Updates from Monday 23 April until Friday 27 April 2018
Maisie Duncan death: Police seek three witnesses after Looe road crash
Cornwall Council's £46k Cannes trip scrutinised
Ten Devon and Cornwall Police officers assaulted in single night
Parents campaigning to save 'inadequate' Plymouth free school due to close
Parade to call for more affordable housing on Rame Peninsula
Home-schooling stats reveal Cornwall in fourth place in UK
Some Great Western Railway services to and from London Paddington may be delayed or diverted today due to long-term electrification work between Reading and Newbury.
In St Blazey, there are reports of horses on the loose on Porcupine Road around the A390 and Pontsmill Road.
Carys Edwards
Correspondent, BBC Spotlight
South West manufacturers are in Westminster today, fighting for a better deal.
The Plymouth Manufacturers' Group, external is leading a delegation to meet the minister for business and industry to raise the region's profile.
It is also pushing for a fairer share of investment in transport links and innovation.
Manufacturing is worth more than £50bn to the regional economy.
Karen Friendship, a delegate from the group, said manufacturing in the South West was vitally important.
"We're not just a tourist destination and a place to come on holiday," she said. "We support a lot of families and a lot of people and population in the South West region."
Robert Lewis, 61, used three identities to claim just over £97,000 in benefits over four years.
Read MoreServices at Exeter Bus Station will be limited from mid June as works begin to redevelop the site.
The city council, external and Stagecoach revealed that, from 17 June, some services would temporarily be relocated to nearby stands on the street.
The closures will remain in place until the works are completed at the end of 2020.
The services that will be relocated include the 57 to Exmouth, the number 1, which takes people to Tiverton, and any Megabus and National Express services.
Former Wales rugby union international Andrew Allen pleads guilty to drink-driving.
Read More
Miles Davis
BBC News Online
A man from Marazion in west Cornwall has denied the murder of a missing woman.
Dean Lowe, 33, is accused of killing Kirby Noden, 32, who has not been seen since January 2017.
Lowe, of Beacon Road, Marazion, Cornwall, pleaded not guilty at Truro Crown Court to a single charge of murder.
It is alleged the offence was committed between January 10 and May 19 2017.
The trial is expected to start on Tuesday. Mr Lowe was remanded in custody.
A man was airlifted to hospital after being injured while skydiving in Honiton, external.
The Shark Trust has hit out at sensational headlines reporting a sighting of basking sharks, external in Mount's Bay near Penzance.
Laurence Reed
BBC Radio Cornwall
Cornwall Council has apologised for failings over its consultation into adult social care procedures, admitting it was not its "best piece of work".
The council said it wanted to make sure there was a fair and transparent system of charging, but there were complaints after many people affected were told they had to submit their surveys within two days.
Some parents of vulnerable adults said letters from the council (pictured) alerting them to proposed changes only arrived three days before an initial consultation period was due to end, leaving them feeling "rushed" in to responding.
The deadline was extended twice and is due to finish at 17:00 on Monday.
Quote MessageWe've got it wrong. We will learn, and I'm going to make sure - absolutely sure - that something like this can't happen again within my department.
Councillor Rob Rotchell, Cornwall Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care
In Plymouth, Crownhill Road is blocked in both directions between Budshead Road and St Budeaux due to an accident
Staying in Plymouth, Valletort Road is partially blocked at Fitzroy Road due to an accident
Around Ivybridge, on the A38 Plymouth-bound, there are reports of a broken-down vehicle
At Horrabridge, there's slow traffic on the A386 Plymouth Road in both directions around Graybridge Road due to roadworks
Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Plans to build a petrol station at a supermarket in Wadebridge have been criticised by the local parish council.
A planning application for a filling station to be added to the Tesco store in the town is due to go before Cornwall Council's east sub-area planning committee next Monday and has been recommended for approval.
Image source, S&SA ArchitectsIf the plans for the four-pump, cashless 24-hour filling station are given the go-ahead, it would mean the loss of 41 parking spaces at the supermarket.
Councillor Stephen Rushworth, from St Breock Parish Council, said he worried about the speed of traffic in the area and suggested a 30mph zone should be extended.
Other St Breock Parish Council objections include:
Quote MessageThe parish council is an elected body, we have received objections from parishioners on this subject. The council does not believe that multinational companies should receive a rubber stamp on the basis that Cornwall Council is not in the financial position to take these applications to appeal."
St Breock Parish Council
A man was airlifted to hospital after falling out of a window, external in Paignton.
Amy Gladwell
BBC News Online
Sailors and Royal Marines have formed up on the flight deck of Plymouth-based HMS Albion to spell out "boy" after today's royal birth announcement.
Image source, Royal NavyThe Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby boy at 11:01 in St Mary's Hospital, central London.
The child is the third of Catherine and the Duke of Cambridge and fifth in line to the throne.
A spokesperson for the assault ship, which is on operations in the Asia Pacific region, said the crew were sending their best wishes.
Image source, Royal NavyVandals have torched a nature area, external in Saltash, leaving the community "disgusted".
There has been a big rise in the number cases of neglect and cruelty to horses in the South West, the RSPCA says.
The charity said an equine crisis had gripped the UK for a number of years and showed no signs of slowing down.
The RSPCA has more than 850 horses in its care, with more coming in every day.
The number of calls to the cruelty line had been high, with call handlers taking more than a million reports and inquiries last year, averaging one call every 30 seconds, it said.
The driver of a 30-tonne articulated lorry has admitted drink-driving after being found four-and-a-half times over the limit.
Officers from Devon and Cornwall Police found his lorry parked in a lay-by on the A38 in Devon after a member of the public reported erratic driving on Saturday afternoon.
Andrew George Allen, 51, from Orchard Lane in Newport, pleaded guilty at Plymouth Magistrates' Court to driving under the influence of alcohol.
The court heard he was a former Welsh international rugby player, and prosecutors said he "was so drunk he was unable to walk".
Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police
Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport
Truro City, external manager Lee Hodges says he will need to raise his side's spirits after their 2-1 loss to Braintree on Saturday.
The defeat saw the White Tigers drop out of the National League South play-off places with two games to go - the first at Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday.
Image source, Truro City FC"I've got to lift these boys now because they'll all be disappointed," Hodges told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"But we can't get that back, we have to go into Tuesday's game and we know we have to win a game of football."
Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Remi Matthews says the Pilgrims "threw the towel in" during their defeat at Northampton Town.
Read More
Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online
A woman took photos of what she believed was a penguin on a Cornish harbourside on Friday night.
Alison Carr posted the pictures on Twitter, saying that she had seen the bird before it slipped off into the water from Penzance harbour.
After some comments from people who were less than convinced about the sighting, she replied: "I KNOW I saw a penguin in Penzance harbour last night!!! I know it sounds funny, stupid, crazy... but there was!!!"
Image source, Alison Carr
Image source, Alison CarrThe RSPB, external tells us this is unlikely however.
Tony Whitehead from the bird charity said “Although not very clear from the image, we think given it’s location that this is one of the auks, and on balance, it’s most likely to be a guillemot. These do indeed favour penguins, and fill a similar niche.
"However, penguins are entirely confined to the southern hemisphere and, being flightless, the chances of one turning up in Cornwall are next to zero. Whereas guillemots are not uncommon at all around our coasts.”
