Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Police across Devon have reported hospitality businesses for breaching coronavirus laws after they were found serving customers in their premises.

Paignton Police said on Saturday they were called to a town centre coffee shop and found "a number of patrons ... sat around tables drinking hot drinks".

Officers said the customers were ordered to leave and the owner was reported for breaching coronavirus legislation.

Elsewhere, police in Tavistock said a rural pub was visited on Friday night and a "number of people were found in the bar area drinking while watching the rugby".

The patrons were ordered to leave and the licensee reported for Covid breach offences, they said.

People are not allowed to eat and drink in hospitality businesses during the current England-wide coronavirus lockdown.

However, businesses can still operate takeaway and delivery services.

Two cafe owners in Plymouth were recently fined thousands of pounds for breaching lockdown restrictions.

A coroner has concluded five people died accidently while using defective gas cookers.

BBC Radio Cornwall

The latest figures available show Covid-19 cases in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are now 85 in every 100,000 people.

The England average is much higher at 210 per 100,000.

In the seven days to last Monday there were 484 new cases in Cornwall - up 84 on the previous seven days.

An officer at HMP Dartmoor in Devon fears colleagues could be "severely injured or killed".

A coroner is looking at the deaths of five people linked to gas cookers in Cornwall.

BBC Radio Devon

Image source, Google

People living in a village near Exeter are trying to raise more than £60,000 to buy a nearby ancient woodland.

The 12-acre site on a hillside in Shillingford St George is up for sale and the group Friends of Shillingford Woods are trying to raise money to secure it

Claire Dummett from the group said they would ensure it remained as "natural as possible" if they bought it.

She added: "We've decided we want to buy this wood for the community for generations to come and we would be very much keeping as it is."

BBC Radio Cornwall

Small businesses in Cornwall that have so far been unable to get help from the government grants and loans scheme can apply to Cornwall Council for support from Friday.

The council has £11m from the government to support businesses that do not pay business rates but are closed because of lockdown, or those that are not closed but are badly affected by the restrictions.

Chief executive of Cornwall's Federation of Small Businesses, Ann Vandermeulen, said it was a "very welcome" development to ensure every business gets "some kind of support and help".

BBC Radio Devon

Torridge District Council is currently refusing to allow holiday let businesses to apply for the latest round of Covid-19 support grants while it seeks clarification over second home owners.

The government said they qualified for a payment of £1,300 if they had been forced to close and were registered as a business.

The council said it is challenging the rules over concerns second home owners could take advantage of the scheme.

Holiday cottage owner Lynn Fisk expressed frustration other people potentially "taking advantage of a system that should be tied up tighter" was delaying the support reaching her.

She said: "I shouldn't be paying a penalty because there are people that work the system."

BBC Radio Devon

Two charities with a network of food banks across Devon are calling for urgent donations as the pandemic continues.

With many people struggling to pay bills and afford to eat because of Covid-19, the Trussell Trust and FareShare said this Christmas could be the toughest yet.

Phil Smith from Plympton Foodbank said they are in need of donations beyond food to help people in need, like antibacterial spray, face masks and toiletries.

Five people died in Cornwall from carbon monoxide poisoning after using similar gas cookers.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Image source, Henrietta Graham

A Newlyn artist has been commissioned to bring life to the exterior of the Cornish port's fish market from early next year.

Painter Henrietta Graham will produce pieces to decorate the outside of the market early next year and she joked they would "not be competing against too much aesthetically" with a concrete building.

Image source, Henrietta Graham

She has been working on the project for a few years and involved getting "very immersed" in the fishing industry, including being out to sea for days working on a trawler.

Ms Graham said: "It's looking at the real side of the fishing industry."

She explained her work also explores the ancillary workers on land and all the "hard work" that goes into the fishing.

"It's also a sort of ancient, magical thing to do. I mean I must admit if I could retrain all over again I would consider being a fisherwoman."

Image source, Henrietta Graham

The paintings, which are around 7ft (2.1m) by 5.5ft (1.7m) in size, will be reproduced on aluminium panels to go on the walls of the market.

She has previously won an award for her piece capturing a fish auction in the market, when it was exhibited by The Royal Society of Marine Artists.

Image source, Henrietta Graham

The officer is sacked for misusing the contact details of vulnerable women from a police system.

BBC Radio Devon

The number of registered sex offenders living in Devon and Cornwall being above the national average is because of because of improved police work, according to a senior officer.

Ministry of Justice figures show there were 2,036 in the region at the end of March 2020 - that's almost a 3% increase on last year and a 75%percent increase on 10 years ago.

Supt Sharon Donald from Devon and Cornwall Police explained the rise was due to improvements in the force's work catching offenders.

She said: "We have increased staff, we have increased technology and we have dedicated teams town now, which maybe we didn't have 10 years ago."

These specialist teams focused on investigating sex offenders has led to the force convicting and catching perpetrators at a higher rate, explaining the rise in registered sex offenders, Supt Donald added.

Owners of Devon Cliff Holiday Park says the virus has had "seismic effects" on the tourism industry.

Jonathan Thomson-Glover, a former housemaster at Clifton College, was jailed in 2015.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Cornwall is seeing a sharp rise in the number of people in crisis because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a local support charity.

Organisations providing hundreds of meals and food parcels every week said they have seen a big increase in demand since the start of the current lockdown.

Monique Collins, the manager of DISC Newquay, said she is seeing people who have lost their jobs and applying for universal credit having to wait five to eight weeks before they get any support.

She said: "I know that people say you should have all this saved and you should be able to survive for four or five weeks, but that's not reality."

Five people died in Cornwall from carbon monoxide poisoning after using similar gas cookers.

BBC Radio Devon

Families in Devon that have been hit hardest by the pandemic and need extra support this winter with food and bills will be able to access grants to help them.

About £3.5m in government cash has been handed out to local councils as part of the Covid Winter Grant Scheme.

Devon County Council is to get more than £2m, Torbay council is to get £500,000 and Plymouth is to receive just under £1m.

BBC Radio Cornwall

The number of cases of Covid 19 in Cornwall and Scilly remains at 85 per 100,000 people.

That is less than half the England average of 221.

Andrew Monck has moved from Australia to join his girlfriend Rosanna Wilson at her home in Devon.