Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Three men have been charged and a number of vehicles seized in relation to hare coursing.

Fifteen incidents were reported yesterday in the north of the county and across the border into Lincolnshire.

A 21-year-old man from Middlesbrough, a 22-year-old man from Whitby and a 36-year-old man from Slough were charged with breaching a dispersal order. 

All three were released on bail to attend Peterborough Magistrates' Court in the next few weeks.

Eight vehicles were also seized as part of the operation.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

About 14 tonnes of bailed straw were set alight in Newborough, near Peterborough, last night.

The blaze happened about midnight.

The fire service says it was a "deliberate act".  

Image source, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service

Image source, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service

Image source, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Police say they are yet to catch anyone involved in the recent spate of vandalism at Ferry Meadows Country Park in Peterborough. 

The park was targeted on Monday night, with offenders sawing off trees, backs of benches and fencing rails. 

Safety ropes in a play area were also cut.

Image source, Nene Park Trust

Image source, Nene Park Trust

Image source, Nene Park Trust

Image source, Nene Park Trust

Image source, Nene Park Trust

It comes just months after the park was damaged and had racist graffiti daubed across the site.

Teresa Wood, from the Nene Park Trust which runs Ferry Meadows, said: "Somebody has clearly gone through here with a saw with the intention of doing this damage."

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

The front of the Post Office on Chesterton High Street in Cambridge has been damaged after offenders tried to ram the shop to gain entry.

Police say the attempted burglary happened about 01:00.

A silver Lexus was used to try and gain entry but the offenders left empty-handed, officers said.

The Cambridge News has a picture of the damage, external, which shows part of the shop window caved in.

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

Many places in the region saw a light dusting of snow yesterday and there'll be the risk of further wintry showers - not only today, but also into Saturday.

It will be cold and cloudy to start with, although we are mostly starting off with temperatures just about freezing. There could be some sleet around later, but generally the further west you are the drier it will tend to be.

The maximum temperature will be about 3C (37F), but in reality it will feel colder than that because of the bitterness of the easterly wind.

For more head to BBC Weather.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome back to live updates for Cambridgeshire on Friday, 10 February.

We'll bring you live news, sport, weather and travel updates until 18:00.

Starting off this morning with a full weather forecast, on what seems to be an unusually cold morning (for this week anyway!).

Get in touch with the team by email, Twitter , externaland Facebook, external.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

That's it for today from your Cambridgeshire Live team. 

Don't forget you can always send us your interesting pictures of the county via email, Facebook, external or Twitter, external, using #cmblive. Any breaking stories will still be posted here overnight.

We'll be back to do it all again from 08:00 tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening - and wrap up warm.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

This evening will stay cloudy and cold, with the risk of further snow flurries moving in from the North Sea.

This could bring a dusting of snow in places by morning, and the risk or a frost and icy patches.

Staying above freezing on the coast, but inland temperatures will fall to -2C (28F).

Image source, BBC Weather

Some parts of the region could wake up to a dusting of snow tomorrow, and the risk of snow showers will continue through the day and overnight.

A bitter north easterly wind will push snow showers further inland during the day.

Temperatures reaching a high of 3C (37F).

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

Image source, Matt Walton

Thanks to Matt Walton who sent in this gorgeous snap of one of the waxwings on the Cambridge guided bus route. 

It's estimated that 15 waxwings are feasting on the bumper berry crop around the Science Park bus stop.

It seems they've found rich pickings here rather than their native Scandinavia. 

The RSPB's waxwing guide, external says they're "unusual migrants" who only tend to come here every seven or eight years.

Waxwings are pinky-buff coloured and have a crest on their heads. They look like they're wearing a black eye-mask.

If you spot a waxwing here or anywhere else in the county, email your pictures and we'll publish some on BBC Cambridgeshire Live.

Culture minister Matt Hancock has pledged to "bang the drum" and "trumpet the success" of brass bands as he lent his support in the Commons. 

The West Suffolk MP also revealed he was a cornet player in a brass band in his youth.

Kettering Tory Philip Hollobone had praised Youth Brass 2000, a band for young people in his constituency who have been crowned national champions five years in a row. 

In reply, Mr Hancock congratulated them on their success, and said: "I myself played the cornet in a brass band when I was a boy, but I never rose to the dizzying heights of the national champions that he represents, and I send them all congratulations."

Tory backbencher Jake Berry poked fun at Mr Hancock, saying: "The minister is certainly not known for blowing his own trumpet." 

Amid laugher in the chamber, Mr Hancock replied: "I never got to the point of playing the trumpet, I was a mere cornet player, but I do want to bang the drum for all of the brass bands that he mentioned."

A man accused of murdering a children's author tells a court he spoke to her after she went missing.

Sarah Jenkins
BBC Local Live

The fiance of Hertfordshire author Helen Bailey, who is accused of her murder, has been cross-examined by the prosecution today.

At St Albans Crown Court, Ian Stewart described the killing of Ms Bailey as "sick and disgusting".

Mr Stewart, 56, of Royston, also denied administering sedatives to Helen Bailey in scrambled eggs.

Image source, Helen Tipper

Staurt Trimmer QC said "this is a long-crafted and cynical plan of yours to do away with Helen Bailey", to which Mr Stewart replied "No".

Mr Trimmer asked: "You smothered Helen while she was asleep and unconscious - maybe a pillow and a pillow slip on it?". He replied "No."

The prosecutor said: "If the story you were putting out to the world was that Helen had gone, the dog had to go as well. Did you drop the dog alive into the pit?"

He replied: "Certainly not."

The body of Ms Bailey, and her pet dog, were found in a cesspit beneath the garage at their home in Royston on 15 July.

The prosecution's case alleges that Ian Stewart murdered Ms Bailey to inherit her fortune.

Mr Stewart, of Baldock Road, Royston denies murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud, and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

Elsewhere in Cambridgeshire: 

• The Peterborough Telegraph, external reveals the full scale of the damage caused by vandals at Ferry Meadows. The gang had previously snapped saplings and daubed graffiti - but overnight took saws to the wooden play equipment
• The Cambridge News, external looks at the opening of the UK's first centre for science fiction. The Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy will open in Cambridge on 15 February
• And the Ely Standard, external says police are linking an attempt to steal an ATM at Isleham Co-op with a series of other recent raids across the east. There have been similar attacks in Manningtree and Roydon in Essex and Capel St Mary in Suffolk

Sarah Jenkins
BBC Local Live

The fiance of Hertfordshire author Helen Bailey, who is accused of her murder, has told a court he went on holiday to Majorca while she was missing because her abductors said they wanted him "out of the way".

Ian Stewart said he flew alone from Stansted Airport on 12 June, but stayed overnight at the Radisson Blu hotel beforehand.

He says he was summoned to the hotel bar by one of the men he claims abducted Helen.

Image source, Helen Tipper/BBC

Mr Stewart then explained to the jury at St Albans Crown Court what was discussed between him and Nick.

"I said 'Is Helen here? Where's Helen?'

"He said 'If we don't get what we want, we want compensation'."

Mr Stewart claims the men who abducted Helen, who he called Nick and Joe, said they wanted £500,000 and made threats against his two sons and Ms Bailey.

He described the holiday in Majorca as a "nightmare" and then tried to get money together to pay the men.    

The body of Ms Bailey, and her pet dog, were found in a cesspit beneath the garage at their home in Royston on 15 July.

The prosecution's case alleges that Ian Stewart murdered Ms Bailey to inherit her fortune.

Mr Stewart, of Baldock Road, Royston denies murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud, and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

Image source, Orangutan Foundation

We have a sad update on the fortunes of Aan - the partially-sighted orangutan.

Aan was left blind in one eye and impaired in the other after she was shot in an attack on a palm oil plantation in Borneo in 2012.  

We told how Cambridge vet Claudia Hartley travelled to Borneo to perform a cataract operation on the primate's right eye - and remove her permanently-damaged left eye.

Despite the success of the operation, surgeons discovered Aan had existing damage to her optic nerve.

"She will never regain her sight," said Ashley Leiman OBE, director of the Orangutan Foundation, external.

"We think there was damage to her optic nerve which would only have shown up once they did this level of surgery.

"We now know she's going to have to spend the rest of her life in captivity."

Image source, Orangutan Foundation

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

The closure of the Gainsborough Foundation at the end of March means Cambridgeshire County Council will be the sole provider of publically-funded alcohol recovery services in the county.

The authority says: "Local people can be reassured the Inclusion service commissioned by Cambridgeshire County Council will not be affected by this change in funding. 

"Inclusion, external will continue to provide ongoing specialist drug and alcohol treatment services for the whole of Cambridgeshire." 

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, external (CCG), which has chosen not to continue funding the Gainsborough Foundation service, said: "Like all CCGs up and down the country, there is greater demand on our budget than we have the budget to spend. 

"We need to look at all our services, and can only commission those we have the funding and responsibility for." 

Peterborough Telegraph

Armed police gave residents of a house in a Peterborough street a rude awakening when they carried out a raid, external in the early hours of this morning, Thursday February 9.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

The Ramsey-based Gainsborough Foundation, external is to close on 31 March after its funding was withdrawn.

It brings to an end almost a decade of support and treatment for hundreds of people facing alcohol dependency in the county. 

Those who've used the service - which is itself run by recovered alcoholics - say it literally saves lives. 

Director and founder Nick Charles MBE had this to say on BBC Cambridgeshire's Breakfast Show:

"I could express anger, disbelief, injustice, ignorance, even conspiratorial jealousy - but I'm not going to respond with any of these.

"Today we should be in mourning, not for the loss of Gainsborough necessarily, but for the loss of an extraordinary breakthrough, first in the recognition of the parameters of an illness that's baffles medical science but more tragically for the loss of a breath-taking treatment process which has proved we are the leaders in our field."

Kate Bradbrook
BBC Look East

The prosecution in the murder trial of Hertfordshire author Helen Bailey has begun its cross examination of Ian Stewart.

We'll bring you more this afternoon...

Sarah Jenkins
BBC Local Live

The fiance of Hertfordshire author Helen Bailey, who is accused of her murder, has said he had suicidal thoughts while Helen was missing.

He told St Albans Crown Court he had climbed over railings at a cliff top near Helen's holiday home in Broadstairs and had also sat beside the railway line in Ryoston.

"I wanted everything to stop," he said.

Image source, SBNA

Mr Stewart told the jury he was visited by Nick, one of Helen's abductors, at his home in Royston on Tuesday, 26 April.

He said Nick asked him to open the gates to allow a car to be driven in as Helen had informed them there was something in the garage.

Mr Stewart alleges the second abductor, Joe, then appeared and asked Nick to help him in the garage.

Then he was given a phone by Joe and told to keep it charged. "I said 'Can I see Helen?' He said: 'No, it will soon be over'."

He said Joe told him: "Tell anyone about us, you won't see Helen again or Boris."

He said he did not notice anything different in the garage after the two men had left.

The body of Ms Bailey, and her pet dachshund Boris, were found in a cesspit beneath the garage at their home on 15 July.

The prosecution alleges Ian Stewart murdered Ms Bailey to inherit her fortune.

Mr Stewart, of Baldock Road, Royston, Hertfordshire, denies murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud, and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.