20/04/2017 Spotlight

Good evening. night on the BBC

The body of a missing Bulgarian woman was found dumped in a suitcase

near the railway line in Exeter, a jury has heard.

Gergana Prodanova had only been in the UK for eight months

when she was allegedly murdered by her violent former

Scott Bingham reports from Exeter Crown Court.

Gergana Prodanova was reported missing by colleagues

at the Great Western Hotel in Exeter on the 8th of August last year.

Police conducted searches and door-to-door enquiries

in the Mount Pleasant Road area of the city, where the couple

The body was discovered in a suitcase dumped

The jury were told that Gergana was killed by her former partner

and the father of their three children, 43-year-old

Kostadin Kostov, who had followed her to the UK

Prosecuting, Simon Laws QC said the defendant's motive

It was, he said, old-fashioned jealousy.

The court heard Gergana was in a new relationship,

but still shared a flat with Kostadin Kostov.

The jury was shown images from CCTV footage of Gergana making her way

back to the flat at 8:16pm on the 4th of August,

And of Kostadin Kostov heading back to the flat two hours earlier.

After she went to that flat, the flat with just him in it,

said Mr Laws, Gergana Prodanova was never seen alive again.

Kostadin Kostov claimed Gergana had flown back to Bulgaria

after receiving a phone call saying her mother had died.

Gergana had no reason to disappear, said Mr Laws.

She disappeared because she had been murdered.

Kostadin Kostov denies murder, the case continues.

A speed of 117 miles an hour has been clocked

An electronic warning sign, which also records speeds,

reveals a quarter of motorists were exceeding the 40mph speed limit.

The Dartmoor National Park says the findings are frightening.

Somewhere to enjoy a slower pace of life, but not everyone visiting

Dartmoor is taking things quite so easily.

The sort of driving we see down here, particularly down

the straight past the pub, is like a racetrack.

And it's a complete cross-section of people.

Lots of old sports cars, motorbikes, everything.

But they do drive down here incredibly fast.

This new speed warning sign measures how fast people are driving.

The highest we've had so far, in the last six weeks, is 117mph.

To think that people are driving at those sorts of speeds

across Dartmoor on unfinished roads, where we've got ponies,

sheep and cattle wandering across the road, is quite horrific.

I wouldn't want to be a road user, using the road,

if someone is going 117mph, and I most certainly wouldn't

want to be an animal grazing these moors with motorists going that

These visitors couldn't believe the speeds being registered

Well, I think it's really irresponsible and why

would you want to drive at that speed when you're in

Surely the whole reason for being here is to see the view?

Why would you want to go at those speeds?

It's not known whether the person recorded driving at 117mph

The National Park says police patrols are being stepped up.

The Green Party is proposing electoral pacts with other parties

in order to defeat south-west Conservative MPs in

The Greens have offered not put forward a candidate

in the region's most marginal seat, Plymouth Sutton and Davenport,

to help the Labour challenger to beat Conservative incumbent

It's offering the same arrangement to Anne Marie Morris's Liberal

Democrat challenger in Newton Abbott.

And there is speculation the move could be offered in St Ives, another

Well, our political editor, Martyn Oates, joins me.

There has been talk of a so-called progressive alliance for some time,

and that's the idea that some, though not necessarily

all elements of the Green Party, Labour and the Lib Dems decide

they've got much more in common with each other than they have

with the Conservatives and that they should combine

in some way to oppose Conservative candidates.

We saw it in action for the first time in the recent Richmond Park

by-election in London, where the Greens didn't

I think what's noticeable here, given that we are just a couple

of days into the election campaign, not officially into the campaign

at all, is how quickly the Greens have moved in the south-west

to identify these seats and crack on with it.

What is the likelihood of these deals being struck?

Well, I think, up to a point, it doesn't matter, which may seem

an odd thing to say, but I think it's fairly clear

that the Greens will withdraw these candidates in these seats anyway.

Clearly, what they'd ideally like is some kind

of reciprocal arrangement, for instance, Labour not standing

a candidate somewhere like Totnes, which is a constituency

where the Greens have quite a groundswell of support.

Labour in Devon have said they're not really interested

in this kind of thing, which chimes with the party's

A Labour source in Cornwall says, although it is unlikely

there will be a formal pact, informal talks are ongoing,

and there is more than one way of achieving an end.

Meanwhile, the Conservative MP for Totnes says this idea of parties

not standing and trying to encourage people to vote for other

Martyn will be here with more reaction and analysis on this

and all the election news so far on The Sunday Politics this

weekend, at the later time of 3:15pm on BBC One.

A Devon motocross rider who was paralysed in an accident

six years ago is hoping to complete next year's London Marathon.

And it's all thanks to a new pair of robotic legs.

I went to meet Spencer Watts from Tiverton to find out

what it's like to walk again after being in a wheelchair

Spencer Watts was paralysed from the waist down in a motocross

When I had my accident, surgeons were telling me,

I just wanted to prove them all wrong.

His solution was to tuck his legs behind special bars

It was nerve-racking at first, but the most important thing

with motocross is you have to put your leg out

Obviously, I'm not able to do that, so that was a real big thing to take

on and not knowing how I would be able to react to that,

Recently, he was demonstrating these robotic legs at a charity evening.

Suddenly, the auctioneer started getting people to bid for Spencer.

I was lost for words, I was all evening.

Never for one minute did I think that that sort of money would be

Spencer says the first time he walked was incredible.

It was really strange and it felt like I was going to fall over.

It is like my whole body is floating in the air because obviously

It is a real strange feeling but, each time,

You've got a watch, and you tell the watch what you want to do.

You simply tell the watch if you want to stand up, walk, climb.

to be up at that height again and walking alongside my children.

It's great to be able to walk to the park with them.

Really strange, just to climb down stairs again is amazing.

Nothing seems to stop this young man.

Since his accident, he's got married and had two children

and, now that he can walk at three miles per hour, can you

Well, he wants to complete next year's London Marathon.

Plymouth Argyle's promotion from League Two is to be marked

with an open-top bus tour through the city.

The Pilgrims secured their promotion on Monday.

There's be a civic reception and presentations on the balcony

of the Council House on Monday, May 8th at 6:30pm.

Four Exeter Chiefs players have been named in the England squad

It's a first call-up for 20-year-old scrum half Jack Maunder

Jack only made his Chiefs debut this season.

They're among 15 uncapped players who've been selected.

They join Henry Slade and Luke Cowan Dickie and will head

David is here with the weather. Any sign of any rain?

Not for the weekend but possibly this week. I have been asked that

several times today, when is it going to rain next? Not much in the

forecast for tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday. Variable amounts of cloud,

mostly dry and we will see some sunshine. The high pressure is

beginning to weaken, allowing weather fronts to travel from the

north. Pretty weak by the time they get us but they introduce a fair bit

of cloud. Today, bands of cloud coming and going. They few showers

across parts of Dorset and Somerset. Overnight tonight, that cloud will

fade away. It will be dry, turning a bit misty in places, and the risk of

some folk. Six or 7 degrees the minimum. Tomorrow is a nice day, 20

of sunshine, patchy cloud, spoiling the sunshine every now and again.

There might be a light shower in Dorset or Somerset, but nothing to

wet the ground, and they talked average of 15 or 16. The event of

rain will probably be something on Monday or Tuesday, northerly winds

by them means a cold appeal to the air to start the week is the -- as

the high pressure moved out to the Atlantic. But some decent weather

for the weekend. Have a good night. Just one day to

go before the weekend. Thank you for your company this evening. That is

all from us. Good night. week for much of the UK and for more

about that and the UK outlook, Helen Willetts.

The sunshine make such a difference this time of year, only 12 or so

degrees under the cloud today but 19 in eastern Scotland not far away

from St Andrews. Also in north-east England,