Andrew Woodger
BBC News

BBC Local Live: Essex is signing off for the week, but you can carry on monitoring this page for football reports and other breaking news across the weekend.

Here are the headlines across the county on Friday:

• Crack addict jailed for starting fire which killed the 78-year-old man who gave her a home
• Work begins to stabilise cliffs against erosion on Essex coast
• Head at Educating Essex school threatens to quit  over state school funding
• Manningtree band's final fundraising gig to get them to Texas

Have a great weekend and we'll see you again with regular updates from 08:00 on Monday.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

A mainly dry evening, but rain will spread across the whole of the BBC East region later.

It'll turn misty, but feel mild with temperatures falling to 7C (44F).

A grey and misty start to the weekend, with outbreaks of rain.

It will become drier and brighter by Saturday afternoon, with sunny spells by the end of the day.

Feeling mild, with temperatures reaching 11C (52F).

Visit BBC Weather for more details where you are.

Lisa Connelly, 42, also of Rochdale Way, Colchester, was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter and eight years for arson, to run concurrently.

Image source, Essex Police

Det Ch Insp Steve Jennings said: "Fred Payne was an elderly, vulnerable man with no traceable relatives.

"Lisa Connelly exploited of him, inserting herself in his life, taking over his house, and stealing money on a daily basis to feed her drug addiction.

"She left Mr Payne unwell and took no action which may have saved his life. If it were not for her actions and her negligence Mr Payne would still be alive.

"Lisa Connelly’s actions were disgusting and unforgiveable. 

"While today’s sentence will give her ample opportunity to reflect on what she has done, it will not bring Fred back.”   

A drug addict has been jailed for 12 years after she admitted the manslaughter of an elderly man who had taken her into his home in Colchester.

Fred Payne, 78, died after a fire at his home on Rochdale Way on 4 September.

Lisa Connelly, 42, who lived there, claimed at first to be his granddaughter, but the subsequent police investigation revealed this to be a lie.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard prosecutors say Mr Payne, who was in ill health, took her in and gave her a home.

She took money from him to fund her crack cocaine habit, which she had had since she was 30 years old.

She was charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life, but admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter today and was jailed this afternoon.

The second fundraising gig to help SuperGlu, external , who are based in Ipswich and Manningtree, get to the SXSW Festival, external in the USA, is taking place at The Swan, external in Ipswich tonight.

Image source, Chris Driver Photography

The first gig, at the Hunter Club in Bury St Edmunds last weekend, brought in £925 and should have been followed by a gig in Hackney last night, but the venue closed.

Drummer Ben Ward said: "We have been absolutely blown away by the generosity of the Bury St Edmunds music scene.

"We have always enjoyed an incredible reception from fans at shows there, but this was something else. 

"The money raised has helped so much, we can never thank everyone enough." 

Travel costs for the band, which has been picked to play three showcase gigs at the Texas festival, are in the region of £2,000.  

Crack cocaine addict Lisa Connelly neglected 'lovely' Fred Payne, 78, who died in the fire she started.

An Essex rehoming centre is appealing for help as they try to find new homes for 11 border collies, following an influx of the breed.

Staff at the Wickford-based Dogs Trust Basildon, external  say they are baffled as to why the eleven dogs are being overlooked by visitors.

Filmed above is one of the 11 dogs, three-year-old Colleen, who is said to need a patient owner who can help her flourish. She needs to be the only pet, and can live with teens of 14 years and up.

Lisa Cooper, centre manager, said: "Sadly, we are seeing many of these types of dogs being handed in when they become too much for their owners who have not considered the implications of owning a breed that requires a lot of mental and physical stimulation. 

"They need regular exercise so it is important that we find owners who understand the demands of this breed and are in a position to offer a life-long commitment."

Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Leiston, external will be trying to get their season back on track when they head to Hendon in the Ryman Premier Division, external tomorrow afternoon.

Image source, Leiston FC

The Victory Road side has lost five of their last six games, falling out of the play-off places in the process.

"We've got to go to Hendon and stop this rot," said boss Glenn Driver. 

"I look at us at this moment in time and we haven't got enough leaders on the pitch."

AFC Sudbury, external host Folkestone Invicta, Needham Market, external are at Tonbridge Angels,  Lowestoft Town, external head to Burgess Hill while  Bury Town, external  travel to Haringey Borough in the North Division.

The work beginning to stabilise cliffs on the Clacton to Holland-on-Sea coastline is part of a much larger project ahead, says the councillor in charge at Tendring District Council.

Nick Turner, cabinet member for commercialisation, seafronts and parking, said: "The team will be reviewing the existing cliff drainage systems and undertaking a number of surveys. 

Image source, Tendring District Council

"This early work will help us to shape the various options we need to consider and eventually use to stabilise the cliffs.

"When we announced this programme would be taking place we promised that we would keep residents informed all the way along – as we did with the major £36m Coastal Protection project – and we are keeping that promise.”

Luton Town loan defender Frankie Musonda to National League side Braintree Town for an initial month.

The initial work on the cliff stabilisation project along the Clacton to Holland-on-Sea coastline will involve eight sample boreholes being sunk on the Greensward. 

The holes, on the grassy area at the top of the cliffs, will go 10m down, or at least two metres into the London Clay.  

A further eight holes will be made on the slope itself and water samples will be sent off for laboratory testing and water levels monitored throughout the process.

Tendring District Council says the benefits of the project include "cost-effective maintenance of the cliffs, an improved public realm and experience for residents and visitors" and an opportunity to restore beach huts.

Cheeky chips, celebrations and managerial sackings - watch 10 magic moments from the first round of the FA People's Cup...... 

You'll be able to watch a highlights programme from the first round of the nationwide five-a-side competition on the iPlayer from 06:00 GMT Saturday, 4 March and on the red button from 14:10 GMT on Saturday and throughout the weekend.

Initial work on a £5m project to stabilise the cliffs along the Clacton to Holland-on-Sea coastline is due to get under way later this month.

Image source, Tendring District Council

A ground investigation programme will begin on 13 March with the aim of providing valuable information towards forming the design of the scheme.

Much of the investigation will revolve around the features and properties of the London clay in the slopes as well as the thickness and composition of superficial deposits.

Chris Bond
BBC Sunday Politics East

An Essex school head has threatened to resign if government plans to cut his school budget by £765,000 go ahead. 

Vic Goddard, principal of Passmores Academy, external in Harlow, which featured in Channel 4's Educating Essex, said proposed changes to the funding formula could mean larger class sizes and the loss of 20 teachers. 

But he's vowed not to implement such a plan. 

"There will be a difficult choice at some point," said Mr Goddard. 

"I am not prepared to come into this profession which I love so much and ruin children's lives. It's not fair on the kids." 

Figures from the Department for Education (DfE) show 149 Essex schools could be worse off under the proposed funding formula while 383 would get more cash in the shake up. 

A statement from the DfE said the current way of calculating school budgets was "unfair, opaque and outdated" and consultations were under way to fix this. 

"In Essex school funding would go up by 2.6% (by over £20m) if the proposed new funding formula were implemented," the statement said. 

"We know it is important that we get the formulae and system right so that every pound of the investment we make in education has the greatest impact."  

But the teaching unions say that DfE figures do not tell the whole story and, when adjusted for inflation and rising costs, around 500 Essex schools will be worse off. 

Jerry Glazier, from the NUT in Essex, said the formula would not even fund current levels of teaching and resources. 

"That is what is wrong with this formula - it is not giving enough money to schools," he said.

There will be more on this story on the BBC Sunday Politics East on BBC1 on Sunday, 5 March at 11:00.

Colchester United, external will be without Kurtis Guthrie and Craig Slater for the rest of the League Two season.

Both players will need surgery on injuries. 

Guthrie (pictured left) is the U's leading scorer while influential midfielder Craig Slater joined from Kilmarnock last summer.

Image source, Getty Images

Colchester United have Macauley Bonne back available for tomorrow's League Two match at Cambridge United , having returned from a loan spell with Woking. 

A statement on the club's website says the player's loan with the Vanarama National side expired on Tuesday.

Image source, Getty Images

It read: "With Denny Johnstone and Kurtis Guthrie picking up injuries in recent weeks, Macauley's return will give the U's forward options a boost ahead of the final twelve games of the League Two season.

"During his loan stint, he played seven times for Woking, starting on five occasions and helped the Cards to ten points in their efforts to move away from trouble in the league."

Essex Police say a Kent lorry driver has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, following a fatal road crash in Orsett - a different accident to the one we mentioned earlier.

The two-vehicle collision happened in Dock Approach Road in July, and a 60-year-old car passenger from Grays died at the scene. 

The accused man is due to appear at Basildon Magistrates Court next month.  

Air accident investigators have published their final report into the Shoreham airshow disaster in 2015. 

A vintage jet, which was based at the North Weald airfield in south Essex, was performing a stunt when it crashed onto a road and killed eleven people . 

Image source, EPA

The investigators found that the pilot, Andy Hill, 52, from Hertfordshire, who survived, started a loop stunt too low and too slow. 

The report said he could have taken action to abort the display. 

Two tiny disabled dogs who were found abandoned by the roadside in August have now settled into their "paw-fect" new homes.

The RSPCA launched an investigation after the chihuahuas, three-year-old Peggy and her six-week-old puppy Pip, were found by the side of the A127 in Basildon in Essex.

The future didn't look bright for the tiny pair - Peggy was missing part of her left leg, and Pip was missing part of her brain - leaving her blind and with no functioning eyelids.

Image source, RSPCA

After a search to find a special home for the disabled pair, they've now settled into the life of luxury with Penny Andrews and her four cats, a budgie, cockatiel, tortoise and a Jack Russell cross dachshund - and Penny's daughter Jess..

Penny, who lives in Hunstanton and is a volunter at her local RSPCA charity shop, says all the animals get on well, with the dogs sleeping in the bed under a duvet a night.

Essex non-league side Billericay Town, external are starting life without long-time manager Craig Edwards, after he parted company with the club yesterday.

In a statement on the website, the club said it was sorry to announce that Mr Edwards had left and thanked him for a "great seven years".

It said: "Craig joined the club in April 2010 and led the club to its first Essex Senior Cup title since 1976.  

"The following season he managed the club to Isthmian League Premier Division glory, taking them in to the Conference South.

"The management, fans and everyone linked with the club would like to thank Craig for a great seven years and wish him all the best for the future."