Nick Smith
BBC News Online

The mother of a teenager who left the United Kingdom to fight for ISIS was in Loughborough this morning warning about the dangers of radicalisation.

Nicola Benyahia's son Rasheed was killed by a drone strike after going to Syria in 2015.

She now offers counselling to families affected by radicalisation, through her group Families For Life.

She said: "We always use the word brainwashing and radicalisation but, in essence, it is just grooming.

"The process, the manipulation, the coercion. All of those things are no different from sexual exploitation and gang membership."

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

Parents of primary school children in Leicester have had a mixed response to an educational programme that teaches children about LGBT relationships.

The No Outsiders initiative is taught around the country and uses a series of books to teach children about all relationships - including same sex couples.

Almost 25,000 people have signed a petition that calls for the removal of the programme. A school in Birmingham had to pause lessons after protests by parents.

One parent with a child at Alderman Richard Hallam Primary School, which teaches No Outsiders, said: "I don't think they should be taught it at school. There's lots of sensitivities - culture and faith."

Another said: "It don't really bother me. I think they should be probably taught it because they're only going to grow up with it."

David Pittam
BBC News Online

A main road through Ilkeston has been partially blocked while police and paramedics deal with a two-car crash.

It happened on Station Road at about 10:00. No-one has been seriously injured, police said, but the vehicles still need to be moved.

Trent Barton warned passengers they were skipping the stops on this road.

Nick Smith
BBC News Online

Three men charged with kidnapping a 15-year-old boy and holding him in a disused building in Retford have been remanded in custody.

Police were called to the building in Carolgate at 03:25 on Sunday following reports of three men assaulting the boy and holding him against his will.

A search of the property also found more than 1,000 cannabis plants.

The men, aged 33, 30 and 30, were arrested at the scene and appeared at Mansfield Magistrates' Court yesterday charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and production of cannabis.

They are next due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on 24 April.

Image source, Google

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

Police in Sandiacre have said they are "very disappointed" to see a swing at a park on Doncaster Avenue has been damaged.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

It's thought to have happened around midnight yesterday.

Police said: "This equipment is now out of action and will need replacing at a huge cost."

Image source, Derbyshire Police

The force claims to have CCTV footage of a person thought to be causing the damage.

East Midlands Today

The mother of a man from Derby who was stabbed as a teenager has said there needs to be harsher sentences for people who carry knives.

Dillon Bell, 22, was just 15 when he was stabbed three times as he walked home from school.

Alison Clark also believe parents shouldn't be afraid to talk to their children about knife crime.

In the last year, violent knife crime in Derbyshire has risen by 23%. A week-long amnesty in the county earlier this month saw 520 knives handed in.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

Sonia Kataria
BBC News

A house fire which killed a woman was caused by a cigarette that was not fully put out, the fire service said.

The 78-year-old, who has not been named, died in the blaze on Mundy Street, in Derby, on Monday morning.

A Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service investigation concluded the most likely cause of the blaze was accidental due to "smoking materials".

A man was also taken to hospital for minor burns and smoke inhalation.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Police have released CCTV pictures following reports a bus driver was punched in the face on Christmas Eve.

The attack happened at 16:40 on the number 49 bus as it was about to leave Clay Cross bus station.

Police said they have exhausted all lines of inquiry and have only now released this image of a man who was in the area at the time.

Image source, Derbyshire Constabulary

Leicester Tigers' Scotland back row David Denton will not play again this season as he recovers from concussion.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Rushcliffe MP Ken Clarke was the only Conservative to vote for Labour's alternative Brexit plans in last night's votes.

His own proposal - a customs union with the EU - also came the closest to getting a majority in an inconclusive night in the Commons.

Labour Derby South MP Margaret Beckett's proposal for a second referendum to validate any withdrawal agreement received the most votes, 268, but 295 MPs voted against it.

In total MPs voted on eight different proposals in a series of indicative votes, none of which secured a majority. Theresa May has also said she'd step down if her own Withdrawal Agreement is passed.

Image source, EPA

East Midlands Today

Nottingham Forest midfielder Ben Osborn says the club need to take the opportunity and get into the Championship play-offs this season, rather than looking ahead to next year.

Forest are three points off the top six with eight games to go and Osborn believes they still have a great chance of promotion.

Image source, Getty Images

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

Parents are being asked to talk to their children about the dangers of trespassing on the railway following an incident in Leicester yesterday.

Sandish Shoker
BBC News

Companies from across the country have been in Derby working with Rolls Royce to come up with technology to help sufferers of motor neurone disease (MND).

They are working with robotics scientist Dr Peter Scott-Morgan who was diagnosed with the disease more than a year ago.

He told BBC East Midlands Today: "It's the greatest research opportunity I've ever had. With technology I hope to thrive so I will be able to speak using my eyes but also using artificial intelligence.

"I hope we can change the world."

With the help of high-grade technology experts have mapped Dr Scott-Morgan's voice and face so that, as the disease progresses, he will still be able to communicate with his own voice and face.

Stuart Moss from Rolls Royce, who is behind the collaboration, said the aim was to get different companies with different specialisms to put their technologies together and help patients.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Five parish councillors resigned en masse in a row over plans for around 30 new houses in their village.

It has left Hallaton, in Leicestershire, with only one councillor, meaning the parish council can't function.

All five, including chairman Peter Crewe, said part of the reason was a "torrent" of aggressive and abusive phone calls, letters and e-mails they were receiving because they do not support the housing plans.

Image source, Google

Tensions have been running high in the village over the proposal for 33 new homes, which councillor Crewe said would be "basically a carbuncle on the outskirts of a beautiful village".

A spokesman for Harborough District Council confirmed they would make enough temporary appointments so the council could make decisions, and all seats would be up for election again on 2 May.

East Midlands Today

Sir David Attenborough is starring in a film which shows the devastating impact we are having on wildlife through the classic children's story The Wind in the Willows.

The broadcaster, who grew up in Leicester, is joined by other stars in an animated campaign video which calls on law makers to create a Nature Recovery Network.

Image source, The wildlife Trust

The 92-year-old provides the voiceover in the film which shows how the picturesque world of Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad is being destroyed by roads, water pollution and intensive agriculture.

The Nature Recovery Network is the organisation's plan to increase the focus on wildlife and habitats across the country, including in our cities.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It's another dry and sunny day with some places in the region reaching as high as 16 degrees.

East Midlands Today

A man who spent winter living in his car has now got proper accommodation thanks to a charity and a private sector landlord.

Dean spent about three months sleeping in his car after he became homeless due to debts. But now he and four others in Leicester have got rental accommodation.

Help the Homeless Leicester says it's unusual for a private sector landlord to agree to take homeless people on in this way. They added the five new tenants would continue to get support from the charity to get their lives back on track.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Welcome to another sunny day across most of the East Midlands.

We'll be bringing you the latest news, sport, weather and travel from the region.

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