Friday 4 April 2003

Workmen kept disabled driver at bay

A disabled man who waited for a year to have a parking bay painted
outside his house is outraged after it was resurfaced the day
afterwards.

Ken Stevenson, 78, from Portland Dorset, started applying to the
council for the bay a year ago when he began to suffer from
arthritis in his knees. He was amazed when he received a letter
informing him that his road was to be resurfaced just hours after
workers had finally painted the bay.

The council have said the resurfacing work was never meant to
include Stevenson’s road.

Source:- The Times Friday April 4 page 14

Forced work and tags to ease prison
overcrowding

Persistent offenders aged 18-20 are to be tagged and made to work
unpaid in the community as a part of a new punishment announced
yesterday.

An estimated 5,000 repeat offenders will be put on the intensive
control-and-charge programme in a year’s time.

The punishment comes in an effort to ease prison overcrowding as
inmate figures hit a record 73,105.

Source:- The Times Friday April 4 page 17

Oldham race riots ‘triggered by minor disagreement
between four boys’

A court in Manchester has heard how the race riot in Oldham, which
took place in May 2001, was sparked off by a white gang attacking
Asian people at random after a minor disagreement between four
boys.

Nine men, one woman and two youths went on trial yesterday at
Minshull (correct) Street Crown Court in Manchester,  for rioting
on the first night of racist disturbances in Oldham.

Source:- The Independent Friday April 4 page 11

Scottish newspapers

A ‘politically correctional’ plan for
criminals

More criminals would be given community sentences instead of
jail terms under a Labour plan to reform the justice system, Jack
McConnell said yesterday.

The First Minister said he would merge the work of the Scottish
Prison Service, which oversees jail sentences, and local authority
social workers, who administer non-custodial sentences.

The new correctional agency would handle all sentences.

Source: Daily Mail Friday 4th April page 16

We’ll smash cyber pervs

Cyber cops are gearing up to tackle more internet child porn
rings.

Senior officers from every Scots police force met last week to
discuss the handling of Operation Ore. Some 350 web perverts were
identified as part of the probe, their names among 7,500 passed to
the British police by the FBI.

Head of Strathclyde Police’s fraud squad, Detective Chief
Inspector David Marsh said Operation Ore was “very
worthwhile” and that preparations were being made for a
second wave of arrests.

Source: Daily Record Friday 4th April page 33

Killer for Carstairs

A schizophrenic who killed a 93-year-old retired solicitor will
be detained indefinitely in Carstairs State Hospital.

The High Court in Glasgow heard yesterday that Roy Mackay, 35,
posed a serious risk to the public. He attacked George Williamson
in Edinburgh last June.

Mackay had been charged with murder, but the Crown accepted his
plea of guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Source: Daily Express Friday 4th April page 30

Welsh newspapers

Pc is fined £1,500 over child porn

A policeman who was once commended for bravery by his force has
been placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and
given a £1,500 fine for possessing and making child
pornography.

Pc John Clare, 38, of Holywell in north Wales was found guilty of
three counts of possessing and three counts of making indecent
images of girls under 16 on his home computer.

Source Western Mail Friday 4 April page 6

Home Office apologises to father told to leave
Britain

A man who was told he would have to leave Britain within 10-days
because he was born in the USA, is to receive a full apology from
the Home Office.

Terry Morris, 56, from Cardiff received the letter from the Home
Office on April 1 but at first thought the instruction to leave the
country was a joke. He has lived in Wales for the past 55
years.

 His application for a passport led the Home Office to send him an
ultimatum telling him to leave the UK but they have now issued a
full apology for their mistake.

Source Western Mail Friday 4 April page 7