Three men have been arrested in connection with suspected modern slavery offences.

Suffolk Police, external were joined by other UK enforcement agencies and police officers from Romania as they raided an address in the west of Ipswich earlier this month.

The three men, aged 29, 26 and 20, were questioned on suspicion of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour offences.

Paperwork, payment cards and other items were recovered and a number of potential victims located, police said.

The Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority's, external senior investigating officer Jenni Baines said: "We know that the current pandemic also has the potential to create the conditions in which more people are exploited for their labour."

The three men have been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

A town centre's food and drink festival that normally attracts 35,000 people over two days has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Our Bury St Edmunds, external Food & Drink Festival was due to take place over the August bank holiday weekend.

Image source, Our Bury St Edmunds

The Business Improvement District (BID) organisation said it felt social distancing "would not be possible" at the free-admission event.

It said it hoped for a "bigger and better" edition next year.

William Bryant, chairman of the Bury BID, said: "We’ve taken this decision reluctantly after watching and waiting over the past three months in the hope it could have happened in a safe way.

"However I very much hope that next year we’ll see the festival return and Bury St Edmunds will continue to be regarded as Suffolk’s foodie town."

A woman who has been shielding for three months reacts to the government's lockdown rules relaxation.

The CPS has yet to respond to an appeal against its decision not to bring manslaughter charges.

A pub which was in the Guinness Book of Records for being the UK's smallest says it is too tiny to reopen.

The letter was posted in London in 1966 but has only just arrived at its destination in Ipswich.

The amount of revenue lost by the tourism sector in Norfolk and Suffolk during lockdown has been put at £1.9bn.

MHS Larking Gowen's Covid-19 impact report, external found businesses had experienced the equivalent of "three winters" through the loss of revenue at Easter, and two Bank Holidays.

Chris Scargill, a partner in the company, said: "Businesses that we surveyed anticipated on average it would take them nearly three and a half years to get them back into a position as to where they were pre-Covid.

"And that's of course if they survive through to next April when we start to see the normal season starting to ramp up."

Image source, Michael C/Geograph

A dancer praises an online festival that helps young artists get noticed in difficult times.

Two arrests have been made after a woman cyclist in her 40s was left in a critical condition after an accident involving a van.

Image source, John Myers/Geograph

Suffolk Police, external said the incident happened at about 13:10 on Monday, on the B1077, a mile south of Helmingham near Ipswich.

She was taken by helicopter to Addenbrooke's Hospital with a head injury.

The incident involved a white Ford Transit van with a distinctive orange light on the roof which was travelling south towards Ashbocking.

Police arrested a man and a woman in the van on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and officers are appealing for witnesses or dashcam footage.

Isobel Sheppard had her right leg amputated during lockdown and was not able to see her family.

Patrick Byrne
BBC News

Eight old bells are being temporarily removed from a Suffolk church and a new set of three cast in The Netherlands will join them to create a ring of 10.

Work has already started on the bells to be rehung in the tower of the church of St Peter and St Mary, external in Stowmarket this week.

Bellhangers are overseeing the removal of the old eight and the first of the new bells were due to be taken down to the aisle today.

Image source, Stowmarket Bells Project

"It will take two or three days before all eight are down and then they will be taken by lorry to Bridport, Dorset where work will begin to refurbish and establish a new ring of 10," Lynda Rochester of the Stowmarket Bells Project Team, said.

"One of the old bells (the treble) is in poor condition and will not be kept. We anticipate the new ring of 10 bells to be brought to Stowmarket from Bridport in the summer and look forward to welcoming visitors as soon as safety regulations allow.”

The new treble is in memory of the much loved doctor Peter Franks and his wife Sheila.

The £179,000 project has been funded by grants and donations, including a £95,100 Heritage Lottery Fund, external windfall.

Immigrants from Caribbean islands came to work in Ipswich in the 1950s and 1960s.

Four of the top five most-played songs on UK radio last year were duets or multi-artist singles.

Surf photographer Si Crowther is stuck in his flat in Ipswich instead of touring the globe.

Matt Hancock says he "very much hopes" to lower the social distancing measure in England.

Matt Hancock says the UK government will announce the next step of its plan to gradually ease the country's lockdown, within days.

The far east and west of England saw amazing sunrises while it was wet for other areas.

It's not just "skinheads and swastikas", says a woman who has organised a demonstration in a Suffolk town.

Staff track down a 1927 out-of-print novel for one of their regulars who has fond memories of it.

Police say illegal shellfish picking is an "emerging problem" after significant volumes were found.