Emergency services in the north of England are becoming increasingly stretched as the army has been drafted in to help cope with floods in the aftermath of Storm Desmond.

A jury will begin its deliberations today in the trial of a couple accused of murdering of their daughter because they believed she brought “shame on the family”.

A mother accused of murdering her teenage daughter has changed her defence case in what a judge described as a “significant development”, a court heard yesterday.

An unlawful killing verdict was recorded today on a Muslim teenager who was found dead on a river bank five months after she disappeared.