Moses Christensen armed himself with combat knives before attacking Richard Hall, a court hears.

Live updates have now ended for the West Midlands.

We'll be back with you from 08:00 tomorrow with the latest news, sport, travel and weather.

Birmingham Phoenix have bolstered their batting line-up for the first ever "The Hundred" competition, by securing Somerset red ball captain Tom Abell.

He has represented England Lions, as well as averaging over 30 in domestic Twenty20 competitions.

The Phoenix also signed Kent opening batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond and Gloucestershire opener Miles Hammond.

The women's ranks were boosted with the signing of Georgia Elwiss.

You can find all of today's signings on the BBC Sport website.

A man and a woman who died following a six-vehicle crash were in a car that crashed through the central reservation into oncoming traffic, police said.

Jolel Miah, 50, and Mussammat Khatun, 45, both from Birmingham, died at the scene on the A435 in Wythall, Worcestershire, said West Mercia Police.

Two other men were taken to hospital, one suffering serious injuries.

Officers are asking for any witnesses to come forward.

It happened at the junction of Hill Lane at about 16:40 on Monday.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
David Lawrence

A potential merger between Stratford and Warwick district councils remains on track following one of two key votes this week.

Councillors at Monday's full council meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon voted overwhelmingly in favour of further discussions taking place.

A similar vote will be taken at Warwick District Council’s meeting tomorrow.

During a lengthy debate there were calls to delay any decision for six months, but this was rejected.

Warwickshire's County Cricket Club says the Prime Minister's road map out of lockdown gives much welcomed clarity on the way forward.

Limited crowds can start enjoying cricket from May with a full return in June.

But in a statement chief executive Stuart Cain asked "if people can shop at the Bullring and Alton Towers can accommodate thrill-seekers from 12 April," why couldn't the club stage pilots at their County Championship matches at Edgbaston?

"This would help the wider professional sports industry to be equipped for welcoming more spectators in the following months," he added.

England begin a two-Test series against New Zealand on 2 June and will now hope to have a number of fans at both Lord's and Edgbaston.

A worker at a mill where four died in a blast tells a trial he thought part of the site was unsafe.

Coventry Live

Some of the Coventry Live headlines today include:

• Derelict former dental surgery in Coventry to become flats, external
• Lockdown rule-breakers caught in secret cabin in the woods, external
• Appeal over Irish-language gravestone to be heard, external

Ian Webber was convicted for assaulting the four-year-old boy at a Sutton Coldfield school in 2018.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Davis

Plans are to be drawn up for a gigafactory at Coventry Airport to manufacture electric car batteries, after the councillors approved the scheme.

Image source, Coventry City Council

Securing the factory could create thousands of jobs and attract up to £2bn of investment to the region, the city council said.

Plans will now be developed to submit an outline application in 2021 and, if approved, the facility could be up and running for 2025, the meeting heard.

It is hoped the project will attract funding from the government, which is actively pursuing investment in a gigafactory and has made up to £500m available.

Hereford Times

These are some of the Hereford Times headlines today:

• Empty restaurants at Hereford's Old Market look set to reopen, external
• How pavilion will harness the power of the river Wye, external
• Drug-drive cannabis smoker was caught on his way to buy food, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Davis

Coventry could boast one of the largest arts museums in the world if plans to turn the former Ikea building into a national collections centre are approved.

Image source, Coventry City Council

Image source, Coventry City Council

Councillors are meeting to discuss plans to transform the building into a joint arts and culture facility.

They will be asked to approve the acquisition of the leasehold of the site, alongside design fees of £1.31m to develop later-stage plans for the new arts hub.

The Ikea building contains 53,904 square metres of floor space, meaning in terms of size it would be placed only behind the Louvre in Paris, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the National Museum of China in Beijing, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

However, the exact layouts for the collections centre and proportion of storage/gallery space has yet to be determined.

Image source, Coventry City Council

If approved, the multimillion-pound project would become home to some of the country’s greatest works of art and could open during the summer of 2023.

Ashley Pace is sentenced to six years in prison for the manslaughter of Jagdev Lally.

BBC Radio Stoke

A pedestrian has been hit by a car in Stoke-on-Trent.

Emergency services were called to Werrington Road, in Bucknall, just before 10:30 GMT.

The woman was taken to hospital suffering potentially serious injuries, said the ambulance service.

Part of Werrington Road has been closed, with buses diverted and drivers being urged to avoid the area.

Three men and a woman, arrested on suspicion of murder, have been released, police say.

A man has been charged with three counts of criminal damage after reports of cars being targeted in Warwick.

Officers were called to Millers Road in the town on Sunday, said Warwickshire Police.

The 39-year-old is set to appear at Warwickshire Magistrates' Court later.

A man died after a van and car crashed near Lichfield last night.

Image source, Central Motorway Police Group

The incident happened shortly before 20:00 GMT at the junction of Flats Lane and the A5 at Weeford, said the ambulance service.

The man was confirmed dead at the scene after being found in a critical condition, it added.

A second patient was treated for minor injuries and discharged at the scene.

Birmingham Live

Some of the Birmingham Live headlines today include:

• Man's throat slit in horrific city attack, external
• Fears for safety of Rotunda as walkway below sealed off, external
• Appeal after van driver left with serious face injuries in random attack in Quinton, external

Darryl Moffatt's crimes against children are not related to his work, authorities say.

BBC News Travel

A fallen tree is disrupting rail services in the West Midlands.

Services between Northway in Birmingham and Eckington in Worcestershire are being delayed.