, the council’s Adult Education Service and Central Library and pave the way for the college to move from its Paget Road site to the area, the city council said.

A grant bid of up to £30m had been submitted, external to the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership to fund the scheme, the local authority added.

Image source, City of Wolverhampton Council

A court order protecting the identity of two police officers charged in connection with the death of Dalian Atkinson has been lifted.

Defence barristers had warned their clients could be put in danger if their names were released, but a judge at Birmingham Crown Court disagreed today.

Image source, Getty Images

The former Aston Villa footballer died after being tasered in Telford in August 2016 and West Mercia Police PC Benjamin Monk, 41, has been charged with murder.

PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, 29, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The judge ruled their anonymity could not be justified, but that their home addresses should not be revealed in media reports.