BBC News Scotland

Mark Croxford, who has been jailed for 12 months for threatening to burn down another man's family home, repeatedly asked his victim Mark Livingstone for £18,000, insulted him and told him he had 10 days to get the money or he would "torch" his home, a court heard.

His victim then contacted the police.

Defence solicitor, Mark Harrower, said his client's son - a self employed tradesman - had worked for a company owned by Mr Livingstone.

The company went bust in 2014 and a lot of people had not been paid, including Croxford's son, who claimed he was owed £18,000.

Mr Harrower said his client had been under considerable stress in 2015 and had been on medication for depression and drinking to excess.

He and his partner had set up their own business, but she had left him in 2015 after he assaulted her, the court heard.

He added that she had written to the court saying she believed Croxford, 54, of Gayton, was going though "a difficult time".

The lawyer said Croxford had listened to recordings of his calls to Mr Livingstone and was ashamed.

But Sheriff Norman McFadyen sentenced him to a year in prison saying: "Only a custodial sentence is appropriate".

BBC News Scotland

A man from Northamptonshire has been jailed after threatening to burn down another man's family home if he did not pay him £18,000.  

Mark Croxford, 54, of Gayton, previously admitted making the threats to Mark Livingstone at his house in Melrose in Scotland, in July 2015.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Croxford believed his son was owed the money by Mr Livingstone.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen said the charge was of a "very serious nature" and jailed him for 12 months.

Joe Townsend
BBC Radio Northampton sport

Northampton Town's Alex Revell says their EFL Cup opponents Barnsley are a good example of what his side could achieve this season.

Image source, Getty Images

Barnsley were promoted to The Championship via the League One play-offs and Revell said they "had proved everyone wrong" after The Tykes were tipped for relegation halfway through last season.

Revell added: "No-one knows what we are going to give this season, so hopefully we are going to be at the right end of the table and be pushing the big clubs".

Joe Townsend
BBC Radio Northampton sport

Northampton Town are in South Yorkshire this evening to take on Barnsley in the first round of the EFL Cup. 

The games come thick and fast in these opening weeks of the season for The Cobblers - five in the first two weeks.

Image source, Getty Images

Striker Alex Revell says that if the Cobblers can get "a nice little run" in the EFL Cup it'll bring "confidence for the league games".

The game at Barnsley's Oakwell stadium kicks off at 19:45.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Today we've been reporting a planned motorcross track near Yelvertoft which villagers are objecting to, and the potential closure of a pub in Gretton which is over 200-years-old.

But other villages in the county have had welcomed changes - such as Flore (pictured) which is finally having its long-awaited bypass built.

So has your village in Northamptonshire changed? For better or worse? Have you welcome new development or have your fought it off? Or has the village stayed the same?

Let us know via email or on Twitter, external.

Martin Borley
BBC Radio Northampton

The owner of the Blue Bell Inn in Gretton says she has been trying to sell the pub for five years, but hasn't had any interest.

Tonight Corby Borough Councillors, external will decide whether it can be converted into a house, which Barbara Caulfield says will allow her to finally sell the pub, which she says simply isn't popular enough to keep going...

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Northamptonshire's cricketers are on the brink of reaching Finals Day in the T20 competition for the third time in four seasons.

Their opponents in the quarter-finals are Middlesex, a team they've never played before in the shortest form of the game.

Image source, Getty Images

The game starts at 18:30 at Wantage Road and there is full commentary on BBC Radio Northampton, and coverage via the BBC Sport website.

Plus we'll have build-up here this afternoon.

Martin Borley
BBC Radio Northampton

Permission to turn an historic pub near Corby into a private house is expected to be granted this evening.

The Blue Bell Inn at Gretton has been a hostelry since at least the 1770s but the current owner says it's losing money and he hasn't been able to sell it as a pub.

One person in the village told me yesterday that it was a "crying shame, it's part of the community", but others were more realistic with one resident saying "nobody can afford to keep it open".

BBC Weather Watchers

There have been blue skies across Northamptonshire today...

However, a scattering of showers will arrive this afternoon with highs of 19C (66F).

There are more details on the BBC Weather website.

A man is jailed for a year after threatening to burn down another man's family home if he did not pay him £18,000.

Willy Gilder
BBC Radio Northampton

Andy Wenham from Yelvertoft Parish Council says, although they are used to the "constant hum" of the M1, the proposed motorcross circuit will generate a "completely different kind of noise".

Image source, Google

Mr Wenham says it would be "intrusive" with "motorcycles revving at high revs".

The developers say noise will not be a problem, and council officers are recommending planning permission is approved.

Willy Gilder
BBC Radio Northampton

People in Yelvertoft say village life is under threat from plans for a motorcross circuit to the north of Crick - west of their village.

Image source, DDC

The proposal had previously been turned down Daventry District Council, but it'll now be reconsidered tomorrow with a recommendation for approval.

The developers say they've carried out an acoustic survey which shows that noise will not be a problem, but residents disagree.

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

A good citizen who tried to report flytipping on public land in Northamptonshire says he was told local authorities could do nothing.

It left Ron Oliver confused as he had earlier photographed a sign at the site, external - in Brampton Lane, opposite the Windhover pub - that urges the public to report illegal dumping to the authorities.

Chris Jones
BBC Radio 5 live rugby reporter

England face South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia in successive weekends in the autumn, and can go through 2016 unbeaten if they avoid defeat, with Dylan Hartley saying that coach Eddie Jones (pictured with him) has focused on the South African game.

Hartley told me: "Without winning that first game there is no point talking about going unbeaten, [so] every meeting we have had these last few days has been about South Africa and building for that game."

Image source, Getty Images

The Northampton hooker added: "I don't think anyone in our team has beaten South Africa before, so there's a huge opportunity there for us as a group."

England face South Africa on Saturday, 12 November at Twickenham.

Chris Jones
BBC Radio 5 live rugby reporter

The England skipper and Northampton Saints hooker Dylan Hartley has urged his players not to become pre-occupied with the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next summer.

After captaining England to nine victories in a row this year, Hartley is favourite for the Lions job in 2017.

Image source, Getty Images

But after meeting for a short England squad camp last weekend, Hartley insists all the focus is on England's November opener against South Africa.

"Every player has that in the back of their mind," Hartley told BBC Sport.

"Lions selection comes off the back of playing well for your country, so at the moment everyone's focus should be on playing well for their clubs and getting picked for England.

"You are always judged on your next performance, so I just want to play well for my club and be in [the frame for] selection for that South Africa game in November."

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

A new play on the tragic decline of former England and Northamptonshire batsman Colin Milburn will visit all 18 county cricket clubs in 24 days in November.

When the Eye Has Gone, external is a one man show that has been written by James Graham-Brown, the former Kent and Derbyshire all-rounder turned playwright.

Image source, Getty Images

Milburn, who was brilliant career was cut short by the loss of the sight in his left eye in a car accident in May 1969, died aged 48 after struggling with alcoholism.

When the Eye Has Gone begins its tour at Somerset’s Taunton headquarters on 1 November and will visit all 18 county grounds before the final performance at Northamptonshire’s Wantage Road, Milburn’s old home ground, on 24 November.

Louise Hubball
BBC Look East

Testing on five skull samples from the Rothwell bone crypt was carried out by scientists at the University of Sheffield, using facilities based at Queen's University in Belfast.

Dr Jenny Crangle, from Sheffield, said the bones, which legend said belonged to soldiers or plague victims, would actually have been the remains of local people placed in the crypt by their families.

"They were deliberately built so people could be prayed for. They were built to protect the dead, and were built to be visited," she said.

Researchers now plan to gather further samples to get a fuller picture of exactly when the bodies found in the crypt were laid to rest.

Louise Hubball
BBC Look East

Skulls and bones stored under a church date from 1250 to as recently as 1900, tests have revealed.

Holy Trinity Church in Rothwell - home to one of only two 13th Century crypts in the UK - contains the remains of 2,500 people.

Carbon dating found some skulls were older than first thought.

But scientists from the University of Sheffield, who "assumed the ossuary [place where bones of the dead are placed] was a medieval thing", were also surprised to find bones from the last century.

"It seems people continued to put skulls and bones down here, not only into the post-medieval period, but even as late as around 1900," Dr Lizzie Craig-Atkins said.

Georgina Burnett
BBC Weather

A dry and sunny morning, becoming cloudy later with the chance of a few showers.

Temperatures reaching 20C (68F).

BBC Weather has more.

Georgina Burnett
BBC Weather

It'll be a chilly but bright start followed by a day of sunny spells, although a scattering of showers will develop during the late afternoon with highs of 19C (66F).

Here's my full forecast for the region:

There are more details on the BBC Weather website.