Bringing you the news, sport, travel and weather for Devon and Cornwall

Substitute Aiden O'Brien scores an 89th-minute winner as Millwall avoid a shock against League One Plymouth to reach the Carabao Cup third round.

Alex Osborne
BBC Weather

Staying mainly fine on Wednesday evening with further late sunshine.

Through the night it will be dry with long clear spells, but also the chance of a few mist patches forming. It will be a chillier night.

Minimum temperature: 5 to 8C (41 to 46F).

Any early mist patches will lift to leave a largely dry day on Thursday with spells of sunshine, but also cloud building through the day bringing the chance of a few light showers.

Maximum temperature: 16 to 19C (61 to 66F).

Press Association

A former Royal Marine has become the first blind person to row the Pacific Ocean.

Steve Sparkes, 57, rowed a gruelling 2,400 miles from Monterey, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, in just 82 days.

Falkland's War veteran Mr Sparkes, from Devon, who was medically discharged from the armed forces in 1984 after a diving accident damaged his eyesight, set himself the target of rowing the Pacific to inspire other injured veterans.

He said he was "elated" but "exhausted" after finishing the Great Pacific Race on Tuesday, after experiencing weeks of extreme weather and only a cramped cabin for protection.

He was accompanied by fellow ex-marine and experienced ocean rower Mick Dawson, 54.

The pair had to contend with the Category 5 hurricane just miles from the finish line in Hawaii, after facing giant waves, rain and thunderstorms during their 12 weeks onboard.

Mr Sparkes said although it was "very hard" - with incidents including being hit by serious storms, the boat semi-capsizing and losing two sets of oars - he thought it showed "if you put your mind to it you can do anything".

His achievement has also so far raised £11,500 for charity.

BBC Radio Devon

Image source, John Walker

Any damage to yachts involved in collisions with a cruise ship sailing into Dartmouth will be "thoroughly assessed and... be rectified", the cruise ship's owner says.

The Saga Pearl Two clipped four yachts while manoeuvring on Wednesday morning.

Owner Saga said the collisions occurred while the larger vessel was "under pilotage by the harbour master".

It added: "During a manoeuvre she came into contact with four small leisure craft causing superficial damage. Nobody was hurt in the incident and the harbour office are making every effort to contact the owners of the yachts involved."

Dart Harbour said an investigation was under way.

It added: "Records from the incident are being collated and will be analysed in order to identify exactly why this occurred and what can be learnt."

Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police

A carer has been jailed for a year and eight months for attacking a disabled woman he was supposed to be looking after.

David Bester had been in a relationship with the victim, who has physical disabilities and mental illness, for about a year and became her full-time carer.

After an attack last November, when he punched her in the face, she needed 12 stitches in her forehead and surgery to repair a fractured eye socket.

The attack left her experiencing headaches and nightmares, and afraid to leave her flat in Torquay, Exeter Crown Court heard.

Bester had persuaded her not to report the attack, but it came to light after a further incident three months later.

Bester, 48, of Warren Road, Torquay, admitted causing grievous bodily harm. He is also subject to a restraining order banning any further contact.

Defending, Bester's legal team said he given his partner genuine support and was addressing alcoholism.

Lewis Pugh finishes the 560km gruelling swim from Land's End to Dover in 49 days.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A farm outbuilding in north Devon has been destroyed in a blaze, firefighters say.

Crews were called to the scene in Rackenford just before midday and and confirmed one building well alight, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said, external.

The cause is thought to be accidental.

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A development that would provide new homes for a village near Newquay, including affordable homes, has been recommended for approval.

Gilbert & Goode has applied for planning permission to build 17 new homes on land next to Tinners Croft and Trewithen Parc in St Newlyn East. Five of the properties would be affordable.

The planning application is set to go before Cornwall Council's central sub-area planning committee on Monday.

Council planning officers have recommended the plans are approved as long as the developers agree the affordable homes will be for local people, that an open space will be provided in the development and money will be provided for off-site education and open space facilities.

Brighton has the most internet searches for the word lonely. Plymouth is top for debt problems. Aldershot has the most Buddhists. Jenny Kleeman explores locations at the extremes of UK society, uncovering the stories behind a revealing statistic.

The Office for National Statistics gathers data on everything - the economy, employment, even our wellbeing. We have more data available than ever before, including from search engines, and increasingly the government and big businesses are making crucial judgments based on these statistics. But these numbers can't tell us everything. In this series, Jenny explores the true stories behind the figures.

Episode 3: Debt Jenny is in Plymouth. According to government statistics, it has the highest rate of personal insolvency in the country. She meets John Sanderson, a man in his 50s who moved to the city over a decade ago. A recent chain of unfortunate life events has left him in unsustainable credit card debt. With bailiffs circling his home and his mental health deteriorating, Jenny joins him as he seeks help. He describes Plymouth as "a city with its back to the sea". What does John's story tell us about the culture of debt here?

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

BBC Radio Devon

• In Torquay, Browns Bridge Road is partially blocked at Condor Drive due to a crash
• In Plymouth, on the A38 Parkway heading between Leigham and Marsh Mills, there's a broken-down vehicle. Expect delays
• In Moretonhampstead, on the A382 near Wray Barton Farm, there are reports of a crash

BBC Radio Cornwall

Rail operator GWR has apologised to passengers for disruption in and out of Cornwall on Tuesday night.

The 12:30 London Paddington to Penzance came to a stand still near St Erth following an engine fault, which added to already long delays after being held up by a broken-down train on its route earlier in the day.

One passenger reported that what was usually a 45-minute journey from Truro to Penzance on one service took nearly four hours.

Janine Jansen
BBC Spotlight

More than 50,000 people have reacted to an open letter from a Plymouth care worker who feels the industry is undervalued by society.

Beth Sturgis, 24, said she felt so strongly about the criticism she had received she decided to write an article on social media, directed at people who belittle her job.

In her Facebook post, which went viral, she wrote: She wrote: "Today I was a cleaner, a cook, a hand to hold, a friendly face, a washer, a dresser, a helper, a carer; today I was human."

Ms Strugis says she loves making a difference to people's lives...

Twitter

BBC Radio Devon

Four yachts have been damaged as a cruise ship sailed into Dartmouth on Wednesday morning.

The Saga Pearl Two clipped the yachts while manoeuvring.

In a statement, Dart Harbour said no-one was injured and an investigation was under way.

The cruise ship company has been approached for comment.

Image source, John Walker

A note left alongside the cat says she "has diarrhoea permanently and never uses a litter tray".

Hayley Westcott
BBC News Online

The chief executive of the South Western Fish Producer Organisation says "legal activity is being prevented by the French" - after French and British fishermen clashed in the English Channel in an escalating battle over scallops.

The French claim its shellfish stocks are depleting because of British presence but Jim Portas says crews didn't do anything wrong with UK boats entitled to fish in the scallop-rich area....

About 40 French boats tried to stop five larger British boats from fishing 12 nautical miles (22km) off the Normandy coast, in the Bay of Seine.

Fishing boats collided and stones were thrown, but no-one was injured.

A French local government spokesperson, Ingrid Parrot, said: "Things were thrown on both sides - from the English and from the French. Both parties were extremely tense."

• Scallop war: Brixham fishermen doing 'nothing wrong'
• Clashes over scallops 'exacerbated by Brexit'
• 'Measures in place' to protect scallop war fishermen

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

The A30 near Hayle has been reopened after a road crash which saw an 18-month-old boy taken to hospital, highways bosses say.

Emergency services were called to the Loggans Moor roundabout on the Hayle bypass, between Hayle and St Erth, just after 09:00 after the crash involving an MG car and a DAF truck.

The toddler was taken hospital near Truro with injuries described by police as "not thought to be serious". He remains at hospital under observation.

The driver of the truck also suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Police investigating burglaries at a rugby club in south east Cornwall say a distinctive tobacco case "may be linked to a series of break-ins".

Officers said, external Torpoint Rugby Club had been targeted three times "in the last few weeks", with offenders forcing the front doors and windows, damaging the roof, causing more criminal damage and stealing alcohol.

The break-ins had "caused considerable distress to the club as well as costing hundreds of pounds in damage", they added.

The last break-in was overnight on Sunday 19 August.

The tobacco case, with a picture of a tiger on the front, was found in neighbouring woods at sites where police found burnt wood, drug paraphernalia, and various empty alcohol bottles "similar to those stolen from the club".

Police have asked anyone who recognised the tin or had seen someone with it to contact them.

Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police

Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online

Cornwall's under-18s boys golf team is in action on day two of the national county finals.

Having lost to Lincolnshire on day one, they are taking on Yorkshire at Rockcliffe Hall golf club in Durham.

George Leigh and Joy Reynard from Trevose won their foursomes match, while Ewan Warren and Thomas Stevens were beaten on the final hole.

In the third morning foursomes, Liam Wilson and Cameron Gurd secured a thrilling half by winning the 18th, meaning the two sides are level on 1.5 points.

There will be six singles matches this afternoon.