Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity has celebrated 35 years of its iconic “A Dog is for Life, Not just for Christmas” campaign.

Coined in 1978 by the charity’s CEO, Clarissa Baldwin OBE, the campaign highlights the issue of dogs given as Christmas presents being abandoned or neglected.

To celebrate the milestone, Neil Parish MP for Tiverton and Honiton hosted a Westminster event to promote awareness of the charity’s campaign among MPs. MPs were given the opportunity to take a festive Dogs Trust sleigh ride surrounded by stuffed dog toys. Attendees also learned...

A 62 year-old woman who threatened to harm herself and others has been arrested in Chawleigh this morning.

Police were called to a property in the village of Chawleigh, near Crediton just after 8:30 this morning (Monday 16 December) after reports that the woman was causing an obstruction.

On arrival they found the woman carrying a can of petrol and making threats to harm herself and others as well as damage the property.

Officers called for support from police negotiators and firearms officers and the fire service due to the nature of the threats.

After...

Christmas revellers who get into a spot of bother will be able to take advantage of a Help Zone in Exeter city centre next Friday (20 December). The Help Zone aims to help those who find themselves in difficulties following the excesses of Christmas parties, be it from injury, drinking too much alcohol or being a victim of violence. Situated at The Mint Methodist Church in Fore Street, the Help Zone is being trialled on 'Builder's Friday' - traditionally the busiest night for Christmas party goers. The initiative brings together paramedics, police and Exeter City Council staff in one...

A new draft anti-slavery bill which could see human traffickers receive life sentences has been revealed in parliament today.

Known as the Modern slavery bill it will see the maximum sentence for slavery offences rise from 14 years to life imprisonment, as well as introduce a range of measures to improve the detection of slavery operations.

Those with previous convictions for violent or sexual offences will receive a automatic life sentence.

The draft bill also sets out provisions to simplify existing slavery and trafficking law to make investigating and prosecuting...

New figures released by the NHS, show that the majority of hospital staff in the West Country have an above average chance of being assaulted at work.

The figures also show that there has been a national increase in assaults against NHS staff rising from 59,744 to 63,199 since last year.

The figures only include assaults that could result in a criminal action and do not include cases were a medical element is involved in the case.

Royal Devon and Exeter NHS trust reported an above average level of assaults against their staff reporting 129 assaults against staff....

Toulon 32 Exeter Chiefs 20

As copies of the local Var-Matin newspaper flittered from high in the stands of Toulon’s Stade Felix Mayol, so it seems the hopes of Exeter Chiefs qualifying for the latter stages of this season’s Heineken Cup followed suit.

Heroic efforts against reigning champions Toulon have certainly been notable, but the back-to-back defeats have left Devon’s finest well adrift of their star-studded French rivals in Pool Two.

Bernard Laporte’s star-studded side not only returned to the summit of the group, but their five-point haul has ensured they...

Report: Accrington 2 Exeter City 3

Exeter City got back to winning ways at the Crown Ground with an entertaining 3-2 win against Accrington Stanley.

City had to survive a fightback from their hosts, who showed resilience after going three goals behind. But Exeter also showed their mettle to ensure all three points would travel back to the south.

Tom Nichols, on his first start of the season, had the Grecians 2-0 up within 11 minutes before Alan Gow added another during the first half.

Goals either side of the interval by Peter Murphy and Kai Naismith for...

Devon's Luke Friend is preparing for stardom, despite failing to reach the X Factor final.

The 17-year-old from Teignmouth failed to secure enough votes to go through to last night's sing off but despite that he is still being tipped for the top.

And among those singing his praises have been a number of celebrities.

Elli Goulding, who dueted with Luke, from Teignmouth, on Saturday night tweeted: "I loved performing with @LukeFriendMusic. What an absolute legend. Goooooo Luke!!!"

And Phillip Schoefield told his 2.6m Twitter followers: "I'm gutted for @...

Second year history student Matt Morley has beaten off competition from more than 160 businesses to reach the final stage of the Born Global business competition and has been awarded second place with his company, TickBox.

The competition operated by Business West seeks out entrepreneurs of the South West to compete for expert international advice, business support and a cash prize to boost their business plan.

During local elections in 2013 Matt identified improvements that could be made to improve the voter experience and set about designing TickBox; a digital platform to...

In this video local business expert Richard Frayne from Quick Print considers whether print is still crucial for marketing.

Richard describes how he thinks print and email marketing can go together.

“Businesses are often keen to follow the latest trends to market their business and are forgetting about a medium that has been a success for over 2000 years. The power of print should never be underestimated and must be utilised within your marketing campaign. The arrival of QR codes has seen advertising campaigns benefit print by directing the consumer to a product with no...