Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online

A man who beat and poisoned his ex-partner's 22-month-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison.

Eve Leatherland had multiple fractures and a fatal dose of codeine in her system when she was found in her bed in October 2017.

Thomas Curd, 31, was found guilty of her murder at Truro Crown Court on Thursday.

Her mother Abigail Leatherland, 26, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death.

She has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison while Curd will serve a minimum of 20 years.

Image source, Facebook

BBC Radio Leicester

A teacher has spoken out against critics of a programme that teaches schoolchildren about LGBT relationships.

Parkfield Community School in Birmingham has been the subject of protests from parents since the start of the year, over the school teaching about LGBT rights. It is part of its "No Outsiders" initiative.

The school's chief executive Hazel Pulley, who is from Leicester, said: "There are some fantastic families around here and whatever way they want to bring their children up is fine.

"But in school they need to be educated to the law of the land and at home they can follow their religion and that’s fine."

An online petition to pull the programme has almost reached 25,000 signatures.

Nick Smith
BBC News Online

Veronika Siwak, 15, who went missing from the Meadows area of Nottingham last night, has been found.

Police have thank everyone who helped with their appeal.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

A driver caught this near miss as a lorry came hurtling towards him on the wrong side of the road.

It was caught on his dashcam as Anthony Kisley pulled out from a junction on to the A444, near Atherstone.

The lorry was passing another lorry near a junction, despite the Highway Code explicitly saying this should not be done.

Some asked why he had not seen the vehicle before pulling out. Mr Kisley said: "I did look left [but] due to restricted view the HGV overtaking at such speed could not be seen."

He added it was only the driver being overtaken slowing down that saved him.

Highways England responded by saying "that was close!" and directed him towards the police website to upload the video.

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

A fire that destroyed 40 caravans at a park in Stretton is believed to have been started deliberately.

The blaze at Ainmoor Grange Caravan Park started on Wednesday morning and took firefighters several hours to extinguish.

A joint investigation by Derbyshire Police and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service has concluded "no accelerants" were used to start the fire but it was "a deliberate ignition".

Police said: "Officers are making further inquiries into the cause of the fire and want to hear from anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in or around the area of Mickley Lane."

No-one was injured in the blaze.

BBC Radio Nottingham

Police officers and fire fighters in Nottinghamshire will now be assisted by a drone in tracking suspects, finding missing people and addressing large fires.

The drone will be shared by the emergency services and operated by police officers.

Image source, Reuters

Christian Brown, a station manager at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue, has explained how it will help them.

He said: "It will give us real time images and video of the fire, how it's developing and where the hot spots are located.

"In terms of search and rescue - the thermal imaging will be of massive benefit because we're going to be able to realise body signatures in cold environments and be able to find people that way."

BBC News

A man has been arrested over an attack on football star Gary McAllister.

The former Foxes midfielder was outside a bar in Leeds city centre when he was assaulted at about 04:00 on 24 March.

Rangers assistant manager McAllister was reportedly punched in the face and needed hospital treatment after the attack in Call Lane.

West Yorkshire Police said a 32-year-old man arrested on Thursday night had been released under investigation.

Image source, PA

East Midlands Today

People living in Derby are being asked to do more to protect the county's wildlife.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is hoping to raise awareness of its Wilder Future campaign with a series of special events in the city centre tomorrow.

Staff have said it's a chance for people to connect to nature in an urban environment where it often isn't noticed, or has been displaced altogether.

BBC Radio Nottingham

The company making a new bow for Nottingham's Robin Hood statue have been explaining how they'll age the new metal to make it suit the 67-year-old statue.

Dominic Liptrot, from Lost Art, which has made the replica, said: "You warm the bronze up then you put on something called a liver of sulphur.

"You spray it on and then again you put heat onto it and that converts the surface of the metal to this aged look."

The bow and arrow on the statue, which has been broken off several times in the past, has been awaiting repair since it was last damaged in July.

The statue was gifted to the city in 1952 by local businessman, Philip E F Clay.

Gavin Bevis
BBC News

Former Chesterfield, Mansfield Town and Notts County striker Kevin Randall has died at the age of 73, external.

He won the Fourth Division championship with the Spireites in 1970, promotion with the Magpies in 1972 and the Third Division title with the Stags in 1977.

He went on to manage Chesterfield and helped them to the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1997 as assistant manager.

Image source, Mansfield Town

Chesterfield FC said Randall died yesterday evening and the club's thoughts "are with Kevin's family and friends at this difficult time".

Chris Doidge
BBC Radio Derby, political reporter

Shares in one of the companies behind the Sinfin waste treatment plant have fallen sharply after it said the project could lose it tens of millions of pounds.

Image source, Google

Renewi's share price is down 15% this morning. It said it's taken a £39m hit on the Sinfin project.

The facility is yet to be finished by its construction partner Interserve, which went into administration last month.

Nick Smith
BBC News Online

Police are concerned for a teenager who went missing from Nottingham last night.

Veronika Siwak, 15, was reported missing from the Meadows area of the city at around 20:00 last night.

She also went missing earlier this month on 6 March.

In a statement Nottinghamshire Police said: "Officers are aware that she has been missing before, but are very keen to trace her, and would urge the public to contact them if anyone knows where Veronika is."

Image source, Nottinghamshire Police

BBC Radio Leicester

Volunteers are busy repairing children's football pitches that were torn up by "mindless vandals" doing doughnuts in cars.

On Sunday players in Market Harborough discovered two cars had left three Borough Alliance Football Club pitches badly damaged. Police are treating it as criminal.

Around 400 children use it every weekend, so dozens of volunteers have sprung in to action to repair and reseed the fields.

Johanna Carr
BBC News Online

The father of a toddler who died at the hands of her mum's partner said he wants to hold a funeral for his "amazing" little girl.

Image source, Dean Bird

Eve Leatherland died aged 22 months, murdered by Thomas Curd, her mother's boyfriend, who had beaten her and poisoned her with codeine.

Abigail Leatherland, 26, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death but acquitted of manslaughter.

Dean Bird, Eve's father, wants to be able to have a funeral for his "amazing" little girl - but he does not have the necessary parental responsibility because his name is not on the birth certificate.

"The hardest part is knowing she is still in a freezer after all this time," he said.

Curd and Leatherland are due to be sentenced on Friday morning.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Trains are being delayed by up to 45 minutes because of over-running engineering works.

Anyone travelling between Leicester and Market Harborough could be diverted via Corby.

According to East Midlands Trains the repairs have now been completed and services should start moving again.

Amy Payne
Reporter, BBC East Midlands Today

A man accused of attempting to murder an armed policeman told a court he feared for his life when he saw a masked gunman outside his home.

Yasin Adam, 25, had been followed to Bradbourne Road from the city centre by two marked police vehicles in October last year.

His trial at Leicester Crown Court heard that two armed officers approached to stop the Mercedes, but Mr Adam reversed onto the road and into PC Thomas Hamilton-Rutter. He suffered a fractured skull, hearing loss and bruising.

Mr Adam told the jury when he got on to his drive he realised he needed to get milk so he reversed onto the road and then saw a figure dressed in black pointing a gun at him.

He said he did not know he was a police officer and was scared for his and his family's life.

The 25-year-old denies attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The trial continues.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

Enjoy the warm sunshine today, there's a cold front on the way.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Police want to speak to this woman after cash was stolen from a pensioner's purse.

The 88-year-old had been out with her daughter and granddaughter in Nero's in Chesterfield and only realised the money was gone when she went to buy something at another shop.

Image source, Derbyshire Constabulary

It happened on 26 February but police have only just released this CCTV image.

Image source, Derbyshire Constabulary

Sandish Shoker
BBC News

Officers in Bulwell have appealed for the owner of this mobile phone to come forward in a witty Facebook post.

They said the owner dropped it while running out of Iceland in Bulwell with £100 worth of steak and asked for them to visit the local police station to collect it.

Image source, Nottinghamshire Police / Facebook

East Midlands Today

Nottingham City Council insists that it's not closing the Marcus Garvey Centre in Lenton.

The authority's proposing to relocate its day service which provides care and support for older people, primarily from the African-Caribbean community.

A full public consultation with the community will be held in May.

An online petition calling on the council to "reverse its decision" to shut the building has been signed by close to 3,000 people.

Catherine Underwood, director of adult social services at the council said: "Quite aside from the fact that it is not within our gift to close the centre because it is independently-run, our proposal is only to move the day service there into another building which is more modern and where we can hopefully attract more people."