David Pittam
BBC News Online

The Environment Agency says people shouldn't be "alarmed" by the changing water levels along the River Derwent in Belper, because they have been altered deliberately.

The levels are being dropped to remove a tree which is blocking the sluice gates. The agency says the river could end up looking like these scenes from a similar incident in 2015.

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

Police looking for a missing man in Lutterworth had to close a section of the M1 for a short time earlier.

Image source, Google

The motorway was closed in both directions between J20 and J21 at about 11:00 so an air ambulance could land.

The road has since reopened but there are long delays in the area.

Police have since reported Alan Ling, a 79-year-old man with dementia, has been found near the M1 after going missing last night.

Amber Peat, 13, was found dead in a Nottinghamshire park three days after she vanished from home.

The bullet was heading for the soldier's chest but was stopped by the metal case in his breast pocket.

East Midlands Today

A man who died after collapsing in Nottingham city centre this week was homeless, it has emerged.

Paramedics were called after he was discovered in freezing conditions on Tuesday morning.

The man was in an alleyway near the Hilton Hotel.

He has not yet been formally identified and his cause of death is still unknown, but police are not treating it as suspicious.

In the summer the man was approached twice by the city's rough sleeping outreach team who tried to get him to go to a night shelter, but those offers were turned down.

He was spoken to a third time about going to a drop-in centre, but that offer was also refused.

A homeless woman, who has been sleeping nearby, told us it could have been her.

She said: "I was in bits because you don't know who is going to be next.

"You don't know if it's going to be you who is going to be found dead or one of your friends."

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

A man with dementia has been reported missing from his home in Lutterworth.

Alan Ling, 79, was last seen at about 17:00 yesterday.

Image source, Leicestershire Police

Leicestershire Police said he has never been missing before and they are concerned for his welfare.

A search and rescue team has spent the night searching the area.

Mr Ling was last seen wearing a grey and beige body warmer, a grey sweatshirt and navy jogging bottoms.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the police.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

There's a chance of more rain this afternoon and overnight.

Here's your full forecast...

Joe and Steve Kerrison have muscular dystrophy and use their cough-assist machines every day.

The NHS is a key election battleground, so what do young people want from their health service?

A delivery driver called police when the woman, in her 70s, did not contact them "on her regular day".

Sandish Shoker
BBC News

A man has been arrested over a sexual assault in Sandiacre in the early hours of this morning.

Police were called to St Giles Park at 01:00.

Derbyshire Police said they believed the attack to be "an isolated event" and have asked anyone who was in the area between midnight and 01:00 to contact them.

Image source, Google

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers says he has never considered leaving the Foxes following reports he was wanted by Tottenham.

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

Two men have been prosecuted for demolishing a bungalow where Pipistrelle bats had been identified.

Mark Brown, 56, of Belland Land, Ashover and Chris Richard, 50, of Plumptre Road, Heanor appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

They originally pleaded not guilty to an offence of damaging a breeding or resting place of a wild animal but changed their plea to guilty.

They were both sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and were ordered to pay £300 in costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Image source, Getty Images

In 2018 an application was submitted to demolish the bungalow on Amber Lane, Ashover, and build a new house in its place.

An ecologist survey identified the bats in the building and the applicant was told measures to protect them would be required before the demolition work could start.

The developer went on to commission a second survey, which found no signs of bats, therefore demolition went ahead.

Sgt James Shirley, of the Derbyshire Police Rural Crime Team, said: "Bats are a protected species and Derbyshire RCT have the responsibility of taking actions on all infringements of wildlife crime."

Samantha Fisher
BBC News Online

Thieves have stolen parts from a Land Rover which was parked near Newark North Gate railway station.

Nottinghamshire Police said it was reported to them at about 20:30 yesterday, and parts including doors and its bonnet have been taken.

No arrests have been made so far.

Image source, @nottsruralcops

Insp Heather Sutton, the neighbourhood policing inspector for Newark and Sherwood, said: "I can’t even begin to imagine the shock and devastation to the victim to return to their vehicle to find it in that state."

She added that in October she made tackling vehicle crime a priority for the area, and they have been carrying out work including patrols on the A1, plain clothes patrols on estates, and crime prevention.

Image source, @nottsruralcops

Image source, @nottsruralcops

Gavin Bevis
BBC News

Mansfield has experienced its second landslip in a month.

A cordon has been put on Rock Hill, near the town centre, after soil and mud came away this morning.

Image source, Mansfield Chad

Mansfield District Council said structural engineers were investigating.

The landslip is on a much smaller scale to the one that saw homes on the former Berry Hill Quarry site evacuated two weeks ago.

Image source, Mansfield Chad

The shop is damaged but the store's cash machine was not taken and no staff were injured.

Samuel Naylor is accused of sending a threatening message regarding the Labour leader.

An animal welfare charity wants people who illegally hunt foxes to be jailed.

Greig Watson
Reporter, BBC News Online

Armed police will not be patrolling Nottingham city centre during the Christmas period, in a change from recent years.

Senior officers said the reduction in the national terror threat level had prompted the move.

However, vehicle-based armed rapid response officers will be available.

In addition uniformed, plain clothes and sniffer dog teams will be regularly deployed to the area.

Liam Barnes
BBC News

A woman in her 70s is in hospital after she was stuck in her bath for "up to eight days".

Leicestershire Police said they were called to a home in Loughborough on Wednesday afternoon after a worried neighbour reported concerns about the woman.

When officers arrived they found her "in the bath unable to get out", a spokesman said.

An ambulance was called to take her to hospital for further assessment.

Image source, Getty Images