Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online

A man who paid for a stranger's Valentine's gifts has been tracked down.

Ben Lodge's payment cards were refused at Lidl in Redruth when a Good Samaritan stepped in to help.

After speaking on BBC Radio Cornwall and posting on Facebook and Twitter, someone has been in touch to say the kind man wants to remain anonymous.

Image source, Ben Lodge

Ben said: "He doesn't want the money back and didn't get in touch directly, just through a friend. Apparently he is very humble and just wishes we pass the act along some day."

The chocolate, flowers and chocolates came to just under £20.

BBC Travel

• On the M5 at Exeter at junction 30 one lane is closed on the northbound exit slip road due to an accident
• On the A385 through Totnes there's very slow moving traffic in both directions due to temporary traffic lights and roadworks near the police station
• The A379 Shaldon Bridge is closed until 21:30 due to maintenance work. A diversion is in place

Claire Jones
BBC News Online

Bake Off fans! 2016 winner Candice Brown has been announced as the celebrity chef appearing at this year's Flavour Fest in Plymouth.

Returning for its 14th year, Flavour Fest 2017 promises visitors a programme of chef demonstrations, food stalls and entertainment from Friday 2 June to Sunday 4 June in Plymouth’s City Centre.

Candice Brown: "This will be my first visit to Britain’s Ocean City. I’m looking forward to meeting some new friends and sharing some baking fun."

BBC Spotlight

A new operating theatre and day surgery suite are opening in Plymouth today.

It's hoped the facilities at the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre, which are operated by a private company but treat NHS patients, will help ease some of the pressures on hospitals.

Claire Jones
BBC News Online

A man has been injured after being assaulted with a metal pole near a roundabout in Plymouth, police have said.

It happened just after 06:30 on Thursday when two vehicles crashed and both drivers stopped at Marsh Mills.

Police said one man approached the other and assaulted him, hitting him several times with a metal pole.

The victim, a man in his 20s, had injuries to his left eye, right hand and the right side of his body.

Police are appealing for witnesses and want to speak to a man in connection with the incident. He's described as white, 6ft 2ins, of a big build, 45 to 50 years old, with short, grey, receding hair, wearing a green polo shirt, blue jeans and driving a green Citreon Berlingo.

Sian Davies
BBC News Online

A former patient has spoken of how he was injected with drugs and abused at a mental health hospital as a teenager in the 1960s. 

Jason Stubbings from Cornwall was sent to Aston Hall in Derbyshire aged 14 after he tried to take his own life. An investigation involving police, health and social services is ongoing .  

Image source, NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL/PICTURETHEPAST.ORG

BBC Travel

• On the M5 at Exeter at junction 30 one lane is closed on the northbound exit slip road due to an accident
• On the A385 through Totnes there's very slow moving traffic in both directions due to temporary traffic lights and roadworks near the police station
• The A379 Shaldon Bridge is closed until 21:30 due to maintenance work. A diversion is in place

The death of a man whose body was found at Perranporth is being treated as unexplained by police.

His body was found on 6 February on Perran Sands beach.

Police said the body has since been identified as that of Stephen Lloyd Thomas, 43, from Truro. Next of kin have been informed.

Police are appealing for witnesses and anyone who knew Stephen to come forward.

Image source, Alan Webb

A man's body washed up at Perranporth on 6 February has been identified by police as that of Stephen Lloyd Thomas, 43, from Truro.

BBC News UK

A search of 279 beaches around the UK has found that almost three-quarters of them were littered with tiny plastic "nurdles".

What's the problem?

Campaigners estimate that up to 53bn of the tiny pellets escape into the UK's environment each year. Experts warn nurdles can soak up chemical pollutants from their surroundings and then release toxins into the animals that eat them.

How easy is it to find a nurdle?

The largest number recorded were found at Widemouth Bay, Cornwall, where 33 volunteers collected some 127,500 pellets found on a 100-metre stretch of beach.

Image source, PA

What can be done?

Madeleine Berg of Fidra, a Scottish environmental charity which organised the hunt, said it showed action was needed. "Simple precautionary measures can help spillages and ensure nurdles don't end up in our environment," she said.

"We are asking the UK government to ensure best practice is in place along the full plastic supply chain, and any further nurdle pollution is stopped."

• Police are appealing for witnesses following a fatal crash on the A38
• At 21:36 on Thursday police were called to the A38 near Avonwick, South Brent
• Officers believe a motorcyclist was riding in a group of three in an easterly direction, when one man fell from his Harley Davidson motorcycle
• A Honda Civic was travelling in the same direction when it crashed into the motorcyclist who had fallen off his bike, police said
• Emergency services attended and the road was closed for more than six hours
• The motorcyclist, a 49-year-old man from the Brixham area, died at the scene

Neil Gallacher, Business & Industry Correspondent
BBC Spotlight

I was the last journalist to go down South Crofty when it closed in 1998, and I've been following developments ever since.

There's been a small but significant step towards the possible restart of commercial mining at the site.  The Canadian firm working to revive South Crofty has just published a report which says reopening it could be "economically viable and technically feasible".  

How significant is this report?

It's the essential "next step" on the long road to reopening a mine. It sets out their stall to would-be investors - because they're not the guys with the money.

What does it say about the huge cost of pumping the mine out?

It's the first time I've seen a price put on that: US $34m or £27m for pumping out and refurbishing the shafts. In fact the total start-up costs are US $118.7m (£95m). 

Plenty of people must be thinking - they'll never raise that money?

These same people would have said the tin price will never get as high as it is these days. When South Crofty shut: £3,000. Today: £20,000. Also, people probably thought the Hemerdon tungsten mine in Devon wouldn't restart. It did, and cost the same kind of money. There's no guarantee South Crofty will reopen - far from it. But it could happen.

Cornwall Live

Three Cornish companies have been named and shamed by the Government for failing to pay either the national minimum wage or the national living wage, external. 

BBC Travel

• On the A385 through Totnes there's very slow moving traffic
• The A379, Shaldon Bridge is closed until 21:30 due to maintenance work. A diversion is in place
• On the A30 eastbound between Bodmin and Temple there's slow moving traffic
• On the A39 at Winnards Perch we've got reports of an accident

Exeter Express & Echo

A mum has issued a warning after her daughter's bedroom was gutted by a fire caused by a cheap i-Phone charger, external from Poundland.

BBC Radio Stoke

TV presenter Noel Edmonds has thanked a super-fan on BBC Radio Stoke for "going that little extra mile" in supporting him, after she got an image of his face tattooed on her thigh. 

Angie Morris from Crewe appeared on the TV show Tattoo Fixers to get the artwork permanently added to her body. 

She says she's been a fan of Noel - who has links to Devon - since she was eight and he presented The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. 

Her partner of seven years says she's mad but he's got used to her love of the presenter.

Exeter Express & Echo

A hunting horn and an ornamental owl were both stolen, external in an interesting couple of weeks for police in Torridge.  

Neil Gallacher, Business & Industry Correspondent
BBC Spotlight

There's been another small but significant step towards the possible restart of commercial mining in Cornwall.

The Canadian firm working to revive South Crofty tin mine near Camborne has just published a report which says reopening it could be "economically viable and technically feasible".

Building a modern tin mine at the site near Camborne would cost £95m, Strongbow says. Publication is part of the process of raising tens of millions of pounds to fund the venture.