Company director bludgeoned wife to death at Devon farmhouse
Autistic boy finds Kinder Egg shark after eight month hunt
Devon rugby player talks about battling depression in bid to help others
Eight people, including four children, rescued from mud
People 'urged to report anti-social behaviour rather than post about it on social media'
Concerns over people struggling to pay rent as 20,000 people helped in SW in one year
Updates on Friday 25 August 2017
Live updates for Devon and Cornwall have finished for the day, but we'll be back at 08:00 on Tuesday 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.
Hamish Marshall
BBC Spotlight
Businessman Michael Beck, who killed his wife before taking his own life, wrote to his sister Elizabeth and her husband Hugo Peel shortly before his death.
The letter said: "By the time you read this I will have killed Nicola and killed myself. It seems appropriate that such a grubby situation ends in such a grubby way."
Mr Beck wrote he had "spent my entire life fighting over money and cannot cope any more".
He said: "Above all I want you to ensure that my will is carried out to the letter. I want you to be utterly ruthless, merciless and heartless."
The inquest in Exeter heard Mrs Beck died from blows to the head at the couple's farmhouse in Dunkeswell. Mr Beck was found hanged in a barn.
Cornish MP and DEFRA minister George Eustice says he'll ask the Marine Management Organisation to look again at plans to force divers who remove old fishing nets from the sea bed to pay for a licence.
So-called "ghost gear" is becoming an increasing problem in UK waters.
And the Camborne and Redruth MP says it's time for a rethink.
John Danks, BBC Spotlight
Rapping teacher Andrew Bruff says he has now received more than 1,000 thank yous from students he helped with their GCSEs.
"It's amazing," said Mr Bruff, 35, from Tavistock, who makes videos using rap lyrics to teach English.
"It's nice to be thanked by students and teachers and parents for my efforts online," he said.
If you want to hear Mr Bruff rapping over a Stormzy track, click here, external and there's more from the headmaster of rap on BBC Spotlight at 18:30.
A Devon post office has raised thousands of pounds for local charities after installing a cash machine and giving a donation for every transaction.
Ashburton post office gives 2p out of the 6p it makes per sale - it has raised £2,000 in the last year which has been matched by local company Glendinnings, to make a total of £4,000.
The sub post master Stuart Rogers believes they are the only cashpoint - out of 60,000 in the UK - to be raising money for charity in this way, and says it benefits everybody.
A coroner has called for road safety improvements after a 91-year-old woman died after a crash in “freakish” weather conditions. , external
A talented Cornish potter who was found dead at his home may have died after taking too many painkillers and paracetamol. , external
Friday will be a dry day across Devon and Cornwall with some sunny spells for all parts, despite the skies clouding over at times.
With light winds it will feel pleasantly warm in the sunshine.
The maximum temperature will be 20C (68F).
A hay baler and 25 large hay bales caught fire near St Erth in west Cornwall.
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said one engine and a crew of six dealt with the blaze on Conker Lane, St Erth at about 15:30.
The fire follows another baler fire in a field near Tregony on the Roseland last night.
Small metal canisters have been found in a number of Devon roads, external as well as in fields and back alleys.
A fishing boat that was sinking on Milbrook Lake near Torpoint has been pumped out by firefighters.
Image source, GoogleFuel and oil stored in the vessel was threatening to pollute the lake, but was pumped out with the help of a tug which transferred firefighters and the equipment to the stricken vessel.
The fire service says 50,000 litres of water have been removed to prevent it sinking.
If you're planning a trip to London this weekend, rail companies are warning passengers that there are major engineering works affecting several lines.
Operators have warned passengers to expect delays, as services between London, the North West and Scotland are cancelled and five of London's biggest stations face disruption.
Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online
A rapping teacher who left his job in Plymouth to create rap videos for YouTube said he wanted to help students because he didn't think the current education system was "fair".
Andrew Bruff, known as Mr Bruff online, said: "This year I have had seven million views and so I thought it was worth the risk of leaving.
"I've had about a thousand messages from GCSE students and it definitely charges my batteries for next year."
Image source, PAHe said rapping "which I've always loved", helped teaching because "rap is very easy to memorise".
"I can remember pop songs from when I was 11 years old and so putting quotations from novels to music means you can remember it very easily.
"I've always loved hip hop, and am intrigued by how we can memorise song lyrics so easily.
"It's not fair that the quality of your education depends on your teacher, the area you live in, or whether you have rich parents who can afford expensive revision guides and tutors," he said.
One in 11 people in the South West admitted to taking illegal drugs last year, external, one of the highest rates in the country.
Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online
Coastguards have rescued eight people including a three-year-old girl who got stranded on mud flats near Kingsbridge.
Image source, Gavin Angliss/Prawle Point CoastguardTeignmouth Coastguard Mud Rescue used a sled to bring the stranded victims ashore after the engine on their boat failed as the tide was going out.
Image source, Gavin Angliss/Prawle Point CoastguardTheir colleagues from Prawle Point Coastguard Rescue, external helped in the sticky operation on Thursday which brought all back safe and sound.
Image source, Gavin Angliss/Prawle Point CoastguardAnd Kingsbridge fire crew were on hand to give the muddy crew a hose down.
Prawle Point Coastguard Team said: "The first people recovered off that boat included a three-year-old girl.
"The rescue took place over several hours and it was important to get the children off first due to the weather and lack of fluids on board."
Hamish Marshall
BBC Spotlight
An inquest has heard how a wealthy company director bludgeoned his wife to death at their secluded million-pound Devon home before taking his own life.
The bodies of 62-year-old Michael Beck and his wife Nicola, 52, were found at their home near Dunkeswell last January.
The inquest in Exeter heard Mrs Beck was found in bed and she died from blows to the head.
Home Office Pathologist, Dr Deborah Cook, concluded they could have come from a heavy tool and the "degree of force used would have been high".
Mr Beck was found hanged in a barn.
The couple split their time between their Devon farmhouse and a property in Chelsea, London.
The coroner has concluded a woman was unlawfully killed at a farmhouse in Devon and her husband took his own life.
When Nicola Beck and her husband Michael were both found dead in January police said the deaths were being treated as a "domestic related murder and suicide".
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Sian Davies
BBC News Online
A family is "delighted" that their autistic son has finally opened a Kinder Egg containing a shark toy after an eight-month quest to find one.
"Shark-mad" Jayden Lakey, aged six, from Plymouth, said "wow" as he opened the egg, which he has been looking for since Christmas.
The family's original request to buy one directly from Ferrero, which owns Kinder Egg, was turned down.
But after a Facebook appeal Ferrero said it had one and would ensure "its safe passage to Plymouth".
Kinder Egg shark hunt boy success
A Cornish MP and government minister says he'll ask the Marine Management Organisation to look again at plans to force divers who remove old fishing nets and other litter from the sea bed to pay for a licence.
The so-called "ghost gear" left in the sea is becoming an increasing problem in UK waters.
But after concerns were raised that it could mean marine litter being left in the sea Camborne and Redruth MP George Eustice says it could be time for a rethink.
Sian Davies
BBC News Online
Three purple gallinule chicks have hatched at Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall.
Director Alison Hales said: “These birds have remarkably large feet.
"They are members of the rail family, their other name being the purple swamphen, which gives a clue to where their long toes prove useful.
Image source, Paradise Park"They are able to walk on floating vegetation, and clamber across reeds and swamps. They also use their feet to grab young shoots and bring the food towards their beak.
“They are a couple of weeks old and are very active little chicks. They can often be seen following their parents around begging for bits of food, then snuggling under their feathers to keep warm.”
