Wolverhampton host Ipswich Witches in the Speedway Great Britain Premiership - listen to BBC Radio WM commentary.

Eight people will stand trial following an investigation by Staffordshire Police.

Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt were stabbed by Usman Khan less than a year after he left prison.

A patient who spent half a year in hospital, recovering from coronavirus has been given a "guard of honour" as he left Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

Stuart Tyrer, 55, from Leegomery, was admitted to the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) in November last year.

He said: "I remember going onto the unit, and that’s all I remember for the next four months."

Mr Tyrer spent the last two months on a regular ward and overall was in hospital for 178 days.

Image source, SATH

He suffered two strokes while in hospital and it left him with heart problems and he is likely to lose some of his toes, the hospital trust said.

"At one point my wife was phoned because they didn’t expect me to live, so I’ve done extremely well to be here and that’s all thanks to the marvellous team here," he said.

His treatment will continue at home and he is going back with crutches.

Sarah Sivill, ward manager, said: "He really is a miracle and we were delighted to be able to get him home and honoured to applaud him on his way. We wish him all the best in his recovery."

Image source, SATH

Championship side Coventry City's transfer embargo is lifted by the English Football League.

Express and Star

The Express and Star has these headlines today:

• Only five per cent of rape cases in West Midlands end in court, external
• Gardener jailed over shoddy and uncompleted work, external
• Driver caught hiding in bin after ramming police car with stolen Audi, external

A piece of common land which became a dumping ground for metal drums and old cars could become a nature reserve.

Image source, Google

The Marl Allotment, a six acre (2.5 hectare) area near Whitchurch, Shropshire, was mined for marl, a limestone clay fertiliser, until World War Two.

However, Shropshire Council said, external it became overgrown and neglected until the early 2000s when clearance work began.

Next week, the authority's cabinet will decide whether to give powers to Whixall Parish Council, external to allow the area to be designated as a local nature reserve.

If it does, the move will safeguard the Marl's future and open up opportunities for extra funding, the council said.

Matthew Dale was found lying in a pool of blood after he was stabbed in Stoke-on-Trent last year.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Gurdip Thandi

An former pub in Wolverhampton city centre could be transformed into a community arts centre and apartments.

Image source, Google

The Asylum Art Gallery could move into the White Hart building, in Worcester Street, if the proposal is given the go-ahead by City of Wolverhampton planners.

A studio and exhibition space would be featured on the ground floor arts centre while five flats will be created on the two floors above.

The White Hart closed in 2019 and efforts to market it have proved unsuccessful.

Birmingham City agree to cancel Mikel San Jose's contract with the Championship club a year early by mutual consent.

Coventry Live

Some of the headlines from Coventry Live today include:

• Another supercar seized in Coventry by eagle eyed officers, external
• One of Nuneaton's oldest club's set to reopen this weekend, external
• CCTV captures thieves breaking into canal society site, external

Aston Villa confirm the departures of out-of-contract trio Tom Heaton, Ahmed Elmohamady and Neil Taylor.

The eastern branch of the planned high speed rail network will be completed, the transport secretary says.

Panashe Bako, 20, died after being stabbed at the Crowne Plaza in Birmingham, on 22 July 2020.

Carl Moorhouse was fatally stabbed in a disturbance in Warwickshire in May last year.

Greig Watson
Reporter, BBC News Online

A man who groomed a 13-year-old girl and then met her for sex has been jailed for four and a half years.

David Beesley, 30, posed as a 19-year-old when he contacted the girl via social media in 2019.

After exchanging a series of explicit messages, he drove from his home in Proffitt Avenue, Coventry, to the girl's home near Leicester to meet up.

He then returned the next day to have sex.

Image source, Leicestershire Police

The girl told her family in December 2019 and Beesley was subsequently arrested.

Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to 10 charges including five counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15.

After the sentencing at Leicester Crown Court today, Det Con Matt Gibson said: "I am pleased that the victim in this case has not had to recount what happened in front of a jury and that Beesley accepted a degree of responsibility for his actions by admitting his crimes."

Inquest jurors concluded that Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were unlawfully killed at Fishmongers' Hall.

A "small number" of cases of the Indian coronavirus variant have been found in Stoke-on-Trent.

Image source, Reuters

The city council said fewer than five cases have been identified and there was "no cause for concern" it was spreading in the wider community.

Director of health, Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, said the discovery was "not a surprise", and urged people to have their vaccination and get tested twice a week.

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said up to three quarters of new UK Covid cases could be of the Indian variant.

An expert witness has told a court it is impossible to state the "exact contribution" of 12 factors linked to the death of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson.

Image source, Crown Prosecution Service

PC Benjamin Monk, 43, is on trial for the murder of Aston Villa star Dalian Atkinson, who died after a stand-off with police in Telford, in 2016.

Prof Charles Deakin, a cardiac intensive care specialist, was asked by the defence for his views on the 12 factors including a Taser deployment, kicks and psychological stress.

He told the court it was "impossible to tease out any specific factor in terms of being certain of its exact contribution".

Prof Deakin also told Birmingham Crown Court the management of the 48-year-old by paramedics was "suboptimal" and failed to spot possible "early warnings signs" he was seriously unwell.

PC Monk denies murder and the trial continues.

An arrest has been made over an armed robbery in Nuneaton in January.

A man went into a shop in Abbey Gate Shopping Precinct on 6 January, threatened staff with a small gun and stole cash, police said. , external

Armed police arrested a 47-year-old man from Nuneaton on Friday morning in the Camp Hill area of the town.

He was arrested on suspicion of the robbery and on suspicion of theft of a car from the car park at George Eliot Hospital on 31 March.