A police officer in West Yorkshire was handed a Christmas present she didn't expect during a school visit today - a knuckleduster...

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

PC Sally Baines, external attended the un-named school in West Yorkshire and was handed the weapon from a teacher.

The teacher confiscated it from a child two of days ago.

PC Baines said "I was there with my team to give a talk on knives and weapons, ironically"

A new screening service is to be offered across the Yorkshire and Humber region to prevent hundreds of heart attacks.

Image source, Thinkstock

The British Heart foundation (BHF) has provided nearly £250,000 to fund four specialist nurses who will test those at risk from the genetic condition, familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), which leads to coronary heart disease and can cause a potentially fatal heart attack at a young age.

The screening service will operate at four hospitals across the region:

• Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
• Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

• York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The force are testing drivers for drink and drugs over the festive period.

Yorkshire Post

A young mum charged with the murder of her 18-month-old boy after he plunged to his death out of a sixth-floor window was "too poorly" to attend a hearing this morning., external

Image source, Yorkshire Post

A dental student from Huddersfield has been found guilty of terror offences.

Mohammed Abbas Awan is the brother of a suicide bomber who blew himself up in Iraq.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court convicted him unanimously of four charges - including preparing a terrorist attack.

The 24-year-old will be sentenced next week.

Police are urging businesses to be extra vigilant in the run up to Christmas after four burglaries at hair salons and shops across Sheffield.

Tills and expensive items of stock have been the main targets.

South Yorkshire Police is offering advice on how to businesses can protect themselves, external.

Glad to see that it's not just some motorists who rely on the rain to keep their cars clean, the team behind the police helicopter in Wakefield do it too:

Three men from Sheffield have been jailed after being found guilty of holding a vulnerable man against his will and repeatedly assaulting him in his own home.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Matthew Ward, 23, from Garland Croft befriended the victim – a 40-year-old man – in early 2017.

Ward went to the victim’s property in Sheffield with a "friend" – Marcus Cullumbine, of Haigh Moor Way, Swallownest. The pair announced they would be staying over and subsequently never left.

A third man, 18-year-old Shakaiyah Swindells, of Shortbrook Drive, Westfield joined the group who then subjected the victim to several assaults over a month, causing serious injuries.

Ward was jailed for 16 years, Cullumbine for 11 years and Swindells for seven years for false imprisonment and assault.

Detective Constable Dawn Murray from the Force Crime Unit said: “Our inquiry revealed that on several occasions, the victim was locked in a cupboard in his home against his will, while Ward, Cullumbine and Swindells were in the property."

If you've used the loo at Leeds Station - and paid for the privilege - then you've helped Network Rail collect £4.8m in the last 12 months.

That's according to new figures from the rail infrastructure firm which shows the amount of money it raised from passengers using station toilets is down from the £5.4m spent by passengers in 2015-16.

Campaigners said toilet charges "add insult to injury" and called for them to be axed, but Network Rail said the money made was invested in passenger facilities.

A city council is urging the government to help it retrieve "our children's money".

Court hears that Sinead Wooding was attacked by her husband when she was pregnant with his child.

Plans to protect hundreds of Leeds homes and businesses from flooding have been backed by senior councillors this afternoon.

Image source, PA

In the last few minutes, the city council's executive board has approved a River Aire flood defence scheme upstream from the city centre.

The plan is a mix of natural and man-made defences - a bid for the money to pay for it will now be sent to the government.

Two men who were behind a "large-scale and persistent" operation to fly drugs and phones in to prisons across the country - including in Yorkshire - have been jailed.

Image source, PA

Craig Hickinbottom, described as the "leading" player in the plot directed the operation from behind bars and was jailed for seven years and two months at Birmingham Crown Court.

Drone pilot Mervyn Foster was given six years and eight months for his part - which involved 49 provable drone flights and four so-called "throw-overs" of contraband.

Birmingham Crown Court was told the offences were committed between July 2015 and May this year at jails in Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Birmingham, Cheshire, Liverpool, and Perth in Scotland.

People in Dewsbury are being warned about bogus officials after an 89-year-old wheelchair user was robbed in her own home.

On Monday afternoon a man knocked on the elderly lady's door in Shaw Cross and claimed he was going to do checks around her flat. He let himself in and asked the woman to make a cup of tea.

While she was making it, he stole her purse containing £110.

When the 89-year-old asked for his ID, he said he was going to collect it from his car but failed to return.

BBC Sport

England captain and Yorkshire player Joe Root says it is time for his team to "stand up" in the crucial third Ashes Test in Perth.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Australia lead the series 2-0 and will regain the Ashes if they win at the Waca, where England last won in 1978.

"In the face of adversity, people want to see you put in big performances and prove why you have been chosen to play for England," says Sheffield-born Root.

"If we get that right there is no reason why it can't be 2-1 this time next week."

Motorway services operator Moto says it's "very disappointed" by Doncaster Council's decision to turn down a planning application for a new service station for the A1(M) in South Yorkshire.

Image source, Google

If given the go-ahead, the service station would have been built near Marr.

A Moto spokesman said: "It's our belief the proposed site would have had significant positive impact on the local economy, representing investment of £40m and bringing with it 215 permanent jobs.

"We are now considering our next steps," he adds.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus

Telegraph & Argus reader Natasha Iqbal sent in this weird but wonderful picture taken from an upstairs window at her home in Stoneyridge Avenue, Heaton, external,

Image source, Bradford Telegraph and Argus

A candlelit demonstration is due to be held in Harrogate tonight by campaigners objecting to thousands of new houses being proposed for the area.

The full council will vote later on the town's Local Plan, which includes proposals for about 3,000 new homes to be built close to Green Hammerton.

The proposals also look at how to grow the towns economy and how to cut congestion.

Councillor Rebecca Burnett, who has responsibility for planning at the authority, says the Local Plan has been thoroughly worked out:

BBC News Travel

Hooray! You can get fuel in your car again at this service station on the M1:

The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Sheffield Hallam says she's having to deal with constituency matters because people can't get hold of their MP, Labour's Jared O'Mara.

Mr O'Mara is currently suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into an alleged incident at a Sheffield nightclub earlier this year, allegations he denies.

He'd earlier issued an apology for a series of offensive online comments dating back to 2004.

Mr O'Mara hasn't been seen in public since the row erupted and it's now emerged he is not presently attending Parliament on the advice of his GP.

The MP's team say advice surgeries are still being held with his staff and anyone who wants help can contact his office.

But Laura Gordon, LibDem parliamentary candidate for Sheffield Hallam, says there's a lack of support for constituents - a gap she claims she's having to fill: