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

"Remarkable" Margaret Partridge was one of the first women to run her own engineering business.

The boy left the girl, 10, to die and then checked to see if her body had been found, a court hears.

Ben Woolvin
BBC South West Home Affairs correspondent

The jury in the trial of a teenage boy accused of raping and attempting to murder a 10-year-old girl has been told by the judge not to reach a verdict based on the strong sympathy they may feel for the girl who was attacked.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted sexual assault but denies rape and attempted murder in Exmouth last year.

In giving his directions to the jury the judge said: "This is a case that will inevitably provoke strong emotions... it is likely that many of you will have strong feelings about what happened, but you must not judge this case on the basis of sympathy or disgust or any other emotions, however understandable those emotions may be".

The jury at Bristol Crown Court is expected to be sent out on Wednesday.

Millicent Cooke
BBC News Online

The leader of Devon County Council has accused the government of ignoring the South West in its post-Brexit funding announcement.

The Stronger Towns Fund, designed to boost less well-off towns in England after Brexit, allocated £33m to the region.

Councillor John Hart, who is also chair of South West Councils, said it was "insulting".

“Yet again the South West is the poor relation to the rest of the country," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

"To only receive £33m - the same as Eurotunnel - from the government pot of post-Brexit funding is bordering on insulting.

“No consultation or communication took place with our councils prior to the funding announcement and we are bitterly disappointed that the needs of the people of the South West are being ignored."

The government agreed to pay Eurotunnel £33m to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry services in the event of a no-deal Brexit on Friday.

The £1.6bn Stronger Towns Fund will be broken down into £600m, which communities in any part of England can bid for, and £1bn allocated using a needs-based formula to the following areas:

• North West England: £281m

• North East England: £105m

• Yorkshire and the Humber: £197m

• West Midlands: £212m

• East Midlands: £110m

• South West England: £33m

• South East England: £37m

• East England: £25m

A Conservative MP has criticised the government's new Stronger Towns initiative for overlooking parts of the South West.

Cornwall North MP Scott Mann said his constituency had areas of high deprivation, yet had not been allocated any of the £1.6bn on offer nationwide.

The pot is split into £1bn, divided in England using a needs-based formula, and £600m communities can bid for.

Of all of that, south-west England is to receive £33m, the government says.

Mr Mann said Cornwall had always scored "very highly in terms of social deprivation and funding [to address it]" and he wanted Treasury assurances that his constituency would benefit.

Treasury Minister Robert Jenrick said the announcement "does provide support for the South West" in terms of the direct funding to be paid to local enterprise partnerships.

He added that towns in Mr Mann's constituency "should bid into" the competitive fund of £600m.

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS/Save Westward Ho! Park

Campaigners are celebrating after plans to sell off land at a popular park to build houses were voted down.

Torridge District Council's Community and Resources Committee rejected plans for 10 houses at the site on Monday.

More than 4,000 people had signed a petition against plans to demolish the play area, tennis courts and former cafe building at the park at Avon Lane.

Image source, LDRS/Save Westward Ho! Park

Councillor Laws, who represents Westward Ho!, said after the meeting: "We don't have a huge amount of green space in the town and this park is only small and you can walk through all of it in a minute, but it is just so valued and to take part of it away for housing to me just felt wrong.

"I think the passion of the residents who all spoke up about the concerns that they had with this led councillors to one by one change their mind."

BBC Radio Cornwall

Children in Hayle are among the hundreds who have been marking St Piran's Day across the county in parades and singing.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A senior Torbay councillor has criticised others for ignoring a major policy development meeting to help disadvantaged children.

Richard Haddock said it was “disgusting” no other councillors had turned up at a meeting of the council’s executive to hear about the new policy.

He spoke out at the meeting of Torbay’s policy development and decision group, which is made up of senior councillors on the executive who run the council and report to the elected mayor.

Mr Haddock made his comments after the committee was told about a new strategy developed by council officers to support disadvantaged children’s learning.

It sets out how the council aims to meet the needs of vulnerable learners and close the gap in achievement between them and other children.

It also aims to ensure all council services and partners work with education, care and health providers to make the most of resources.

Elected mayor Gordon Oliver accepted a recommendation from the committee to approve the strategy, which will be reviewed in 2020.

The council has imposed a spending freeze because of financial pressures driven by a surge in demand for children’s social care which is heading for an overspend of more than £4m by the end of March.

The tur at Paington Zoo got into neighbouring gardens before being tranquilized and returned to its enclosure.

The three-bedroom bungalow on the Isles of Scilly was built for the Labour prime minister 60 years ago.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Image source, Rod Farnes

A rare bird spotted near Land's End has helped raise funds for Cornwall Air Ambulance's new helicopter appeal, a landowner says.

Hundreds of people flocked to Treeve Moor to catch a glimpse of the grey catbird from North America when it arrived on the UK mainland in October last year.

Liz Trenary, who owns the land where the bird was spotted, opened her field for birdwatchers to park in exchange for donations for the charity.

Ms Trenary said she raised £1,000 for the charity after letting hundreds of cars park at the site over two weeks.

The charity is aiming to raise £2.5m by April 2020 for the new aircraft in its New Heli Appeal.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A flood alert has been issued by the Environment Agency for the south Cornwall coast from Lizard Point to Gribbin Head, but excluding Truro.

The alert means people should be prepared and flooding was possible over the high tide on Wednesday morning, the agency said.

Flooding is possible, external for: Lizard Point to Gribbin Head, including the tidal rivers Helford and Fal, Penryn, Flushing, St Mawes, Portscatho, Portloe, Portholland, Mevagissey and Par.

Image source, Environment Agency

Johnny Rutherford
BBC Spotlight

People across Cornwall are celebrating patron saint of tinners, St Piran.

Here are a few photos of what was happening in Bodmin earlier.

BBC Radio Devon

A Harry Potter star is joining forces with University of Exeter analysts to survey plastic pollution in UK rivers.

Actor Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley, is joining Greenpeace volunteers and scientists to collect water samples from three points along the River Wye in Wales.

The samples will be analysed by the University of Exeter and compared with other samples collected from major rivers across the UK for a report on levels of small pieces of plastic pollution known as "microplastics" - tiny plastic particles, which come from degraded plastics and synthetic clothing.

Image source, Ian West/PA Wire

Scientists said they could be toxic to wildlife and make up a vast proportion of the plastics that flow from rivers into the seas.

Bonnie said she was highlighting the work after being "shocked to learn that most of the plastic that I've ever used is still somewhere here on earth".

Kirsten Thompson, from the university, said there were lots of studies on how much plastic there was in the seas but few so far had investigated the amount and types of plastic carried in rivers.

She said it was hoped the research would help uncover where the plastic was coming from and what impact it was having on creatures such as otters, kingfishers and water voles.

Emma Thomasson
BBC Spotlight

More than 70 staff working at Cornwall Airport Newquay have been having lessons in Makaton to help disabled passengers.

Makaton is a form of communication that uses signing and symbols to support speech.

It is believed that Newquay is first Makaton-friendly airport in the UK.

The Makaton Charity, external, which promotes the language, said it hoped other airports would follow Newquay's lead

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A Lamborghini car has crashed on the A30 in Cornwall while trying to avoid hitting a deer, police say.

The Gallardo Superleggera crashed into the central reservation of the dual carriageway near Launceston on Tuesday morning.

No other vehicle was involved and the driver was not injured, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

One lane of the carriageway was blocked while the car was recovered.

The exact condition of the deer is not known, but officers at the scene said the animal "lives to fight another day".

The Gallardo was manufactured from 2003 to 2013.

BBC Radio Cornwall

A Cornish MP says a new fund announced by the government to help towns is unfair.

The £1.6bn scheme is designed to persuade MPs to vote for Theresa May's Brexit deal.

Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay believes Cornwall is not receiving a fair share of the fund, despite being one of the most deprived parts of the UK.

He raised his concerns with the Secretary of State for Homes, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire who said Cornwall was also eligible to apply for a slice of an additional pot of £600m.

He also confirmed that the Stronger Towns Fund is separate to the Shared Prosperity Fund, the government's replacement for European Structural Funding.

The Local Government Association said councils had "little choice" in order to protect services.