Exeter boss Rob Baxter says the club could not keep Tom Lawday and abide by the salary cap, after Harlequins signed the forward.

A church warden and magician are accused of plotting to murder the two pensioners.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Violent crime in Plymouth rose in 2018, according to new figures, external.

But the city's police commander has given reassurance about levels of knife crime in the city.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Ch Supt Tamasine Matthews told city councillors the number of offences for possession of offensive weapons was up as a result of proactive and intelligence-led policing, while incidents of the "use of a bladed article" were down.

Figures showed that in the nine months to December last year violent crimes with injury were up by 13.3% from 2,560 incidents to 2,900.

Violent crimes without injury - which include common assault, harassment and malicious communications - were up by more than a fifth (20.8%) from 3,842 to 4,641.

Image source, Getty Images

Other categories of crime that also increased include:

• Domestic abuse - up by 10.7% from 4,560 to 5,047
• Sexual offences (apart from rape) - up by 9.9% from 475 to 522

Categories of crime that declined include:

• Rape - down by 6.3% from 270 to 253
• Vehicle-related crime down by 7.6% from 1,145 to 1,058
• Anti-social behaviour - down by 8.7% from 7,569 to 6,911

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A cocktail bar will be able to expand into its first floor after being granted an extension to its licence.

The Moth and Moon in Killigrew Street, Falmouth, applied to alter its existing licence which also asked that a condition saying the bar had to have door staff on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays be removed.

The owners explained they had not had a single incident since opening last year - which was confirmed by door staff and the police.

Image source, Google

A resident who lives nearby had objected to the licence application with concerns about noise and public nuisance from the bar.

But the owners said that a noise test carried out by an independent expert found there was no noise detectable from the bar in the neighbouring property.

A committee agreed to grant the licence as applied for.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A new command centre at Derriford Hospital has helped staff cope with a rise in the number of people at A&E over the winter, Plymouth City Council's health scrutiny committee has heard.

The hospital trust's director of winter Jo Beer said the command centre allowed staff to monitor how patients were moving through the system, using information about capacity in the hospital, home care, community care and community hospitals.

It helped deliver improvements in the speed of treatment and reduced delays in patients going home.

Image source, Google

The proportion of patients whose discharge was delayed because of a wait for home care dropped from 7% of beds last year to just over 2% now.

The average length of stay had reduced, improving the availability of beds, the council heard.

The time taken to hand patients over from ambulances also fell, which meant improved availability of emergency crews.

They had used a yacht to pick up 1.4 tonnes of the drug off the coast of South America.

Harlequins agree to sign Worcester's Simon Kerrod, Exeter's Tom Lawday and Cornish Pirates' Toby Freeman at the end of the season.

Ben Woolvin
BBC South West Home Affairs correspondent

Five men have been found guilty of attempting to smuggle £112m worth of cocaine into Newlyn, Cornwall, last August.

UK nationals, Dean Waters and Nigel Clark, and Raymond Dijkstra from the Netherlands have been found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine and carrying cocaine on a ship.

Richard Must from Estonia and Voldemars Gailis from Latvia have been found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.

The men are due to be sentenced on 26 March at Bristol Crown Court.

Image source, NCA

• Cocaine yacht intercepted by Border Force off Cornish coast

Fifty litres of glue has "seeped" on to a carriageway after a van fire in Devon.

Fire crews were called to the A30 between Merrymeat to Woodleigh at about 12:50.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and highway specialists are working on clearing the eastbound carriageway.

No-one was injured in the fire.

Jenna Hawkey
BBC News Online

A cyclist has been injured following a hit-and-run in Penzance, external.

The 50-year-old man was riding his bike at Longrock Bypass when he was struck from behind by a car.

Image source, Google

He was treated at the Royal Cornwall Hospital for a back injury following the hit-and-run, which happened between 19:40 and 19:50 on 5 March.

Police said the car failed to stop and are appealing for witnesses.

BBC Radio Devon

Devon's police commissioner says she's "deeply concerned" about the huge rise in the numbers of drivers admitting to have used a mobile phone at the wheel.

An RAC study found nearly 50% of people aged between 25 and 34 make or receive calls while driving, and a quarter of all drivers have.

Alison Hernandez last week unveiled a campaign to warn drivers of the dangers of dangerous driving habits in partnership with the Honest Truth charity, external.

Image source, Getty Images

The Bloodhound supersonic car is back, under new management and preparing to renew its pursuit of the land speed record.

The Bloodhound supersonic car is back, under new management and preparing to renew its pursuit of the land speed record.

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The Bloodhound supersonic car is back and preparing to renew its pursuit of the land speed record.

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Cornwall’s tourism industry is expected to continue to rise, boosting the economy by £521m and creating up to 8,000 jobs, according to Visit Cornwall.

While addressing the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Malcolm Bell told members there was quite a demand for Cornwall from the US market and work was under way to get more tourists from overseas.

Image source, Getty Images

There has been "increased interest" from the Australian market but he said the main focus had been from America.

Mr Bell said: “It has come across as a bit of a new Cotswolds, an area to exploit.”

Cornwall currently has about 4.5 million visitors a year, and the industry is worth £1.5bn, according to Visit Cornwall figures.

Mr Bell also said there had been “missed opportunities” highlighting the large number of dolphins which had been seen around the Cornish coast in January which could have brought visitors to the county.

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Two councillors have admitted speeding along one of the main routes into Truro because they didn’t know the limit.

The speed limit of Tregolls Road in Truro came up during a discussion at a meeting of the Truro and Roseland Community Network Panel.

Image source, Google

After one councillor noted during discussion that the road had a 30mph limit, Councillor Armorel Carlyon said she thought that it was a 40mph limit and admitted she had often driven well over 30mph.

Councillor John Dyer then admitted that he too had been driving on Tregolls Road at 40mph “like Mrs Carlyon”.

Mr Dyer then criticised the fact that the A390 has variable speed limits through Truro with some stretches being 30mph and 40mph.

Cornwall councillor and cabinet member Bob Egerton was not impressed and said the councillors should take responsibility for their driving.

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Devon would "struggle to cope" with prolonged periods of snow and leave some communities at risk of being cut off, a report has revealed.

A task group was set up to examine Devon County Council’s current winter policy after last winter’s snow and ice across the county, including the Beast from the East.

The group agreed the current plans were sufficient, but said there could have been better coordinated volunteer and community response, and that communities would have struggled if the snow continued.

It also slammed members of the public who ignored the widespread warnings from weather forecasters about the dangers of driving in such conditions, which resulted in vehicles becoming stranded and an increased risk to the public and emergency services.

Councillors are recommending no cuts to be made to Devon’s winter gritting routes, and the task group said that it would be difficult to add any new roads to the salting routes.

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Plymouth Live

Armed police have detained a man in Devonport after an incident erupted into what one witness described as "chaos"., external