The latest crime figures, external for the region show that overall recorded crime rose by 4%, but there were variations across the individual force areas.

For instance, in the West Midlands Police area it rose by 7%, but in Staffordshire it fell by 4%.

These figures cover September 2018 to September 2019.

Violent attacks on people were up by 17% across the region and there was a 15% rise in drug offences, but murders and thefts were down.

Image source, Getty Images

The Staffordshire Police force also reported big, double-digit falls in burglary, criminal damage and violence resulting in injury, but a 34% rise in thefts from the person.

The West Midlands force recorded a 27% increase in violent attacks on people, a 24% increase in drug offences and a 33% increase in weapon possession offences, but falls in thefts and shoplifting.

The Warwickshire and West Mercia forces both recorded 21% rises in recorded robberies - the biggest increase in the region.

And West Mercia reported a 24% rise in public order offences and a 15% rise in violent attacks on people.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
David Lawrence

Four new CCTV cameras are being installed at favoured fly tipping sites around Nuneaton and Bedworth in a bid to crack down on those dumping their rubbish illegally.

Image source, Getty Images

It cost £55,800 to dispose of the rubbish left from 1,073 fly-tipping incidents last year, the borough council said.

More cameras could be introduced if they can start saving the council money, it added.

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

The Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen has said "confidence and self-belief is rising in the group" after a run of results that has seen them climb out of the Championship relegation zone.

They play playoff-chasing Swansea City tomorrow and Allen said: "We've formed a little bit of a gap now between the teams below us and we're putting a bit of heat on a couple of the teams just above."

Image source, Getty Images

There is now a four-point cushion between Stoke and the bottom three.

"Saturday's another opportunity to keep the pressure on those other teams and get ourselves hopefully well away from the trouble below us," Allen added.

Warren Spencer died when he was hit by a van in Halesowen, on a busy route out of Birmingham.

Thousands of automotive, rail and aerospace jobs across the UK are at risk from a hard Brexit, a new report suggests.

The UK has a transition deal with the EU that lasts until the end of 2020 and is yet to secure a long-term deal.

Image source, Getty Images

Researches from Birmingham City University Centre for Brexit Studies surveyed 200 manufacturing companies in the West Midlands.

The report found transport manufacturers and suppliers in the Midlands, are highly dependent on EU workers with them accounting for an average 31% of the workforce.

It also concluded employment is particularly exposed to the operations of Jaguar Land Rover, given its dominance in the region.

West Bromwich Albion defender Dara O'Shea signs a new three-and-a-half-year deal with the Championship club.

West Bromwich Albion reach an agreement with West Ham to keep Grady Diangana on loan for the rest of the season.

Worcester News

Here are three of the stories featured on the Worcester News website today:

• Tributes to boy killed on railway line, external
• Row over photos of party at school site, external
• More football pitches are needed, says FA, external

"Game-changing" X-ray body scanners are being installed in 16 of the most challenging prisons in England and Wales.

Jails in Birmingham, Redditch, Wandsworth, Liverpool and Exeter are among the sites to get the new devices.

In June, a review of standards at HMP Birmingham questioned an "inexplicable" failure to secure funding for scanners to prevent drugs being smuggled into the jail.

The installation at the 16 prisons will begin in the spring, with all scanners expected to be in place by the summer, the MoJ says.

The manager of League One Shrewsbury says everything has to go his side's way if they are to upset Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday.

League One Shrewsbury in the blue corner, mighty Liverpool in the red. Is that a recipe for a massive FA Cup upset?

Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent, BBC News

No-one took full account of how complex and risky the HS2 high-speed rail project was likely to be, the government spending watchdog has said, external.

This is a slap on the wrist for HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport.

Image source, WSP

As the government decides the fate of the project - now predicted to cost £106bn - there are a few interesting nuggets.

The report paints a picture of a high-speed line like no other in Europe. HS2 plans 18 trains per hour. Other lines in Europe typically run between two and six trains an hour.

The incredibly high spec justifies the high price tag, supporters say.

Critics say it's one reason why the project is flawed.

But tinkering with aspects of this project, like reducing the very high speed of the trains, wouldn't save huge amounts of money.

BBC Midlands Today

A man's thanked three people who came to his aid and took him to hospital after his car flipped over and hit a tree.

Niall Martell, from Solihull, is recovering in hospital after the collision just off J2 of the M42 near Hopwood, south of Birmingham.

Brothers Tom and Brad Piper and colleague Jamie Emms spotted Niall from their van, turned round and took him straight to hospital.

Doctors said their quick actions saved his life and father-to-be Niall's said "you guys are now part of this family".

Dr Jonathan Foyle
Broadcaster and architectural historian

John Hutton's screen - which has been smashed during a robbery at Coventry Cathedral - is one of the great works of post-war religious art in Britain.

The West Screen was created over a decade, each individual panel is engraved by hand.

Image source, Coventry City Council

It represents a personal sacrifice: through his artistically innovative, direct and powerful technique, Hutton's life was cut short by inhaling quantities of glass dust.

Its cumulative effect lives beyond him to frame the bombed St Michael's offering the city continued solace and recovery from wanton destruction.

So to witness that irreplaceable art destroyed in the pursuit of stealing donations to the cathedral is doubly sickening.

The perpetrators must be found and held to account: it is hard to gauge the moral and ethical limits of anyone prepared to smash a cathedral - that is effectively robbing not just cash, nor even Hutton's legacy but the cultural heritage of the entire nation.

Though essential, its restoration can only be a mere replica.

The online giant has won an appeal against a local council over mezzanines.

A glass panel smashed during a robbery is "irreplaceable", said Coventry Cathedral.

Artist John Hutton who created the West Screen over a period of 10 years died on 1978.

Money was taken from donation boxes in the theft which happened just before 23:30 on Thursday.

CCTV within the building and surrounding areas will be reviewed, said Cara Pickering from the cathedral.

The glass was hand-carved by John Hutton and his ashes were later scattered next to his creation.

"This is a priceless piece of the beautiful window gone, and to stand and look at it, it's knocked me for six."

Deborah Carroll attacked her husband with a kitchen knife "over something trivial", police said

BBC Midlands Today

On BBC Midlands Today this week we've been looking at how to cut your carbon footprint.

One idea is to eat more insects as they are increasingly being promoted as an alternative protein source which produces lower greenhouse gas emissions than meat.

Environment Correspondent David Gregory-Kumar made some cakes with flour made from insects and Nick Owen was given the chance to try them.

Coventry Live

A few of the stories making the headlines on Coventry Live today:

• Air ambulance called after pedestrian hit by car, external
• Christmas bin collections could be scrapped in Coventry, external
• Up to £12 a ticket has 'destroyed' Coventry's Godiva Festival, external

People from all over Britain are in Birmingham today for the first citizens' assembly on climate change.

Introduced by broadcaster Sir David Attenborough it is hoped the assembly will help provide MPs with recommendations on how to cut greenhouse gases to zero overall by 2050.

The panel of 110 people has been selected to reflect key sectors of society and a range of opinion.

They will spend four weekends listening to evidence from experts on how climate policy and science will affect the UK.