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The latest swimrun was held in south Devon where about 100 entrants competed across 10km and 25km routes.

Michelle Dickens died in the two-car crash in Chiverton Cross.

League Two side Exeter City sign striker Alex Fisher following his release by Yeovil Town.

A teenager was attacked in a field in Totnes by a group of young people, police said.

The 19-year-old victim was going across the field next to the skate park in Station Road at about 15:55 on 14 June when he was set upon.

Police said he was "punched in the face and repeatedly kicked, sustaining a split lip which required stitching".

The suspects are described as being aged between 17 and 18 and were all wearing tracksuit-type clothing.

Any witnesses are asked to call 101, or email [email protected], external.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

Plymouth City Council will ask the city’s MPs to help the government consider extending protection from historic prosecution to armed forces veterans who have served in Northern Ireland.

The Labour proposal also asked council leader Tudor Evans to write to the MPs, calling on them to continue efforts to ensure the needs of veterans were "supported fully".

It received cross-party backing from councillors after the rejection of a Tory motion to write to the prime minister calling for an end to the "witch hunt" of former personnel who served in Northern Ireland.

In May, Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt announced a proposed new law that would protect service personnel from investigation over actions on the battlefield abroad after 10 years, except in "exceptional circumstances".

She said it would prevent "repeated or unfair investigations" but would not apply to alleged offences in Northern Ireland.

Six former soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles are currently facing prosecution.

Johnny Kingdom died trying to move a log with a digger on his land in Devon, an inquest hears.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Councillors have given the go-ahead for a plan aimed at ending hunger in Plymouth.

They voted to adopt a "food justice" strategy for the city to tackle the problem.

The city council heard an increasing number of people in the city were seeking help to avoid going hungry and Plymouth Foodbank had reported rising demand, handing out 8,509 food parcels in the 12 months to March, including to families with children.

It said the number getting help had been rising steadily over the last four years and, in 2018, more than 26,000 meals were provided by the city's soup runs.

A motion setting out the first steps in an action plan was approved at a meeting of the full council on Monday.

It was put forward by Councillor Chris Penberthy, a member of the council's ruling Labour cabinet member who has responsibility for tackling poverty.

The Labour-run council voted to:

• Commit to food justice in Plymouth by nominating a cabinet member with responsibility of delivering food justice
• Request the leader to ask the government to put into law its commitment to the United Nations goal of ending hunger by 2030
• Set up a select committee to investigate the extent and causes of hunger in Plymouth and
• Make recommendations about what can be done to tackle it
• Work with partners to develop and implement a Food Justice Action Plan to eliminate hunger in Plymouth

BBC Radio Cornwall

Cornwall Council says it wants to reassure people that recycling from the county is not sent to Asia.

It follows concerns raised after the BBC1 programme War on Plastic revealed that some plastic recycling ends up being dumped in developing countries.

The authority said 99% of all goods collected from households were actually recycled and that most of that process went on in the UK.

The council added that a small percentage was reprocessed in Europe but always through legal and ethical methods.

A spokesperson said the tiny percentage that was not recycled was because it had been contaminated with food waste, or it was material not currently recyclable, such as plastic cling film.

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Children’s education in Plymouth should include awareness of LGBT+ relationships, councillors have declared.

The city council unanimously backed a proposal stating its support for children receiving “high quality, age-appropriate and rights-based relationships and sex education that is inclusive of LGBT+ relationships”.

LGBT+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual-plus, with the plus meaning inclusive of other groups.

Labour cabinet member Jon Taylor said the proposal had been brought forward following weeks of protests in Birmingham against LGBT education at a primary school and a recent hate-crime when two women were victims of a widely-publicised homophobic attack on a bus in London.

He also referred to recent comments from Devon-based MEP Ann Widdecombe, who triggered an outcry after saying she thought science might “produce an answer” to being gay.

Mr Taylor said: I don’t think we are going back to the bad old days, but I do think unless you stand up and be counted, there is a risk these horrific incidents could rise – that is why we have to push back.”

The motion, backed by Plymouth City Council at a meeting on Monday, said children should "have access to education about, and awareness of, the diverse world we and they inhabit" including the mix of family types common in modern Britain.

It added that children were entitled to relationships and sex education inclusive of LGBT+ relationships, and stated it was important for schools to have a "clear dialogue with parents about the necessity of inclusive education".

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A demand for the number of new homes required to be built in Teignbridge to be cut back has been made by the leader of the Devon council.

Gordon Hook handed in a letter to the Prime Minister Theresa May, urging her to reconsider the housing needs figures for the district.

The current Local Plan target, which the council has met, is for 620 new homes a year to be built.

But as the plan is now five years old, the method of calculating housing need has changed, resulting in the number of new homes that must be built a year to rise from 620 to 777 – and the council is obliged to meet that figure irrespective of whether it agrees with the number.

In the letter to the prime minster and Housing Minister Kit Malthouse, Mr Hook has urged them to reconsider the housing needs figures being imposed on the area, saying that it tied the council into a calculation which potentially penalised it meeting delivery targets.

His comments have been supported by Newton Abbot Conservative MP Anne Marie Morris.

Image source, Via LDRS

The letter also lists constraints which affect development in the district, including:

• 40% of the district being within Dartmoor National Park
• 1,200 hectares of ancient woodlands
• 22 miles of coastline
• 20 countryside parks and nature reserves
• 28 SSSIs [Sites of Special Scientific Interest, external] covering 6% cent of the district
• 96 square-miles of areas of Great Landscape Value, external
• Various mineral safeguarding areas
• The South Hams greater horseshoe bat Special Area of Conservation, external (SAC)
• The Dawlish Warren and Exe Estuary Special Protection Area, external (SPA)
• Challenging topography

Rotherham United have signed Plymouth Argyle striker Freddie Ladapo for an undisclosed club-record fee.

Laura Smallwood collapsed with a neck injury during the festival and died three days later.

Nobody will face criminal charges over the death of a woman at the Obby Oss festival in Padstow.

Laura Smallwood, 34, died after an incident at the festival on 1 May.

Devon and Cornwall Police said they have now referred the death to the coroner.

• Padstow Obby Oss festival: Laura Smallwood dies in hospital
• Padstow Obby Oss festival: Police examine 'oss' after woman injured

Emma Ruminski
BBC South West

Many refugees and asylum seekers that come to the South West do so with just a handful of personal belongings.

In fear for their lives, there is often no time to pack photos and keepsakes from home when they have to leave.

Now a new University of Plymouth research project is helping one small group of displaced people reconstruct their past.

Mapping Memories is the result, with music and art workshops charting the journeys 12 people made to make their new lives in the city.

Dr Sana Murrani, founder of the Displacement Studies Research Network, said the work also helped form part of a "healing process" for those involved.

BBC Spotlight

The Green Party in Exeter has hit out at the city council for introducing free Thursday night car parking at three of its car parks.

Parking after 18:00 will be free at the Guildhall, John Lewis and Mary Arches Street car parks for the rest of the year, external.

The Greens have described it as "grossly irresponsible" given a council commitment to cutting carbon emissions and an aim to be a carbon-neutral city by 2030, external.

The Labour-run council said the Greens had missed the point, and the plan was to spread the peak of Saturday shopping and reduce congestion.

BBC Radio Devon

A Devon MP is calling for a compulsory levy on bookmakers who make money out of greyhound racing.

Neil Parish, the Conservative who represents Tiverton and Honiton, said that current voluntary contributions did not go far enough.

He said he wanted a statutory levy to pay for improved welfare for the dogs.

The Remote Gambling Association, which represents on-line bookmakers, said a new agreement came into force this year which would raise about £10m a year, with the money going towards a variety of greyhound welfare improvements.

Image source, Mark Lees/PA

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A woman who died in a two-car crash near Chiverton Cross in Cornwall was a 60-year-old from Redruth, police say.

The collision happened on the B3277 near Chiverton Cross in Cornwall at about 13:30 on Monday.

The woman, who was driving a Vauxhall Astra, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her next of kin have been informed.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 59-year-old man from Doncaster in a Mazda MX5, sustained serious leg injury and is being treated in hospital in Plymouth. His passenger, a 50-year-old local man, was treated at the Royal Cornwall Hospital near Truro for minor injuries.

Officers closed the road between Sevenmilestone and Chiverton Cross for seven hours for an investigation.

Police have appealed for witnesses, external.