BBC Weather

Cloudy with outbreaks of rain, some heavy and thundery overnight.

Image source, BBC Weather

The possibility of 15mm to 25mm of rain with the chance of more for some areas.

Lows of 9C, that's 48F.

Thursday will be mainly dry with sunny spells and feeling fresher.

Highs of 18C (64F).

BBC Weather has more local forecasts.

A police officer diagnosed with breast cancer was "overwhelmed" when her colleagues turned up at her house with shaved heads in a show of solidarity.

Image source, Essex Police

Laura Thomas, 34, decided to shave her head before starting gruelling treatment for stage three cancer.

Her colleagues at Chelmsford police station then plumped to do the same ahead of their visit to "show her how much she is loved".

Colleague Sgt Paul Gooding said: "Laura was totally unaware of this, so when we turned up at her address with our new haircuts she was overwhelmed and it made her day."

Laura, who was diagnosed last month, now faces a year of treatment that includes chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.

Three former servicemen have set off to cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End - but have added an extra 500 miles (804km) to their trip so they can visit four Help for Heroes Recovery Centres along the way.

Lee Patmore, from Basildon, together with Steve Craddock and Brian Kilgannon, hope to complete their 1,400 mile (2,253km) journey in 30 days.

BBC Essex caught up with the trio - called a "band of brothers" by Lee - before they set off earlier today from Colchester.

Old roof tiles have been placed on a beach to help one of the UK's rarest breeding birds.

Image source, Essex Wildlife Trust

Ridge tiles have been put over the first nests made by little terns on Horsey Island, near Walton-on-the-Naze.

Essex Wildlife Trust, external said the site is a favourite nesting site for the birds, which have flown from East Africa to nest, but they need to be protected from gulls which attack the eggs and young chicks.

There has been a slight rise in unemployment in Essex.

Last month, just under 17,000 people were out of work and claiming benefits in the county - an increase of 200 people.

Nationally, the figures are at their lowest rate since 1975, with 1.54m people unemployed.

The search for murdered schoolgirl Danielle Jones is set to continue at a block of garages in Stifford Clays, close to where her killer Stuart Campbell lived.

Officers have not discovered anything during their dig so far.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Asst Chief Cons Steve Worron said: "There are still areas that I want to complete searches of in the site behind us and until that work is finished I cannot conclude whether Danielle's body has been buried here for the last 16 years."

These aerial photos have been taken by the BBC of the search.

Southend sign goalkeeper Christian Walton from Brighton & Hove Albion as emergency loan cover for injured Ted Smith.

A private investigation firm says it is examining new evidence relating to the death of an Essex man found dead under a cement mixer in South Ockenden in 2002.

TM-EYE, a group of retired murder detectives with a base near Epping, has met the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss the Lee Balkwell case.

The group has requested a new independent murder investigation.

Essex Police has declined to comment.

In 2012, an Independent Police Complaints Commission report found eight senior officers made 25 errors in a "seriously flawed" investigation.

Here's a quick look at what's making the headlines across the county today:

• Residents of Stifford Clays told the Thurrock Gazette, external of their shock as their neighbourhood became the focus of a search for Danielle Jones's body.
• Essex Live, external has reported a private mental health hospital in Chelmsford will undergo a £3m expansion to allow more NHS and independent patients to be treated. The venture will also create 20 jobs.
• A new Essex gangster film Bonded by Blood 2 has been previewed at a private screening in London, according to the Southend Echo, external. It's based on the real-life case of the murder of Dean Boshell and jailing of Ricky Percival, from Leigh.

Colin Bell had four indecent images of children on a DVD.

The creator of a forthcoming BBC comedy set in Essex has said it seized on a time of aspiration.

Image source, Fudge Park

Damon Beesley, was also behind hit show The Inbetweeners, and grew up in Stanford-le-Hope in the 1980s - the same era as when his new double-glazing series White Gold is based.

"At this point in history you were allowed to buy your own council house… so it was a good way to differentiate yourself - just to let people know you’d bought your house," said Damon.

The TV crew was based at Stanford-le-Hope's decommissioned oil refinery, which loomed large during Damon's childhood.

He said: "It used to dominate the landscape and psychologically dominated everyone’s horizons because they used to tell you if the flame went out on the burner above it would take everyone out for three miles around.

"We got to film down in the oil refinery and it’s a beautiful space – we had the times of our lives making it."

A family's 16-year wait for the body of their daughter that looks set to continue.

Oliver Turner
Sports reporter, BBC Radio Kent

Kent Spitfires are in action in their final fixture in this season’s One-Day Cup against local rivals Essex Eagles in Canterbury.

It’s a day-night fixture at Canterbury so the action starts from 13:30 GMT. Full commentary on MW, DAB and online.

BBC Sport

Essex's cricket team travel to Canterbury today for their Royal London One-Day Cup match against Kent.

A BBC commentary and live scores page will be available here from 13:30.

Firefighters are still at the scene of a large wood pile fire near Harlow.

Image source, Essex Fire and Rescue Service

The pile in Hoe Lane, Nazeing, which contains planks of wood and measures approximately 60m x 30m (197ft x 98ft), caught light yesterday afternoon.

Crews have said they will let the wood burn under control and it could take several days to go out.

The cause of the fire is not yet clear.

Samuel Armstrong is suspended from his role as chief of staff to MP Craig Mackinlay.

Paul Hayes
BBC Radio Norfolk

A primary school teacher has said its "disgusting" that a memorial garden for a former pupil has been vandalised.

Image source, Valley Primary Academy

Image source, Essex Police

Seven-year-old Summer Grant who was from Norwich was killed at a funfair in Harlow, Essex, after a bouncy castle she was playing on was swept away by high winds.

An inquest heard Summer probably died of multiple injuries.

This morning, staff at Valley Primary Academy in Norwich found that the garden in Summer's memory has been damaged, with graffiti left on other parts of the school.

Norfolk Police has confirmed it is investigating the incident.

Stuart Walker, the school's assistant headteacher says the memorial was set up for the children to "reflect quietly on happy memories with Summer".

"The garden had a cherry tree in it with a plaque saying 'Summer's garden'. Fortunately that has not been damaged.

"It was quite a shock and it saddened the staff when they got in. It's just mindless vandalism. It's saddened everybody."

A man and a woman from Cambridgeshire arrested over health and safety offences in connection with the death of Summer Grant are due to appear in court in June.

Training for new lifeguard patrols are due to start in East Sussex today after the deaths of seven people, including a man from Grays, last year.

Image source, PA

Inthushan Sriskantharaja, 23, drowned at Camber Sands last August along with his four friends.

Two other men also died in an incident the month before.

The local council has now allocated more than £50,000 to cover the costs of patrols after relatives of the victims said they could have been saved if there had been lifeguards.

More disruption on the line into London this morning:

The writer of a new TV comedy based in a 1983 Basildon double-glazing showroom said he has already started writing the second series.

White Gold is a six-parter and will hit TV screens next Wednesday on BBC Two.

Damon Beesley, who also created The Inbetweeners, told BBC Essex: "I don't know how much I am allowed to say about it, but I am writing it now so I hope there is otherwise I'll go crazy," he joked.