BBC Radio Devon

Torpoing ferry passengers are being warned that there's currently only a two-ferry service operating after a fault was found on one.

Lynne French
BBC News Online

Police in Exeter are looking for witnesses after a number of cars, walls and properties were tagged with graffiti and the word "sloth".

All the incidents happened overnight on Saturday into Sunday in the St Loyes Road area of the city.

Image source, Devon & Cornwall Police

Neighbourhood beat manager PC Oliver Coram said: “I want to remind the public that it is a criminal offence to damage property and we will investigate these incidents reported to us”.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

BBC Radio Devon

Drivers are being warned part of the North Devon Link Road will be closed from 18:30 this evening until 07:00 tomorrow.

A diversion will be in place

Lynne French
BBC News Online

Concern is growing for a teenager who's missing in Cornwall.

Thomas Smith was last seen leaving his home in Trewithian, Camborne on a mountain bike yesterday afternoon between 13:00 and 14:00.

Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police

The 15-year-old, who police describe as "high risk", is 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall, with short brown hair.

Anyone who's seen Thomas or knows of his whereabouts is asked to contact police.

BBC Weather

If you're thinking about heading to the coast today, here are the all-important times of high water.

Image source, bbc

There will be a full weather forecast on Spotlight's lunchtime news on BBC One at 13:30.

BBC Weather

It'll be mostly cloudy with mist and low cloud in places, which could linger in some coastal areas into the afternoon.

However, it should become brighter at times with some sunny periods developing, although there will also be some showers - the odd one turning heavy and possibly thundery.

Winds will become mainly southwesterly and light or moderate, with maximum temperatures between 15 and 19C (59 to 66F).

Council planners approve a 21-storey block at Drake Circus and a seven-storey block nearby in Plymouth.

BBC Radio Cornwall

South West Water has become the first water company in the UK to appoint a dedicated ecologist, to deal with the problem of Japanese Knotweed.

Kate Hills has worked for the company as an ecologist and environmental planner since 2008, but she took up her new brief of invasive non-native species ecologist earlier this month.

She says knotweed can be extremely damaging to water courses.

"The number of invasives coming into the country is increasing or [we are] realising more about the impact they have, particularly in water," she said.

"The aquatic invasives are especially problematic."

Exeter prison has "disturbingly high levels of violence and self-harm", inspectors say.

Del Crookes
BBC News Online

The Environment Agency has issued 12 flood alerts for Devon, external for this evening and tomorrow morning.

A flood alert means flooding is possible and says people should be "prepared".

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for rain for parts of east Devon.

Image source, Environment Agency

The Environment Agency says it expects smaller rivers and their tributaries, particularly in built-up areas, to react quickly to this rainfall causing localised flooding in some areas.

There is also likely to be significant surface water flooding in some areas.

Network Rail is introducing speed restrictions to GWR services between 16:00 and 06:00 on Friday.

Miles Davis
BBC News Online

Exeter prison has almost 50% more inmates than it should have according to a prison reform campaign group.

The Howard League for Penal Reform said HMP Exeter was holding almost 450 prisoners at the end of April but is designed to accommodate about 300 men.

The Howard League was responding to a scathing report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons which revealed an "unequivocally poor" safety record at Exeter.

A spokesman for the Howard League said the "shocking findings" in the chief inspector's report "spell out the need for urgent action to ease pressure on a failing system".

The spokesman said: "Bold but sensible steps to reduce the prison population would save lives, protect staff, and prevent more people being swept into deeper currents of crime, violence and despair."

Image source, Google

Del Crookes
BBC News Online

Network Rail is introducing a blanket speed restriction across many parts of the Great Western network following an amber weather warning for heavy rain showers and thunder storms.

The speed restrictions are being put in place as a safety measure for passengers and train staff between 16:00 today through to 06:00 tomorrow.

Passengers are being advised to travel as early as possible, to check before travelling and, where possible, consider changing travel plans.

Chris Baker
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A bar and music venue in Paignton, which opened in September, was formally warned twice about noise in its first five months of operation.

The first complaint about Peaky Blinders, in Winner Street, came five days after it opened.

Police also issued the bar and grill with a closure notice - warning that it was not operating within the terms of its licence over its fire exits - within three months of opening.

Image source, Google

The council received 54 recordings of noise coming from the venue, and there were 130 occasions when people living nearby complained.

Councillors agreed to modify the venue's licence, so that all live and recorded music must now be played through a noise limiter.

Signs must also be displayed asking people to keep their noise down, and the bar must keep a complaints log.

Lynne French
BBC News Online

Police are appealing for witnesses to an assault and racial abuse in Plymouth earlier this month.

The victim, a 43-year-old man, was assaulted by another man at about 23:20 on 3 May on Mutley Plain, The victim was also racially abused by a woman.

Police would like to speak to the man and the woman pictured as they may have information "vital to the investigation".

Lynne French
BBC News Online

A Halloween party drink-driver has been jailed for two years and banned from driving, after he injured five people in a head-on crash.

Kieran Taylor, 27, of Clovelly Road, Bideford, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while over the drink-drive limit and having no licence or insurance.

Exeter Crown Court was told Taylor had also smoked cannabis before the crash in Bideford town centre last October.

Taylor broke his leg and pelvis in the crash, his passenger suffered internal injuries and broken bones and the three occupants of the car he crashed into all needed hospital treatment for their injuries.

In a victim impact statement, driver Alison Singer, who broke her elbow, said: "It was like having a bomb explode beneath us."

Taylor's three-year driving ban will begin when he's released from jail.

A collector has acquired so many toys over 20 years he has had to put them in a museum.

Lynne French
BBC News Online

A teacher who pushed a pupil against a wall and a bench because he "felt threatened" has been banned from teaching.

Jonathan Samuel, 56, was a teacher at the independent Cambian Devon School in Paignton when the incident occurred in February 2016.

A misconduct panel ruled that while it accepted Mr Samuel had been provoked, he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

The prohibition order from the government's teacher misconduct panel means Mr Samuel is prohibited from teaching indefinitely at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home.

He can apply to have the order set aside in two years, but it is not an automatic right and a panel will have to meet to reconsider the order.

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Calls have been made for a uniform recycling service in Devon to be introduced.

At present, each of the eight district councils that sit under Devon County Council have their own recycling and waste collections services.

Image source, LDRS

Replacing short prison sentences with community penalties needs to be done to reduce overcrowding in Exeter prison, says the director of the Prison Reform Trust.

Peter Dawson was responding to a critical report about conditions at the Devon institution, which said violent assaults against inmates and staff are amongst the highest seen.

Lynne French
BBC News Online

Violent assaults against inmates and prison staff at HMP Exeter are amongst the highest seen by inspectors, a damning report says.

The report, by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clark, also says illicit drugs are "rife", there's been a 40% rise in self-harm incidents and living conditions are "unacceptably poor".

The findings follow an unannounced inspection of the jail earlier this month and have prompted Mr Clark to demand urgent action from the Justice Secretary David Gauke.

The inspector has invoked the Urgent Notification (UN) protocol, which is only the second time this has been done since its introduction in November.

In a publicly issued letter to the Justice Secretary, Mr Clark said safety in the prison had "significantly worsened" since the previous inspection in August 2016, giving it the lowest possible grading.

He also said there had been six self-inflicted deaths - five of which were in 2017.

"Despite some creditable efforts to implement recommendations from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman following those deaths, the overall level of safety at HMP Exeter is unequivocally poor."

Mr Gauke must respond publicly within 28 days, stating how the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) plan to improve HMP Exeter.