Department store Browns of Chester closes its doors after 241 years of serving the city.

Leon Cullen, 33, fled to Dubai using a fake passport before UK police tracked him down.

Chris Rushworth takes 5-56 to help earn Durham a first-innings lead against Worcestershire at Chester-le-Street.

PC Benjamin Monk is charged with murdering former Villa star Dalian Atkinson in Shropshire in 2016.

The inquest heard Lance Shingler witnessed "harrowing, traumatic incidents" in Iraq.

That's all for our live coverage today.

We'll be back on Monday from 07:00 with the latest on the easing of Covid-19 restrictions across England.

As Debenhams closes its doors for the final time this weekend, one former employee said she is "absolutely devastated".

Becky Chapman, from Stourbridge, got her first job in the Merry Hill branch when she was just 16 back in 1990. She said since then she developed the nickname "Boomerang Becky" after returning to jobs at the Dudley and Birmingham stores no less than 8 times.

"I always went back to Debenhams," she said. "It's a family and a massive part of my life.

"It's just bare bricks now, it's heart breaking. It's going to be a massive hole in the community."

Image source, Getty Images

She was at the opening of the chain's flagship store in Birmingham's Bullring in 2003 alongside Philip from Great Barr.

"The staff is everything for Debenhams," said Philip, who continued to work at the store until last year. "It's such a brilliant place to work.

"It used to bring customers into Birmingham so it's going to have an effect on the whole Bullring."

The shops will close for the last time on Saturday.

A one-minute film released tomorrow to mark Coventry's City of Culture festival programme will "tell the world what Coventry is about," said event organisers.

Directed by Coventry producer Coolie, it is due to be broadcast at 20:21 on Saturday and will be available to view via the festival's social media channels.

Image source, Aaron Law

The festival's chief executive Martin Sutherland said the film would include some "very famous names and faces from Coventry who are all backing what we're trying to do here."

Speaking to CWR he added "critically tomorrow is just about marking the day... that we can all say 'we're part of the UK city of culture'."

"From Monday onwards, when some of the theatres, some of the galleries can start welcoming visitors, the programme starts - there are events starting at the Belgrade Theatre and Warwick Arts Centre next week - which allows us to start delivering the programme."

The festival has been hindered and delayed by the pandemic, with the trust coordinating a "flexible" programme.

There's major disruption in parts of Birmingham city centre due to a protest thought to be over the escalating violence in Israel.

Drivers are being urged to avoid Bristol Road and Holloway Circus as the go-slow traffic protest continues.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said while the exact route of the protest was not known, it asked motorists to be mindful of emergency vehicles travelling through the area.

Protesters are waving flags from cars as the procession of vehicles moves up towards Five Ways.

Image source, Getty Images

Almost a third of all adults in Worcester have now been vaccinated against coronavirus, according to the latest figures.

NHS England said a total of 28,563 people in the city have now received two doses of a Covid vaccine.

Based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) population estimates, that equates to 32% of Worcester’s 89,500 people aged 16 and above.

Up to 92% of adults aged 80 and above in the city have now received both jabs and 81.3% of care home residents in Worcestershire have now had two doses, NHS figures and population estimates show.

Surge testing is being conducted in Redditch after "multiple" cases of the South African variant of were discovered, officials said earlier this week.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said those with confirmed cases have since self-isolated and their contacts have been identified.

A "very small number" of cases are found, prompting the council to urge people to get tested.

Shropshire Star

From the Shropshire Star:

• Shropshire hospital waiting lists hit record highs amid Covid fallout, external
• West Mercia sees fall in crime during lockdown but harassment and drugs offences are up, external
• Health bosses investigating rise in A&E walk-in patients, external

Keelan Wilson, 15, was "executed" following escalating tensions between Wolverhampton gangs.

Five men died when a wall collapsed at a recycling plant in Birmingham where they were working.

Nearly 10,000 medicine deliveries were missed, leading to hospital treatment for some patients.

This weekend marks the end of Debenhams as it closes all of its branches after going bust in January.

Its Hanley store has stood proud on the high street since the nineties and one woman who has spent 35 years working for the chain said she was "dreading" it closing.

Image source, PA Media

"It feels like I've been here forever," Karen Davies, who spent most of her career working in the Yves Saint Laurent concession, said. "It's just sad to see it go."

She recalled how in the early days staff were "able to work in your slippers if your feet started to ache" and "lovely staff canteen parties at Christmas".

"Up until the last lockdown I was still very positive someone would buy us out," Ms Davies said. "But as soon as BooHoo came on board I knew it wouldn't happen."

The online retailer bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m earlier this year.

The family of 12 ducklings are reunited with an anxious mother duck after they fell into a drain.

Express and Star

The Express and Star's headlines today include:

• Pupils so honoured to meet William and Kate on Wolverhampton visit, external
• Patients hit back after GP surgery staff say they are 'subject to verbal abuse', external
• Existing hospital protocols 'would deal with Indian Covid strain', external

A gas flare has been installed at a landfill site in Newcastle-under-Lyme in a bit to reduce the smell.

The Environment Agency received 1,276 odour reports in the area around Walleys Quarry from 3 - 9 May.

Due to the number of complaints, the agency visited the site six times last week to assess the smell and found that while it was below the World Heath Organisation's (WHO) guideline level for impact on health, it was above the annoyance guideline level.

Operators Walleys Quarry Ltd, formerly Red Industries RM Ltd, has now installed the gas flare which will allow more gas to be collected and burnt off, meaning the odour should diminish.

The Environment Agency published a report, external on its latest findings and said the operators had also produced an "action plan" to reduce the smell but it was "complex and technical" and would be examined by agency experts.

BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester

Door-to-door Covid testing has begun in Redditch as health officials look to prevent the spread of the South Africa variant.

Image source, PA Media

Surge testing started in parts of the town earlier this week after a handful of cases, fewer than 10, were identified, Worcestershire County Council said.

A mobile testing unit has been set up at the Abbey Road Stadium and the authority has praised the response of residents as it has been fully booked until Saturday. , external

The council's map of the affected site includes areas around Webheath, Southcrest and Headless Cross.

Redditch Borough Council leader Matt Dormer said: "We have got to take it seriously and continue the great work that we have been doing and take up those testing spaces.

"Let us book it out every single day, I really do urge everybody to just come forward, have a test, even if you live on the edge of that postcode."