Tuesday 14 January 2003

By Amy Taylor, Shona Main and Alex Dobson.

Rock star is arrested over child porn

Pete Townshend, the guitarist and songwriter with The Who, was
arrested last night after admitting that he had paid to look at a
child pornography website.

He was detained on suspicion of making and possessing indecent
pictures of children and inciting others to distribute child
pornography.

Police made the arrest under the Child Protection Act 1978 and
took a number of items from his home.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 January page 1

More big names at centre of child porn
investigation

The arrest of the rock star Pete Townshend yesterday followed
months of rumours circulating around showbusiness, Westminster and
the media.

Police are working their way through the 7,000 names passed on
by American authorities as part of Operation Avalanche, including
two MPs or former MPs. It appears probable that as the British
inquiry, Operation Ore, continues to unfold, several more prominent
figures will be arrested.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 January page 2

‘New Sangatte’ opens

A centre for asylum seekers has opened in the middle of Calais
nearby where the former camp stood at Sangatte.

The site has been dubbed “son of Sangatte” and opened less than
a month after the closure of the camp by the French authorities in
an attempt to quell the flow of illegal migrants getting into
Britain.

The new site has been opened by the French Red Cross in an
attempt to help homeless asylum seekers in the town.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 January page 6

Boy died after being poisoned by sick
mother

A mother who slowly poisoned her seven-year-old son with a
mixture of epilepsy drugs and interfered with his life-support
machine in hospital, was jailed for life yesterday.

Michelle Dickinson, who suffers from the medical condition
Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, that make sufferers seek attention
by inflicting harm on others, put her son Michael through four
years of misery.

During this time she gave him anti-convulsant drugs that reduced
him from a healthy three-year-old to an invalid too ill to attend
school and forced to wear a protective helmet. Ultimately he had to
be put on a life support machine and be fed through a tube before
he died in 2000.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 January page 9

Tax rises essential to maintain public
services

The prime minister defended his decision to increase national
insurance by a penny this April saying that the alternative to a
tax rise was a range of new charges to use schools and
hospitals.

He said there was no chance of delaying the rise despite its
unpopularity.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 January page 10

Fathers ‘scared’ to ask for flexible hours

British fathers are to blame for not asking for more flexible
working practices and adhering to a long-hours culture, the
Confederation of British Industry said yesterday, as a report
alleged that the country’s work culture stops men spending more
time looking after their children.

Susan Anderson, director of human resources policy at the CBI,
said employers recognised that they needed to offer flexible hours,
but it was up to fathers to ask for them.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 14 January page 7

Son of Sangatte

Labour has struck a deal to take 1,200 migrants in return for
the closure of the refugee centre in Calais.

Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in a former Butlins
holiday camp in Saltdean near Brighton.

Now the Grand Ocean hotel, the 580-bed complex was owned by
Butlins until 1998.

The move is part of a plan to create a network of 15 ‘induction
centres’ for asylum seekers arriving in Britain.

Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 14 January page 4

Jail for gang who boasted about raids in
poems

A gang of armed robbers who wrote poems and letters to each
other boasting about their feats were jailed for a total of 37
years yesterday at Minshull Street crown court.

One of the criminals described: a raid in a verse which said:
‘Shotguns, Ballys (balaclavas) we’re all ready to play – Sicko
Armed Robbers, it’s Giro Day.’

The gang of five aged 18-21 targeted banks, post offices and
security vans, amassing almost £40,000 in nine months. Their
crimes took place in Rochdale, Salford, Oldham, Newton Heath and
Swinton.

Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 14 January page 37

Scottish newspapers

New units to tackle crime in
the home

Strathclyde Police has become the
first force in Scotland to establish dedicated family protection
units committed to the investigation of child abuse, sexual
offences against adults and domestic violence.

The aim of these units is to
encourage more victims to report crimes and to facilitate
partnership working between the police and other agencies.

Specially trained officers will
staff the units and counsellors will be available to support
victims of crime.

Source:- The Scotsman
Tuesday 14th January page 8

Boyfriend on child murder
charge

A man appeared in court in Inverness
yesterday charged with murdering five-year-old Danielle Reid, whose
body was found in the Caledonian Canal.

Lee Gaytor, 25 is the boyfriend of
Danielle’s mother, Tracy Reid. He made no plea and was committed
for further examination.

His brother Christopher Gaytor, 22,
and Reid, 24, are due to join him in court later this week charged
with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday
14th January page 5

Welsh
newspapers

Dead baby’s mum may not be found

The detective leading the investigation into the discovery of
dead baby found beside a canal in south Wales, says he fears the
child’s mother will never be found.

The stillborn baby boy was found beside the Monmouthshire and
Brecon canal in October last year, but despite extensive inquiries
the police have been unable to trace the mother.

Once the coroner is satisfied that the police have carried out
appropriate inquiries the body will be released to the local
authority for burial in an unmarked grave.

Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 13 January page 4

‘The new asylum law will leave desperate people
destitute’

A two-page feature looking at the implications of new government
legislation on asylum seekers support.

Welsh Refugee Council information officer Zahid Noor gives his
reaction to the new rules, and there is a profile of an asylum
seeker who fled the Congo because of fears for her safety.

Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 13 January pages 14
and 15

Father beat children, says mother

A mother told a court yesterday how she had given up trying to
stop her ex-boyfriend from beating their five children.

The woman said that she’d ‘had enough’ of
confronting the 35-year-old man, who is accused of cruelty to five
of his children.

The father denies seven charges of child cruelty, one of causing
grievous bodily harm with intent and one of inflicting grievous
bodily harm.

The trial is proceeding at Cardiff crown court.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 14 January page 7

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