BBC Radio Devon

Entrants from Devon are celebrating winning awards at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

Four garden nurseries from the county gained silver gilts (that's an award between silver and gold) at this year's Royal Horticultural Society's annual event.

They are:

• Bowdens Nursery from Okehampton (whose award is pictured)
• The National Association of Flower Arrangers in Holsworthy
• Staddon Farm Nurseries in Holsworthy
• Westcounty Nurseries in north Devon

You can find out more about the event here.

Image source, Bowdens Nursery

BBC News England

Marks and Spencer has announced it is to close 100 stores by 2022, including its Newton Abbot outlet.

It's one of the 14 locations that will be closed, adding to 21 that have already been shut.

The company says the closures are "vital" for the firm's future.

All 44 colleagues who work at the Newton Abbot store will be redeployed.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio Cornwall

A yacht which ran out of fuel off the Lizard last night had to fire a distress flare because it sent coastguards the wrong information about where it was.

A lifeboat which went to help it ended up in the wrong place because of the mistake and had to radio it to set off the flare.

The Lizard lifeboat did eventually find the vessel and towed it back to Falmouth.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

The city of Manchester is remembering the first anniversary of the arena attack which saw 22 people killed and hundreds injured when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

There will also be a national minute's silence today at 14:30.

Image source, Via Police

Closer to home, it is also 10 years to the day since a man tried to detonate home-made nail bombs in an Exeter restaurant.

Nicky Reilly carried devices held in bottles into the Giraffe restaurant on 22 May 2008 after getting a bus from his home city of Plymouth. However, he was the only one injured when one went off in the hands of the then 22-year-old in a toilet cubicle.

He had been targeted by Muslim extremists ahead of his bombing attempt, according to his mother.

Reilly, who was said to have learning difficulties, admitted attempted murder and preparing an act of terrorism, was sentenced to life in prison and told he must serve a minimum of 18 years. He died in prison in 2016, aged 30.

BBC Radio Devon

Devon and Cornwall Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer will lead a celebration of the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) , externalat the House of Lords later.

Mr Sawyer has national responsibility for the scheme - which is the nationally recognised police uniformed youth group - and has created 400 new volunteer units, attracting members aged nine to 18 nationwide.

There are now nearly 16,000 cadets.

More than 100 guests from police forces across the country will be at the celebration later.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

A teenage boy has been racially abused in a supermarket in Exeter, police say.

Officers have appealed for witnesses, external after the boy was reported to have had "a number of racial comments" made against him during the incident in the Morrisons store on Prince Charles Road on Tuesday 8 May between 19:45 and 20:00.

Police added that the offender was believed to be known to his victim.

Image source, Google

BBC Radio Cornwall

A Cornwall councillor says the installation of sprinklers in every new home commissioned or bought by Cornwall Council would be "very effective".

A motion will go before full council later calling for the safety measure to be introduced.

Currently, sprinklers are standard in new builds in Wales but it doesn't apply to the rest of the UK.

Neil Burden has been campaigning for this to change for many years after seeing a fire service video of just how effective sprinklers are...

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Cornwall-based and Cornwall-inspired gardeners are among those from the South West who have had some blooming success at the Chelsea Flower Show.

A silver gilt medal (that's an award between silver and gold) has been awarded to the VTB Capital Garden - Spirit of Cornwall (pictured above), designed by Stuart Charles Towner, in the Artisan Garden Awards category.

Meanwhile, Burncoose Nurseries, based at Gwennap, have received the same medal for their entry in the same awards (pictured below) at the Royal Horticultural Society's annual event.

We'll have a full list of the winners later.

Image source, Burncoose Nurseries

BBC File on 4

A BBC investigation has uncovered allegations of 'illegal' cross-border adoptions at a home run by Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland.

Evidence suggests some children may have been moved out of the UK without their mothers' consent from Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry, County Down, which operated between 1955 and 1984.

It was one of a network of institutions in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which offered women the voluntary option for unmarried women to give birth in private and give their babies up for adoption.

One woman was issued with three birth certificates in three countries.

Of them, at least 120 women came from outside Northern Ireland to Marianvale, from as far afield as Fife, London, Plymouth and Manchester.

The Catholic Good Shepherd Sisters said adoptions were "conducted strictly in accordance with the legislation".

Harriet Bradshaw
Reporter

A Devon decathlete who has secured the world under-18s lead score in a competition "could go all the way", according to his coach.

Jack Turner, 16, got the third best score for under-18s in the UK of all time and looks like he could be following in the footsteps of Olympian Daley Thompson.

His coach at Exeter Harriers, Kevin Skinner thinks he has a good chance...

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Exeter's quayside is set to finally be serviced by buses after 15:30.

At present, the G service runs from Hamlin Gardens to Exeter Quay, but the last bus arrives at 15:24 and leaves at 15:30, meaning that there is no service that serves one of the city's most popular areas in the evenings, and no service at all on Sundays.

But it was announced last Friday at the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee that Stagecoach would be providing an evening and Sunday service from July.

Stagecoach Commercial Director Robert Williams told the committee it would be a trial service "to see how it goes and to try and support the economy down there".

He added that contactless payment for buses around the city would hopefully be in place by July, adding: "Background work is well under way on this so it can start soon."

Emily Wood
BBC Weather

If you're planning a trip to the coast or seaside, here are the next high water times around Devon and Cornwall.

We'll have the latest forecast on BBC Spotlight at 13:30.

BBC Weather

Mainly dry and bright at first, but with some patchy cloud.

Staying dry with warm sunny spells for most today, although the odd and potentially thundery shower may develop through the afternoon.

Maximum temperature: 18 to 23C (64 to 73F).

Andrea Ormsby
BBC Spotlight

An exhibition of photos of people with dementia is going on tour across Devon to try and change perceptions about what it's like living with the condition.

It's a collaboration between Hannah Maule-Finch, an award-winning photo-journalist, and The Filo Project - a not-for-profit organisation which specialises in day care for older people who have dementia.

The exhibition, showing photos of the clients, started off at Barnstaple library but is now on tour around various hospitals and libraries across the county.

These people say the project has changed their lives...

Devon Live

A Devon and Cornwall Police officer has been sacked following a gross misconduct hearing, external.

PC Helen Marte-Altagracia has been dismissed from the force after a panel found she accessed confidential data using police computer systems after previously receiving a final warning for doing the same thing.

BBC Radio Devon

Around Ideford, the A380 is partially blocked heading towards Exeter and there's slow moving traffic due to an accident.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Image source, Cornwall Council

Potholes and road maintenance across Cornwall are to get a "fast-tracked £30m improvement blitz" over three years, Cornwall Council says, external.

Council leader Adam Paynter said the authority was planning to take urgent action "to eliminate the conditions which promote the formation of potholes, or we will face the same problems every year".

He said £10m of highways capital funding was being brought forward "to stem the rising maintenance backlog", with further work to be undertaken to allocate a further £20m in years two and three.

Transport council cabinet member Geoff Brown said 27,660 potholes were recorded in 2016 and 28,953 in 2017.

Harriet Bradshaw
Reporter

A 16-year-old from Devon could be following in the footsteps of one of Britain's all-time great athletes.

Jack Turner, an Exeter Harrier, has competed in his first ever decathlon competition, which is made up of 10 track and field events.

He got the world under-18s lead score for this year and it is the third best score for under-18s in the UK of all time, points behind a young Daley Thompson before he became one of the world's greatest decathletes.

"I'm very happy," he said. "I wasn't really aware of it while I was doing the competition.

"It was afterwards when I looked at the rankings, and I was told. I was chuffed. It feels nice."

Sophie Pierce
BBC Radio Devon

A derelict building which is blighting the entrance to a Devon seaside town could be turned into affordable homes for young people.

Teignmouth Town Council wants to compulsorily purchase the old One Stop Shop on Bitton Park Road and convert it into flats.

Image source, Google

Lib Dem councillor David Cox says it has been lying empty for far too long.

"I don't like compulsory purchase per se," he said. "But I think in this case, after a decade with nothing happening, we were perfectly entitled, for the benefit of the town, to take it over and actually make it do some good for the young people in our town."

BBC Radio Devon

On the A383 Teignmouth Road in Kingsteignton, at the A380, there are reports of an accident.