A referee from Hull says fulfilling a childhood dream of officiating at Wembley will be "bittersweet".

Image source, MARK FLETCHER/MI NEWS/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

Carl Boyeson was "in tears" when chosen to oversee Saturday's EFL Trophy final between Portsmouth and Salford City.

He said it was an opportunity he had "dreamed about as a lad", but Covid-19 regulations meant his family would not be allowed at the match.

Wife Amanda said she was "really happy and proud" but "gutted that he won't have all his family there".

Mr Boyeson started officiating matches in Hull aged 22 after taking up a seven-week course he'd spotted in a newspaper to become a qualified referee.

More than 600 matches later, the phone call the 51-year-old had been waiting for arrived while he was at the gym.

"There's 30,000 referees in this country, 29,900 and however many will never referee at Wembley, now I've got this gig to lead the teams out and walk up those steps," he said.

The delayed 2020 final is being played behind closed doors due to the pandemic, with no fans currently being allowed in stadiums until mid-May at the earliest.

Mrs Boyeson said: "I'm really happy for him and really proud but I'm just gutted, gutted that he won't have all his family there.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

People living in Scarborough have been warned they must stick to Covid rules as restrictions are gradually eased.

Image source, OLI SCARFF/AFP

Primary school children returned to the classroom on Monday, with secondary schools also beginning to fully open again.

North Yorkshire County Council chief executive Richard Flinton told residents: “We must remember the road out of lockdown depends on data, not dates.

“How hard would it be, now we can see that light at the end of the tunnel, to have to go backwards because we became complacent and let down our guard?”

The warning came as the seven-day infection rate per 100,000 people in Scarborough rose slightly to 31, although the figure is still lower than the North Yorkshire average.

The Highways England film shows two squashed flies singing safety messages to a Pet Shop Boys tune.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is set to leave the Blades after almost five years in charge.

Image source, Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

The side are bottom of the Premier League with 10 games of the season left.

Ex-Blades defender Wilder joined the South Yorkshire club in May 2016 and took them from League One to the Premier League in that time.

They finished ninth last season in their first year back in the league.

This season has proved a real struggle and they have endured the worst start to a season in Premier League history.

Their first league win did not come until 12 January, in their 18th game, when they beat Newcastle.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is set to leave his role after almost five years in charge.

More to follow.

BBC Radio Bradford

Young people are being encouraged to help develop a video game for Bradford as part of its 2025 City of Culture bid.

Image source, Google

People in Bradford aged between 11 and 18 will be able to create their local neighbourhood in the game, as well as how they would like it to look in the future.

Bradford-based Bafta award-winning game design company Impact Gamers is creating the platform, which is expected to be accessible from a mobile phone or PC.

Adam Syrop, from the firm, says: "It's going to be about what young people would love a futuristic Bradford to be and what they'd love to see there.

"There are loads of things that have unfortunately closed in Bradford. Would they like to see them reopened, or reopened in a different way?"

Officials say including young people in Bradford's bid to become the UK's City of Culture in 2025 is important because nearly a quarter of the city's population is aged under 16.

Geoff Webber's death is a "very sad" loss says North Yorkshire's county council leader.

Scotland Yard is to be investigated over its handling of an allegation of indecent exposure against the officer suspected of murdering Sarah Everard, who's originally from York.

Image source, Family handout

The police watchdog will consider if Metropolitan Police officers "responded appropriately" to the alleged incident.

Ms Everard, 33, was last seen in Clapham, south London, on 3 March.

The Met officer arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of her kidnap and murder is back in a police station after being treated in hospital for a head injury.

On Thursday, Ms Everard's family paid tribute to her, saying she "brought so much joy to our lives" and was a "shining example to us all".

Police looking for the missing marketing executive said human remains had been found in woodland in Kent on Wednesday, but detectives have not yet been able to confirm their identity.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) says it has launched an investigation after receiving five referrals from the Met Police in relation to its handling of the case.

The watchdog will examine how officers responded after receiving a report that a man had exposed himself at a fast food restaurant in south London on 28 February - three days before Ms Everard's disappearance.

The other referrals were over the arrest of a serving officer on suspicion both of kidnap and murder, and the earlier allegation of indecent exposure; the Met's actions after Ms Everard was reported missing; and the injury of the suspect while in custody.

The arrested man, who is in his 40s and works with the Met's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was taken to hospital on Thursday suffering from head injuries.

He was treated, discharged and returned to the police station where he is being held after an application to extend his detention was granted at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court.

"All precautions" have been taken following the identification of a case of a coronavirus "variant of concern" in Bradford, health bosses have said.

Image source, Getty Images

Public Health England (PHE) said yesterday that the individual tested positive for Covid-19 in late February after travelling back from Brazil via Paris on 14 February.

Subsequent tests proved the case to be the variant, known as P1.

Contact tracers have contacted close contacts of the individual and advised them to isolate and get a Covid test, PHE says.

Sarah Muckle, Bradford Council’s director of public health, said the authority had been "working closely" with PHE and NHS Test and Trace since the variant was detected in the district.

"A very small number of local contacts have been identified and all precautions have been taken to minimise the risk of transmission," she said.

"If we are to prevent infections, particularly from the potentially more transmissible Covid-19 variants, everyone should continue to keep their travel – in the UK and abroad – to essential journeys only while national restrictions apply."

BBC Weather

This afternoon there will be sunny intervals and scattered showers.

One or two of the showers could be heavy with local hail. Strong westerly winds.

Tonight will become cloudier from the west with more prolonged outbreaks of rain.

Upland areas will have a risk of snow. Brisk westerly winds:

Two men have been charged with the murder of a man in Hull earlier this week, police have said.

Image source, Google

Emergency crews found Jason Joseph Clark, 40, with fatal injuries outside a flat on Beech Close in Hull on Tuesday morning.

Two men, aged 26 and 54, are due to appear before Hull Magistrates' Court later today charged with murder, according to Humberside Police.

Members of Mr Clark's family are being supported by specially trained officers, the force added.

Assistant Ch Con Darren Downs said: "A tragic incident of this nature has been a shock to the local community.

"Our neighbourhood team continues to be on hand to speak to residents about their worries. If anyone has any concerns, please talk to one of our officers."

A £137m upgrade to the Hope Valley railway line between Sheffield and Manchester has been announced by the government.

Image source, CHRIS MORGAN

Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis said the announcement had come after three years of lobbying and efforts to improve poor service on the line.

The upgrade to the line aims to reduce delays, improve reliability of trains and add a third direct train per hour.

Mr Jarvis said: "It's overdue but welcome progress, however we need the government to go much further if they are to level up South Yorkshire and the north."

A charity is helping men who may be isolated or lonely to open up during lockdown.

The BBC's Crimewatch Live has featured an appeal over a fatal Sheffield hit-and-run in a bid to help solve the case.

Sue Henderson, 64, was struck by a grey VW Passat outside her house on Fox Hill Crescent on 15 February 2020 in Birley.

The car was found burnt out, with the driver at the time of the crash never identified:

Michael Henderson
BBC Radio Leeds News

A West Yorkshire school which teaches children with special needs is asking for help to find its stolen minibus.

Image source, Highbury School

Highbury School's bus had been bought using grants, and money raised by parents.

It was taken from the grounds of the Brighouse school after thieves broke in via the gates on Monday evening.

Headteacher Debbie Sweet said: "It's a lifeline for the school really. It gives us so many opportunities to go out with children who do find it difficult to go on public transport.

"We've had it about 18 months and we'd just started to use it to take the children horseriding out in the local community. Obviously restrictions have meant we've not been able to use it as much in the last 12 months."

The bus is a silver Ford Transit, with the school's logo on the side.

Insp Ben Doughty, from the the Calderdale Valleys Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We would like to hear from anyone who may have seen two people hanging around the Lower Edge Road area on early Monday evening, or who may have seen the vehicle making its way towards Brighouse at around 18:25 GMT.”

BBC Yorkshire’s political editor explains what the upcoming elections means.

PA Media

Sheffield is to receive just over £180,000 in emergency funding to help plant trees and create green spaces.

The city is to benefit from a slice of a £2.9m fund from the Woodland Trust as part of its ambition to plant millions of trees by 2025.

The charity said it was providing funding to local councils because finances were tight and it was appropriate given how valuable people have found green spaces during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sheffield City Council will use its share of the funds for its Treevitalise project, which is intended to engage with communities in protecting and restoring woodlands.

There are many thousands of different versions, or variants, of Covid circulating, but only a small number are considered to be "variants of concern".

It's not unexpected that new variants have developed - all viruses mutate as they make copies of themselves to spread and thrive.

Some variants, like P1, appear to be more contagious and there are concerns current vaccines may not work as well.

Image source, Getty Images

This is why P1 is considered a "variant of concern", along with a variant first identified in UK and one first identified in South Africa.

All three have undergone changes to their spike protein - the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

There is no evidence that any of them cause much more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected.

A case of a coronavirus “variant of concern” first found in Brazil has been identified in Bradford.

Public Health England (PHE) says the individual tested positive for Covid-19 in late February after travelling back from Brazil via Paris on 14 February.

Image source, Getty Images

Subsequent tests proved the case to be the variant, known as P1.

Contact tracers have contacted close contacts of the individual and advised them to isolate and get a Covid test, PHE says.

Three cases have also been identified in South Gloucestershire, bringing the total of P1 variant cases in the UK to ten.

Tom Ingall
Journalist, BBC Look North

Police searches are taking place near Barnsley in connection with the disappearance of a missing man.

Richard Dyson, 58, from Barnsley, disappeared in November 2019 and was last seen walking along the A6135 Sheffield Road in Hoyland.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Officers are searching land off the A6135 between Hoyland Common and Chapeltown.

On Wednesday, two men were arrested by South Yorkshire Police on suspicion of Mr Dyson's murder and are in police custody for questioning.