Live updates for Devon and Cornwall have finished for the day, but we'll be back at 08:00 on Wednesday with the latest news, sport, travel and weather. 

Don't forget Spotlight on BBC One later. There will also be news through the night on your BBC Local Radio station.

James Law
BBC Sport Online

Cornish Pirates director Colin Groves says the club could swap players with Super Rugby franchise Waikato Chiefs in the future.

The two teams set up a partnership in September and Dallas Fisher, chairman of the New Zealand-based side, is visiting Cornwall in January.

Image source, Brian Tempest

"That is an idea going forwards, probably a couple of years down the track," Groves told BBC Radio Cornwall. "I would describe it more like IP [intellectual property] swap - coaches, and maybe one or two players."  

Simon Hall, Home Affairs Correspondent
BBC Spotlight

County councillors in Devon say they will try and keep spending cuts on education for the most vulnerable children "as low as possible" in a letter which says the county's high needs education budget shortfall is facing a £4.5m shortfall.

Such education provides schooling for children with learning difficulties and serious physical disabilities. It takes up about £57m of an overall £507m education budget this year, according to county council figures., external

The letter says: "We acknowledge schools’ legitimate concerns about the potential extra pressure this will place on their own budgets and clearly we will do everything we can to keep the top slice as low as possible."

David Braine
Weather Forecaster

Remaining largely dry and cloudy through this evening and overnight, with just some light rain at first across Devon. Some clear spells may develop, but it should remain frost-free. Minimum temperature: 9C (48F).

Some brighter breaks will develop through Wednesday and it should stay dry until the evening as rain arrives from the west. Feeling mild with a strengthening south-westerly breeze. Maximum temperature: 14C (57F).

BBC News UK

A former Royal Marine jailed for murdering an insurgent in Afghanistan is having his case heard by the Courts Martial Appeal Court for a second time.

Alexander Blackman - known as Marine A - from Taunton, Somerset, was given a life sentence in 2013 by a court martial over the 2011 incident, which happened when he was serving as a Royal Marine sergeant with Plymouth-based 42 Commando. 

Image source, Service Prosecuting Authority

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has decided to refer the conviction following an 11-month investigation. He had applied to the CRCC after his earlier appeal was dismissed in 2014.

The CCRC said the fresh appeal would look at new evidence relating to his mental state at the time, and the fact an alternative verdict of unlawful act manslaughter was not then available. 

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

Two men from Wales who admitted illegal hunting of deer in Devon have been sentenced to suspended jail terms.

They were among 11 men from the south west of England and Wales sentenced at Plymouth Magistrates' Court for a series of offences concerning hunting with dogs.  

Image source, RSPCA

Pheon Radford, 22, from Pentre, Ystrad, admitted one charge of killing a deer at night and one of causing unnecessary suffering to a lurcher dog. He received a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and banned from keeping dogs.

Dean McGrath, 29, from Greenmeadow, Cwmbran, Gwent, was given a six-week jail term, suspended for 12 months, after admitting one charge of killing a deer at night.

Andrew Segal
Local Live

• The ringleader of a gang of 11 men which carried out attacks on wild animals is jailed for 20 weeks after gang members admitted or were found guilty of 27 offences
• The murder conviction of Alexander Blackman - known as Marine A, from Plymouth-based 42 Commando - over the death of an Afghan insurgent is referred for appeal
• A "brazen" armed robber is hunted by police after a 10in knife is used in a raid on a shop in Exeter
• Falmouth Cornwall Councillor Hanna Toms who admitted benefit fraud says she "never in a million years" expected to be in that position
• Chapelton railway station in north Devon is the ninth quietest in Britain, the rail regulator says

Andrew Segal
Local Live

A railway station in north Devon is the ninth quietest in Britain, according to the rail regulator. 

Image source, Google

Chapelton, between Bishop's Tawton and Umberleigh, had only 100 entries and exits in the year 2015/16, the Office of Rail and Road said. 

In comparison, Britain's busiest was London Waterloo, with 99.1m.

BBC Radio Cornwall

A Cornwall Councillor who admitted benefit fraud says she "never in a million years" expected to be in that position.

Hanna Toms, 40, did not tell the authority about a rise in income between 2008 and 2014 that affected benefits calculations. She said she thought HM Revenue & Customs would tell Cornwall Council about changes in her circumstances. It didn't.

She was sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid community work at Truro Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty on Monday to two counts over overpayments of more than £10,000. 

The Falmouth Penwerris councillor, who is not standing in next year's election, said: "Honesty is one of the most important things to me." She added she believed guidelines for such situations had been changed "presumably because so many people have got themselves into this situation that I got myself into".

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

Four men involved with the illegal hunting of deer in Devon have all been sentenced to suspended jail terms.

They were among 11 men from the south west of England and Wales sentenced at Plymouth Magistrates' Court for a series of offences concerning hunting with dogs. 

Thirty-seven-year-old Daniel Ravenscroft, of Grange Road, Buckfast, Devon, was given a six-week term, suspended for 12 months, after being found guilty of a charge of killing a deer at night.

Three other men admitted similar offences. They are:

• Oliver Blatch, 27, from Sturminster Newton, Dorset, given an eight-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, after admitting two counts of killing a deer at night
• Kenneth Danes, 29, from Culmhead, Taunton, Somerset, sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, after admitting one charge of killing a deer at night
• Brian Forrest, 40, from Kingston St Mary, Taunton, Somerset, given a six-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, after admitting one charge of killing a deer at night

The sentencing continues.

Andrew Segal
Local Live

Image source, PA

The murder conviction of Alexander Blackman - known as Marine A - over the death of an insurgent in Afghanistan has been referred for appeal.

Blackman, from Taunton, Somerset, was given a life sentence in 2013 by a court martial over the 2011 incident, which happened when he was serving as a Royal Marine sergeant with Plymouth-based 42 Commando. It took place after a patrol base in Helmand province came under fire from two insurgents.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission said the case had been referred to the Courts Martial Appeal Court.

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

A landscape gardener from Wales has been jailed for six weeks for killing a deer, possessing a fighting dog, and not providing five other dogs with a suitable environment.

Gethyn Durham, 27, from from Pontnewydd, Torfaen, who admitted the offences at Plymouth Magistrates' Court, was also disqualified from keeping dogs for five years.

He is among 11 men from the south west of England and Wales that are being sentenced at Plymouth Magistrates Court for a series of offences concerning hunting with dogs in Devon. The sentencing continues.

Andrew Segal
Local Live

A "brazen" armed robber is being hunted by police in Exeter after a 10in knife was used in a raid on a shop, police say.

Officers said three staff were threatened when the suspect robbed the Spar shop on Magdalen Road at about 21:20 on Monday, taking cash from the till. He then ran off in the direction of the Mount Radford pub.

Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police

No-one was injured but it was "quite a shocking experience for staff", police said, external.

The man was described as white, about 30-years-old, of slim build, and between 5ft 8ins to 5ft 10ins tall. He wore a camouflaged hooded jacket, black trousers, black gloves and a black scarf.

Plymouth Herald

Police have launched a major operation, external to crackdown on teenage use of "legal highs" in the South Hams.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Campaigners against cuts to NHS services in Cornwall say they fear major changes which could be put forward by local health bosses.

A protest is being held outside an NHS Kernow meeting in St Cleer which is discussing how to save £264m. Plans to tackle deficits include the possibility of selling off some community hospitals. 

Campaigner Ruth Wilson, also chairwoman of the South East Cornwall Labour Party, said: "I think they'll cut beds, I think they'll close hospitals. I also think it will be harder to see a GP as your first point of contact, and there’s the real risk of the introduction of charging."

Health bosses said no decision had been made yet.

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

A farmhand from Wales has been given a nine-week jail term, suspended for 12 months, after admitting three charges of killing a deer at night.

Twenty-three-year-old Joseph O'Connor, from Rhydyfro, Pontardawe, was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work and ordered to pay £800 costs.

He is among 11 men from the South West of England and Wales that are being sentenced at Plymouth Magistrates' Court for a series of offences concerning hunting with dogs in Devon. The sentencing continues.

Cornwall Live

Claims that 200 needles were found in a children's park in St Austell have been denied, external by St Austell Town Council and Cornwall Council.

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

A machine operator from Wales found guilty of killing a deer at night has been jailed for eight weeks.

Philip Cross, 36, of Tonypandy, Rhondda, was found guilty of one charge of killing a deer at night and one of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog, a black and white lurcher, by failing to get it treated for a fractured leg.

At the sentencing at Plymouth Magistrates' Court, he was also disqualified from keeping dogs for five years and ordered to pay £4,000 costs.

He is one of 11 men from the South West of England and Wales that are being sentenced for a series of offences concerning hunting with dogs in Devon. The sentencing continues.

Exeter Express & Echo

A prison officer was left with "tearing" to the mouth after an alleged assaulted in HMP Exeter, a court heard, external.