The ring leader of a gang which smuggled drugs into the UK inside fake yams has been given an extra two months behind bars for "wasting court time" with a hopeless bid to clear his name.

Ronnie Melius ran a firm which shipped seemingly harmless consignments of vegetables from the Carribean and west Africa.

An investigation found he and his gang were actually importing large quantities of cocaine and cannabis, hidden inside yams made of fibreglass in 2011.

Police believed the gang smuggled about 1.7 tonnes of drugs into the UK - thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Image source, SOCA

Melius was jailed for 24 years at Reading Crown Court in November 2012 after being found guilty of importing the class A and B drugs.

The 49-year-old, of Sedge Court in Grays, Essex, had launched a bid to clear his name at the Court of Appeal.

He argued his case was a mis-trial because the prosecution involved an overseas plot and therefore should have been approved by the Attorney General.

But his appeal bid was dismissed by three judges, who said the conspiracy took place in the UK and his case was "hopeless".

They added two months to the time he will spend in prison because of his "persistence" in taking up the court's time with it.

A 61-year-old car driver has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, after a road crash in Orsett in which a motorcyclist was killed.

Douglas Dines, 55, from Grays died at the scene of the collision in Stanford Road last September. 

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

Rail operator Greater Anglia, says ticket prices are having to rise as a result of the number of people who are failing to pay the correct fare. 

Earlier this week, more than 100 passengers were prosecuted, and found guilty of a range of offences on the regional rail network. 

Juliette Maxam, from Greater Anglia, said: "The trouble is, if people aren't paying for their tickets, that means we're not getting the money from their tickets, and we use that money to invest in the railway to make it better for every passenger. 

"So, if you don't pay for your ticket, you're not only not allowing us to invest in the railway, but also it ends up with the prices going up for everybody as well."

And they all... Read... Music News.... Music News... through their... Work liiiife.

Know what I mean?

Morning all.

We're going Britpop mad today to mark 6 Music's 1994 day.

But we're not only looking back, as it's New Music Friday of course and we'll have fresh tunes from Lorde (who wasn't even born then), Ed Sheeran (who was three) and Little Mix (who were also barely out of nappies).

Plus, later, 5 Things We Learned This Week.

For now have a listen to our special 94 playlist  while you sneak one last look at yesterday's blog  for news of Adele's fire-free show down under and a surprise 40th birthday prezzie for Coldplay's Chris Martin... from himself.

Firefighters have been dealing with a blaze at a scrap yard in Colchester overnight, where 15 cars caught fire and had to be extinguished.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to a site on Haven Road at 23:45.

It took two crews about an hour to get the fire out. The cause of the blaze isn't yet known.

The Conservative MP for Colchester says discretion should be used by local rail operators as they clamp down on fare dodgers. 

Earlier this week, more than 100 passengers were prosecuted, and found guilty, of a range of offences on the Greater Anglia network. The company said a "common-sense approach" was used.

"My concern is around people who do the right thing, but make honest mistakes," said Will Quince MP.

"I want to make sure all rail operating companies, including GA, are using discretion where appropriate.

"Where people have paid over £50 to get to and from London in a day, or £5,000 for a season ticket, that they're not penalised for sitting in the wrong seat, or when the train's full they sit in the wrong carriage, or they forget their season ticket."

East Anglian train operator Greater Anglia says its ticket inspectors issue between 4,000 and 6,000 penalty fares a month - but the issue of fare-dodging is costing companies millions, says Greater Anglia's Juliette Maxam:

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

After what looks like a promising start, cloud will thicken with persistent and occasionally heavy rain spreading north  through the morning. 

The rain will hang around the further north you are for much of the afternoon, but further south things will clear.

A cloudy end to the day for most of us. Highs today of 10C, that's 50F.  

Check the latest forecast for where you live with BBC Weather.

Jodie Halford
BBC News

Good morning and welcome to Friday. Here on the Essex Local Live page, we're pleased that it's Friday but sad that it's raining - more on the latter shortly when we bring you the weather forecast.

We'll be here until 18:00 with all the latest news, sport, aforementioned weather and travel for Essex. You can email us if you'd like to chat, or if you've got stories or photos to send.

The top story we'll be following this morning is about fare dodging - train operator Greater Anglia, external says the number of people who fail to pay the correct fare is costing millions of pounds and ticket prices have to go up as a result.

More on this coming up.

A hoax bomber who 'brought chaos and fear to the streets of Basildon' 20 years ago is jailed.

Nikki Jenkins
BBC Local Live

Thanks for joining us again today, it's been busy.

Scroll back for all the main stories and reaction. Automatic postings continue to keep you up to date on weather and traffic overnight and we'll be back again from 08:00 on Friday.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

Staying dry this evening with clear spells.

Overnight temperatures are expected to drop to 3C (37F) early on, but as cloud increases from the west they'll recover to about 7C (45F) by the end of the night.

Tomorrow will be rather cloudy with outbreaks of rain, some heavy, although it'll be come drier and a little brighter later, with further showers following.

Top temperature: 10C (50F)

Get the full forecast for where you live from BBC Weather .

Nic Rigby
BBC News

The Essex Book Festival, external has started and runs throughout March, with Essex Serpent novelist Sarah Perry as the writer-in-residence.

Perry, who lives in Norwich and was born and raised in Chelmsford,  told BBC Essex how she researched her book which is set in the county.

Image source, Profile Books

"When I wrote a chapter set in February I would go down to Essex to see the countryside and coast in that month and come back and write that chapter, and did that each month," she said.

"I did that to make sure I represented this wonderful county and its natural landscape as accurately as I could."

Image source, British Library

Perry was the youngest of five daughters in a devout Baptist family.

Growing up with limited contact with contemporary culture, she spent her days with church-related activities, classical music, novels and poetry.

She says this early immersion in old literature and the King James Bible profoundly influenced her writing style.

Brentwood Borough Council has secured £500,000 to tackle domestic violence in south Essex.

The money is coming from the government to pay for two domestic violence coordinators at the One Stop Shop organisation, and also goes towards supporting 28 refuge spaces for victims of such crimes.

The funding bid was made by several groups across south Essex.  

Image source, Getty Images

Jojo Moyes - who lives and writes on a farm near Saffron Walden - has already enjoyed huge success with her novel 'Me Before You'.

The book has sold 12 million copies and the film, for which she wrote the screen play, made more than $200m at the box office.

Now she's revealed that the screen rights for 'Paris for One', the title story of her latest book of short stories, have been sold to StudioCanal. She's already done the screen adaptation and they hope to start filming later this year.

It took nine novels for her to achieve her huge success.  She's been telling Front Row on BBC Radio 4 : "I was always the next big thing, me and my publishers had slightly given up hope."  

She says she found writing short stories much harder than novels.

"Every word counts, you have to have a twist, and you have to reduce everything down - you can't wang on!"

Nikki Jenkins
BBC Local Live

Image source, Essex Police

How many of you remember a series of fake bombs being planted at the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Basildon back in the 90s?

The scares - including one on Remembrance Day - led to the large parts of the town centre being evacuated and roads surrounding the town and the bus station closed down.

The railway line was suspended and the Army’s bomb disposal team was called in to carry out controlled explosions.

Image source, Essex Police

For years the person responsible went undetected, until February last year, when 44-year-old Dean Platt was arrested in a different case. 

His fingerprints were taken and pinged up as a match for those found at the sight of those hoax bombs. You can see the notes he left.

Platt, of Verbena Gardens, Laindon, admitted the charges and was given a two-year jail term at Basildon Crown Court today.

Image source, Essex Police

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

Castle Manor Academy in Haverhill is marking World Book Day by holding a "Drop Everything and Read Day".

No matter what class they are in, students have to drop everything and read for 10 minutes every time the school bell goes.

I wish we had a school bell here.

Image source, Dave Gooderham

Police are worried about a Harwich woman who went missing after having surgery in hospital.

Helena Ioannou, 36, was last seen at around 14:00 on Tuesday.

Anyone who knows where she is or has seen her is asked to contact police.

Image source, Essex Police