Teenager dies and another seriously injured in A39 crash
Money and tobacco stolen in shop knifepoint robbery
Severe sickness bug shuts Plymouth school
Cornwall looking at county-wide alcohol prices
Car recovered from River Dart
Updates on Tuesday 19 December 2017
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 and you can always get the latest news for your area from the BBC.
Ben Woolvin
BBC South West Home Affairs correspondent
A potential £450m in extra funding for police in England and Wales in the next financial year has been announced by the Home Office.
Police and crime commissioners are to be given the power to raise the portion of council tax which goes towards policing by £12 per household annually.
That would raise £270m, while £130m for national priorities, such as firearms, would come from central government.
An extra £50m for counter terrorism has already been pledged.
Devon and Cornwall Commissioner Alison Hernandez has welcomed the increased flexibility on the police budget she controls, but added she was still considering whether to ask all to pay more council tax.
Rob England
BBC News Online
A dog has been found dead, and others reported missing following several thefts last week in North and South Molton, police say.
Image source, George ButtNelly, Grace and Hope were taken from kennels in North Molton
The first incident happened last Friday. Officers said three dogs - all pedigree cocker spaniels - were removed from kennels on The Square in North Molton between 09:00 and 17:00.
The same day, between 19:00 and 21:00, a cocker spaniel was taken from a kennel at a property on Oakford Close in North Molton.
The dog, called Ivy, was found dead at Bommertown Cross at 08:00 the following morning.
The final incident happened on Sunday at about 10:00 at Rose Ash in South Molton, where a female brown cocker spaniel and a female black and white spaniel were reported missing.
A police spokesman said the force was "very concerned" about the welfare of the dogs.
Three Devon and Cornwall Police community support officers (PCSOs) have had the work they do supporting migrant workers commended by the British Academy.
Devon and Cornwall Police said the PCSOs were told they were a "valuable tool in fight against modern slavery" at a presentation in the House of Commons.
Migrant worker PCSOs Steve Edser, from east Cornwall, Bev Faull from west Cornwall and Mel Spiller, from mid Devon, interact with migrant communities
Their work includes trying to change migrants' perception of the police, to help employers to protect migrants’ rights and to recognise and report crimes; to tackle hate crime and to serve as a bridge between migrants and other services.
The academy is the UK's national body for humanities and social sciences.
Toni Stevens was caught in an online operation by a paedophile hunting vigilante group.
Read More
Jon Kay
BBC News
Tucking into turkey at Christmas goes back to the 16th Century and bones found in Exeter appear to prove it.
Image source, Exeter UniversityThe bones found under an Exeter street have been analysed and linked to the period when the first turkeys were brought to England from the Americas in the early 16th Century.
Soon after the bird became very popular at Christmas dinners and was a common sight by the 1570s.
Image source, Exeter UniversityThe bones may have come from descendants of the turkeys which Mr Strickland sailed back with.
Professor Alan Outram, zooarchaeologist and Head of Archaeology at Exeter, said: "As the date of these bones overlaps with the historical evidence of Stickland's introduction of the birds, the remains of this feast may well represent the earliest physical evidence for a turkey dinner in Britain."
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A rare monkey has been born at Paignton Zoo.
The endangered sulawesi crested macaque was born on Sunday to parents Annaka and Hickory.
Keepers said the little furry newborn was healthy, but were yet to determine the sex or give it a name.
Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live
Image source, MoDPlymouth-based warship HMS Ocean is returning home from deployment on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday because of forecast fog, the Royal Navy says.
The helicopter carrier and fleet flagship is now due back at Devonport at about 18:30.
It is due to be decommissioned next year after what the navy described as "an illustrious career".
It left Plymouth at the end of August for its last deployment, carrying out security duties in the Mediterranean.
It also took humanitarian aid to British overseas territories hit by Hurricane Irma.
Cloud will thicken and lower this evening, with foggy conditions developing across moors, and occasional outbreaks of light rain and drizzle.
It will be a mild night, with only light winds. Minimum temperature: 5C (41F).
Similar grey, mild conditions will continue on Wednesday morning.
However, we will see some improvement from the west late in the day with some occasional sunny spells.
Maximum temperature: 13C (55F).
Armed police officers have arrested a man following "shocking" scenes on Plymouth Barbican.
Police were called to Looe Street at about 2.30pm, external following reports a man was in possession of a bladed weapon.
Sophie Pierce
BBC Radio Devon
A small private school in Paignton put into administration earlier today owes teachers £112,000 in unpaid wages.
In an unusual legal move, 23 teachers at the Element School - formerly known as Tower House School - took the school to the high court in Bristol, after working without pay for months.
The court put the school into administration and the owners who took it over earlier this year are no longer directors.
Administrators said they will be travelling to the school on Wednesday to meet teachers, parents and the owner of the building to try to come up with a rescue plan.
In Penzance, Battery Road is partially blocked due to an accident near Western Promenade Road, near the Jubilee Pool.
BBC Business News
Image source, GoogleToys R Us's future in the UK has been plunged into doubt after the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) said it would vote against the company's rescue plan.
The retailer was told to put £9m into its struggling pension fund by the PPF in order for it to support the toy retailer's restructuring plan.
Failure to agree a deal could put all its 3,200 staff at risk of redundancy.
The PPF's Malcolm Weir said it believed it was "reasonable" to seek guarantees on the pension scheme's future.
The store has branches in Plymouth (pictured) and Exeter, which are both due to close next year.
Laurence Reed
BBC Radio Cornwall
A Cornwall Councillor says he is "devastated" at a fatal crash on the A39 in Cornwall that killed one teenager and seriously injured another.
The 18-year-old male from Roche died in the crash on the road between Truro and Falmouth road, just before the Norway Inn, at about midnight.
A 19-year-old man is in hospital in Plymouth with "serious and potentially life-threatening injuries" after the crash which saw a Vauxhall Corsa left on its roof.
The road was closed for more than eight-and-a-half hours for an investigation and vehicle recovery work.
Councillor Peter Williams said he had "worked tirelessly to try and sort out the route" because of previous crashes.
He said: "I thought we cracked this one, but there is obviously more work we need to do."
Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online
Plans to turn a "much-loved" cafe in Bigbury-on-Sea into four holiday homes will be the "death knell" for the village, a planning appeal hearing was told.
Developer Galion Homes wants to demolish the Bay View cafe, which overlooks the landmark Burgh Island in south Devon.
It says the local authority needs more houses and the cafe is "unviable" and is appealing against South Hams District Council's refusal of its plans.
Bigbury resident Pam Trundle told the planning inspector: "The cafe used to be packed, it was very popular and it was the heart of Bigbury-on-Sea.
"In my road there are only three people that live there permanently.
"We are fed up with people buying properties, knocking them down and rebuilding them as properties that won't be lived in."
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Devon is to join a pilot scheme where the county council will be allowed to keep 100% of business rates, the government has announced.
The county is one of 10 urban and rural authorities taking part.
Business rates are a property tax based on rental values. They currently keep up to 50% of the rates - the rest goes to Westminster.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid also announced that local authorities would be able to increase council tax by up to 3% without the need for a local referendum. The cap is currently set at 2%.
"Repeated acts of vandalism" have caused organisers to remove Camborne's notorious Christmas tree.
Mel Martin, who manages the town's Business Improvement District, external said the tree, recently dubbed the "worst Christmas tree in Britain, external" by the national press, was being "regularly climbed".
She added, the final decision to remove the tree from the town square came after its star was removed, leaving "cables exposed".
Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live
A baby owl, who won hearts across the world after her legs had to be put in splints due to a rare disorder, has died, her home farm says.
Boo Boo, who was born at Handra Farm, Pelynt, in May, was born with a rare condition which meant her legs could not support her weight.
The Turkmenian eagle owl, who was just over six months old, needed to have ongoing treatment and live in especially adapted accommodation because she was not able to fly and was vulnerable to predators.
The farm said, external staff were "so sad" that she died on 12 December "very suddenly and unexpectedly".
The farm said: "Everyone here is utterly heartbroken as she was part of our family and such a character.
"We take comfort that we did everything possible for her, and although far too short, her life was filled with love, laughter and joy."
