The drugs, worth an estimated £500,000, were found in a "sophisticated" set-up, police said.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

People in North Yorkshire have been urged to “embrace” the latest national coronavirus lockdown as the vaccine roll-out in the county picks up pace.

Image source, PA Media

The new national stay-at-home measures were announced on Monday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and will last at least until late February.

Richard Flinton, chairman of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, said there was “light at the end of the tunnel” and urged residents in the county to abide by the restrictions while more people are vaccinated.

Mr Flinton said: “We just need to work together for a little bit longer, embrace the lockdown, follow the procedures, stay at home and there will be a way through this in the end.”

The forum heard infection levels were continuing to rise in North Yorkshire and were expected to increase further in the coming weeks, when the impact of Christmas household mixing was felt.

A cannabis factory housing about 1,000 plants has been discovered in a former bank in East Yorkshire, police say.

Image source, Humber Roads Police

The plants, worth an estimated £500,000, were discovered across 10 rooms at the property on Queen Street, Withernsea, just before 18:00 on Monday, according to Humberside Police.

A force spokesperson said: "The sophisticated set-up had been dangerously extracting electricity, common with cannabis grows, which can put surrounding properties and businesses at risk."

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the production of cannabis, police said. Both remain in custody.

A guard has been put in place at the property while officers remove plants and dismantle the growing set-up, officers added.

The head teacher of Carlton Bolling College says it would "defeat the object" of the school closing.

People thinking of breaching new Covid-19 restrictions in East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire are being warned by Humberside Police to stay home or risk being fined.

Image source, PA Media

As England goes into its third lockdown, Assistant Ch Con Chris Noble said the rules will be enforced if people ignore them.

In a statement, he said: “While I understand some people are frustrated, I urge people to consider very carefully how they respond to these latest precautions over the next few weeks.

"We will use enforcement when we need to, and we will be issuing fines to anyone who is responsible for a flagrant breach of the rules," he added.

Officers will be patrolling "hot spot" areas and will tackle anyone who is "blatantly breaking the regulations or showing disregard for health and safety", the Humberside force said.

An 86-year-old woman has died after being hit by a car in Leeds, police have confirmed.

Image source, Google

It happened outside the Tesco Express petrol station on Leeds Road, Rothwell, at about 17:50 on Tuesday.

A white Fiat 500, which was travelling towards Oulton, collided with the woman who had walked from the petrol station forecourt onto the road, police say.

The victim suffered serious head injuries and, despite medical attention, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to West Yorkshire Police.

Sgt Paul Lightowler says: "We would like to speak to anyone who saw, or has information about, the collision or who was in the area at the time of the incident, or who saw the woman or car involved just prior to it."

Anyone with dash camera or mobile phone footage of the incident is also being asked to get in touch with police.

A "lethal" cannabis factory has been discovered in a former curry house in Sheffield, police say.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Officers found 200 cannabis plants after responding to reports of suspicious activity linked to the premises on Chesterfield Road during the Christmas holidays, according to South Yorkshire Police.

However, officers involved in the raid said they were surprised by how dangerous the set-up in the building was, describing it as a "death-trap".

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Sgt Ben Hanson said: “It was a substantial set-up, but the first challenge was getting officers inside safely as the doors to the building were blocked up with huge metal shutters.

"Once inside, we soon realised there was something strange about the building…there were no stairs.

"Instead of an actual staircase, a ladder was perched on some cushions to allow access down to the cellar, it was a lethal set-up."

Those behind the production were "putting their lives at risk every time they entered to check their crop", Sgt Hanson added.

An investigation has begun to find those responsible for the cannabis factory, South Yorkshire Police said.

The coronavirus vaccination programme needs to be ramped up if lockdown measures are to be eased sooner rather than later, the leader of Hull City Council has said.

Image source, Reuters/Carl Recine/File Photo

The government has set a target to vaccinate all over-70s, the most clinically vulnerable and front-line health and care workers by mid-February - some 13 million people.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Johnson said 1.3 million people in the UK had so far been vaccinated.

Hull City Council's Labour leader Stephen Brady says the target of 13 million people calls for a lot more effort if it is to be achieved.

"At the moment in Hull, 4,500 people have been vaccinated - which is a very, very small amount if they're going to reach the target they've set themselves," he says.

"There needs to be massive organisation and certainly they're going to have to ramp-up at a rapid rate to meet those targets."

More than 340 drivers were arrested for drink or drug-driving during West Yorkshire Police’s Christmas crackdown, it's been revealed.

Image source, PA Media

During the month-long campaign in December, a total of 164 motorists were arrested for drink-driving and 156 people were arrested for drug-driving, the force confirmed.

The age of drivers arrested ranged from 16 to 81 years old, officers said.

Meanwhile, in North Yorkshire, 143 motorists were arrested during a police Christmas campaign.

One man arrested in Ryedale was almost four times over the drink-drive limit, police said.

He was banned from driving until Summer 2023, given a curfew and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work, according to the North Yorkshire force.

Meanwhile, a man in Scarborough was arrested twice in the same week on suspicion of drug-driving and a delivery driver was charged with driving while almost three times over the alcohol limit, police added.

Rob England
BBC England Data Unit

A few days into England's third national lockdown, the Yorkshire and Humber region as a wider area has the lowest infection rate out of the country’s nine regions - but it is increasing.

The area recorded about 280 positive cases for every 100,000 people as of the latest figures.

In context locally, this was an increase of more than a half on the previous week.

Image source, .

Across Yorkshire, York had the highest infection rate of about 500 cases per 100,000 people as of 1 January - more than double the total for the previous week. Bradford saw the lowest rate of about 230 cases per 100,000.

Harrogate and Scarborough saw the most people taking lab-based coronavirus tests as a percentage of the population in the latest week, with nearly 3% of people tested, although the number of tests seems to have fallen over the holiday period.

Richmondshire recorded the highest percentage of positive lab-based tests, at about 19%. Experts have suggested high positivity means more testing is needed to detect undiagnosed cases in the community.

Hospital admissions do not seem to have changed dramatically over the last few weeks across Yorkshire. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had 269 beds filled with coronavirus patients as of 30 December, rising from 224 a month ago. While in Leeds and Bradford admissions fell in the last month at some acute hospitals.

Overall, there seems to be a mixed picture across Yorkshire in terms of the impact of coronavirus. Cases are rising across the board, but rates - compared to elsewhere in England - are relatively low, making it difficult to assess the impact on local NHS capacity.

A woman from Sheffield who has been the victim of deepfake pornography is calling for a change in the law.

Image source, Helen Mort

Deepfakes are realistic computer-generated images or video, based on a real person.

Last year, Helen Mort discovered that non-sexual images of her had been uploaded to a porn website.

Users of the site were invited to edit the photos, merging Helen's face with explicit and violent sexual images.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Mobeen Azhar, Helen said she wanted to see the creation and distribution of these images made an offence.

"This is a crime which in many cases is going on invisibly. Those images of me had been out there for years and I didn't know about them, and I'm still having nightmares about some of them now. It's an incredibly serious form of abuse."

Helen, a poet and writer, was alerted to the deepfake images by an acquaintance.

The original images were taken from her social media and included holiday pictures and photos from her pregnancy.

She said although some of the images were clearly manipulated, there were a few more "chilling" examples that were a "lot more plausible'.

"You go through different phases with things like this," she said. "There was one point where I was just trying to laugh about the almost ridiculous nature of some of it.

"But obviously, the underlying feeling was shock and actually I initially felt quite ashamed, as if I'd done something wrong. That was quite a difficult thing to overcome. And then for a while I got incredibly anxious about even leaving the house."

She alerted the police to the images but was told that no action could be taken.

The independent Law Commission is currently reviewing the law as it applies to taking, making and sharing intimate images without consent. The outcome of the consultation is due to be published later this year.

Helen hopes to use her experience to raise awareness around deepfake pornography and has launched a petition calling for a change in the law which has so far received more than 3,400 signatures.

Businesses across North Yorkshire will suffer as a result of the latest coronavirus lockdown - even with the offer of new grants from the government, it's been claimed.

Image source, PA Media

On Tuesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure would receive new grants worth up to £9,000 per property to help them keep afloat until spring.

Mr Sunak told the BBC he was "committed to protecting jobs and supporting businesses".

However, David Kerfoot, chair of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, says businesses are still likely to face financial problems.

"Unfortunately many businesses, particularly on the high street, in hospitality and the arts, are going to continue to take the economic brunt of the continuing lockdown restrictions," he says.

"Any further help from the government is obviously welcome, but whatever we say and whatever we do, undoubtedly there will be some casualties."

It is the third time Grand Central and Hull Trains have temporarily stopped services.

Police are appealing for witnesses after gunshots were fired at a house in West Yorkshire.

Image source, Google

Shots were fired at a property on Moor Lane in Gomersal at about 19:30 on Sunday, according to West Yorkshire Police.

No one was injured in the incident but damage was caused to a window, police said.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "Following examination of the scene, it is believed the damage was caused by a firearm."

Det Supt Jim Griffiths said: "A full investigation is taking place into what took place. The very serious potential consequences for this sort of behaviour hardly need to be spelled out."

Anyone with information about what happened, or who saw suspicious activity on the street just before or after it took place, is being asked to contact police.

BBC Weather

Today will be a largely dry day as north-easterlies tend to ease, but some showers will likely drift in from the east in the morning.

The afternoon should be dry with some decent sunshine for many.

Tonight will be a mostly clear night with a sharp frost likely as temperatures drop away.

Some patchy fog may develop in the early hours with light winds. It will be a cold night.

Image source, bb

Hull Trains is to suspend all its services to London again due to the latest national coronavirus lockdown, it's been confirmed.

Image source, Hull Trains

Services will be suspended from Saturday "until further notice", the firm says.

Hull Trains usually operates 92 direct services a week between Hull and London.

It halted its daily services to London twice last year due to the pandemic.

They were first suspended between the end of March and the middle of August, then again between the start of November and the start of December.

In a statement on the firm's website, external, it says: "We look forward to seeing you on our services again in the future."

Hull Trains is thought to be Britain's smallest train company with about 130 staff.

Because it's an open access operator, the company is not entitled to additional financial support from the government.

Hull Trains says the move will help safeguard the future of the business.

Bradford City goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell will be out for up to 12 weeks with a torn thigh muscle.

One hairdresser in Grimsby says she is "devastated" by the latest national lockdown.

The latest coronavirus lockdown is another "significant challenge" facing the Wakefield district, the council's leader has said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new lockdown last night, starting with immediate effect, meaning people must now stay at home except for a few permitted reasons.

Responding to the news, Wakefield Council's Labour leader Denise Jeffery said: "The government has made it clear the alarming severity of the situation nationally means we must all follow the new lockdown restrictions.

"Our district is already seeing an increase in infection rates and so it is absolutely crucial for everyone to take action now and prevent the infection rate increasing more rapidly."

If action isn't taken, NHS services will be "overwhelmed and more lives will be lost", Ms Jeffery added.

"This council will be here to support businesses and residents in any way we can," she said.

A Leeds virologist has said the latest coronavirus lockdown is unlikely to have come about because of people mixing during the Christmas period.

Image source, PA Media

New coronavirus restrictions, meaning people should stay at home and only go out for essential reasons, took effect after an announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night.

Professor Nicola Stonehouse said: "I think we may not quite have the results for Christmas yet. I think what we're still seeing is what was happening before Christmas, unfortunately, so things may get worse actually over the next few weeks."

Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds, Professor Stonehouse also questioned the surge in cases being attributed to the new variant of Covid-19, thought to be more transmissible than the virus's previous version.

She said: "This happened at a time when cases were really increasing, particularly in London and the south east, in a period when people were mixing far too much.

"In that way, it got established in the population, so I don't think we can totally say it's because of the new variant."