West Yorkshire Police apologises "wholeheartedly" for its failings in a child sexual abuse case

A couple of months ago, so-called "love locks" were removed from Centenary Bridge in Leeds over fears that they can cause "structural problems". 

The city council removed them and put them into storage, but a university researcher has now looked at the stories behind the padlocks.

Ceri Houlbrook has written a blog about some of the people who put padlocks on the bridge, external.

Ceri's been researching the phenomenon of love locks all over the world and her latest entry focuses on "Clair and Drew" who met in New Orleans last year.

They were reunited in Leeds this summer and decided to put a padlock on the bridge. 

Clair says: "Drew was visiting for such a short time and I wasn’t sure I’d ever see him again, so I wanted to add my own memory."

Image source, Clair

It's well worth a look at Ceri's blog as it makes for some very interesting reading.

Image source, Ceri Houlbrook

Yorkshire Post

A pig who was raised with a sheepdog as his best friend has taken on the role of a house pet, according to his owners, external.

Image source, Yorkshire Post

Elly Fiorentini
BBC Local Live, York

Soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment have put their cricketing heroes through their paces at Europe's largest Army Garrison at Catterick.

It was a foggy morning yesterday when troops from 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment ran the Tykes ragged with a series of challenges.

Image source, British Army

Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale says it was was a great team-building exercise, even though the players might not have liked the wet and cold.

Soldiers volunteered to take part.  

The challenges included winching out a bogged down Land Rover, running a stretcher race before doing another 1.5 mile run back to the base at Somme Barracks.  

Image source, British Army

Leeds Prison is the most overcrowded jail in England and Wales, according to the Prison Reform Trust, external.

Image source, Mark Stevenson/Geograph

The trust says that the jail, in Armley, is designed to hold 669 men but that it now holds 1,145. 

Overcrowded prisons are twice as likely to be rated as failing by the prison service, it adds

Overcrowding means inmates have to double up in cells designed for fewer people, with nearly a quarter of the prison population eating their meals in the same space as the toilet they share.

Last month the government unveiled a White Paper detailing a £1.3bn investment in new prisons over the next five years.

A girl who went missing from her home in Leeds has now been found "safe and well", according to police, external.

Serease Marsh, 19, was reported missing from Headingley on Monday after last being seen on Friday 2 December.

Yesterday, police said they were "very concerned" for her welfare and they believed she was now in the Liverpool area.

Richard Edwards
Political Reporter, BBC Radio Leeds

There have been two major public transport announcements in Leeds this week, one promising an upgrade of the city's bus network, another about plans for a new railway station at Leeds Bradford Airport.

It's worth remembering that back in the 1920s, trams were the backbone of Leeds' public transport system.

Image source, Getty Images

Many people who live, work or travel through the city would like to see them back and Leeds City Council's top team isn't ruling them out.   

But the city's leaders have had their fingers burned twice on big public transport schemes - Supertram and Trolleybus - and are this time trying a different approach. 

A report to the council's decision-making executive board says there'll be a "commentary" on "mass rapid transport options" in Autumn 2017. In plainer Yorkshire, that means we'll hear a bit more about a tram-type scheme in about a year.

Image source, Metro

Those 12 months will give the council crucial breathing space to push forward its plans to build three new railway stations in Leeds, and to beef up the bus services. 

It's under pressure to clean up Leeds' air, which is forecast to kill hundreds of people this year alone. One of the main ways it'll have to do this is by encouraging people not to drive into the city centre.

The £173m Trolleybus budget is burning a hole in Leeds' wallet - but the council can't hang about. It has to be spent on public transport, and by 2021.    

Drivers in a part of Bradford are more likely to be involved in a crash and be uninsured than in any other part of the country, new statistics have revealed.

Image source, Getty Images

The Bradford West area has been highlighted by a group which lobbies MPs to push for better road safety in their constituencies. 

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, external has released the data which also shows that the Bradford East constituency has the nation's second worst record for people being knocked down. 

A girl who reported being raped in 2011 was abused for a further year with agency interventions "ineffective", a serious case review has found.  

A group of men exercised "total control" over the girl in Keighley with information identifying her as being at risk from harm "not acted on".  

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

The review, external followed the sentencing of 12 men who abused the girl over 13 months in the West Yorkshire town.

Bradford Safeguarding Children Board said "so much had changed" since 2011.

The trial, which concluded in February, heard the girl had been reported missing from home on more than 70 occasions over a two-year period.

BBC Travel

The M62 isn't having a good morning.

There's another incident to tell you about, this time at J30 eastbound, where a broken down car has blocked the slip road, taking out a lane.

Looks like the authorities are on the case, though:

Image source, Crown Copyright/Highways England

Jennifer Bartram
BBC Look North weather presenter

You'll notice it's a lot warmer today and, in fact, we'll see highs of about 13C (55) later.

 Not much in the way of sunshine though.

See my full forecast below:

BBC Travel

There are a couple of problems on the M62 this morning. 

There's some slow traffic westbound between J27 (M621 Gildersome) and J26 (M606 Chain Bar) because of a broken down vehicle which, as you can see, is on the hard shoulder:

Image source, Crown Copyright/Highways England

And then a little further along westbound, an earlier accident at J26 (M606 Chain Bar) is still causing the brake lights to come on:

Image source, Crown Copyright/Highways England

Nick Wilmshurst
BBC Local Live, Leeds

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of news, sport, weather and travel for West Yorkshire. I'll be here until 18:00 with the latest.

You'll notice one thing this morning as you step out of the door: the lack of coldness. Scientists have dubbed this phenomenon as "warm".

Yep, even though it's December, today we're going to see temperatures of 13C (55F).

A quick look on the roads, and the M62 has a couple of delays on it this morning around J26 and J27, with an earlier accident causing some slow traffic in both directions.

On the M1 there's also some slow traffic northbound between J41 (A650 Carrgate) and J42 (M62 Lofthouse) because of an earlier broken down vehicle:

Image source, Crown Copyright/Highways Agency

A girl who reported being raped in 2011 was abused for a further year with agency interventions "ineffective", a serious case review finds.

Nick Wilmshurst
BBC Local Live, Leeds

That's it from me for today, there will be breaking news and travel updates throughout the night.

I'll be back again at 08:00 tomorrow, but before I go, here's five hand-picked stories I thought you should know about from today:

1. Eeeee, it was a reet pea-souper this morning
2. Buses are going to get greener, even the white and blue ones
3. Down down, you bring me down. The Stone Roses are coming to Leeds
4. It may have been foggy everywhere else, but Holmfirth was sunny today
5. If you do one thing on the internet today, check out this singer in Leeds, he's ace!

See you tomorrow

Wakefield player Scott Moore is re-bailed until 10 March following his arrest on suspicion of serious police assault and theft.

Owain Wyn Evans
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

It'll be a cloudy and breezy night across Yorkshire with the return of a few mist and fog patches. A band of rain will slowly move towards the east, the heaviest of this rain falling on high ground. Lows of 4C (39F).

After a grey and murky start, we'll start to see an improvement in the weather. Bright spells are forecast throughout the afternoon, with a few lingering showers. Feeling much milder with highs of 13C (55F). 

Live in Leeds? Then your council tax will be increasing from next year, external.

Leeds City Council are increasing the amount you'll have to pay by 3.99%, the maximum they're allowed to increase it by according to the government's rules.

The authority says that it needs a further £75.3 million of additional income and savings by March 2018 and that it, along with councils across the country, have been asking for more government cash which hasn't materialised.

Whitehall has said that councils can ask for a maximum of 2% extra council tax to cope with the cost of adult social care. That's on top of the 1.99% they're allowed to increase it by anyway.

BBC Travel

If you live in Yeadon, or anywhere north of there on the A65, you can expect some delays as we head into tonight's rush hour: 

BBC Travel

This is more or less the back of the queue you'll find if you're westbound on the M62 from West Yorkshire heading Manchester way.

A bit further up the road there's a car on its roof, between J24 (A629 Ainley Top) and J23 (A640 Huddersfield).

Image source, Crown Copyright