Friday 25 July 2003

 
By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson

Child charity warns of ‘Ritalin for CDs’
trade

Drug dealers are offering hyperactive children CDs and
phone-cards in return for their prescription of the drug Ritalin,
an investigation by parents’ charity Overload Network International
reveals.

Janice Hill, the charity’s founder, claims that dealers crush
the drug to mix with amphetamines.

The investigation also found that teenage girls had started
using the drug as a diet pill.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 25 July page 2

Ofsted inspectors ‘made race remarks’

An investigation has been launched into allegations that a
team of Ofsted inspectors made racist remarks about pupils when
visiting a primary school in east London.

Staff and governors at Woodberry Down community primary school
in Hackney have filed a complaint stating that two of the team
demonstrated racist attitudes and that they were concerned about
the way the inspection was carried out.

One of the accused inspectors is said to have looked at the
school exclusion figures and said: “Oh, let me guess, this a
boy…African…they always are.” She is also alleged to
have said that it was difficult to tell boys and girls apart when
they had their hair braided in corn-rows.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 25 July page 8

NSPCC official suspended after trial
intervention

Children’s charity the NSPCC has suspended its head
of media relations for taking part in a court case to attest the
good character of a man accused of sexually abusing three
girls.

The charity has commissioned an independent inquiry into Gerry
Tissier’s involvement in the case of a music teacher who gave
guitar lessons at his home to children from a school in south
London.

The teacher was acquitted at Southwark crown court two weeks
ago.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 25 July page 8

Blair plea to China on illegal workers

Tony Blair has called on the Chinese government to take
urgent action to cut the number of people being trafficked by
criminal gangs to the UK to work illegally.

The prime minister told his Chinese counterpart that he
appreciated recent efforts to tackle the problem but that more
needed to be done.

Blair went on to call for greater Chinese co-operation with
British officials seeking to return illegal workers to their home
country.

Source:- The Times Friday 25 July page 1

Miser leaves £1m for guide dogs

An older man who lived a modest life in a run-down house,
wore second-hand clothes and watched his neighbour’s television in
order to cut electricity costs has left £1.1m to the Guide
Dogs for the Blind Association.

Joseph Leek’s two daughters, who inherited nothing, said
they were unaware of their father’s wealth and described him
as a “miserly” father.

Source:- The Times Friday 25 July page 7

Grief eased for euthanasia families

Families whose loved ones die due to euthanasia suffer
less harrowing grief and lower levels of stress than those whose
relatives die of natural causes, according to a Dutch study.

In the Netherlands, 3,200 people die by euthanasia each
year.

Source:- The Times Friday 25 July page 11

Child porn database ‘will save thousands of police
hours’

A new database containing almost 300,000 images of
children being abused will help police to identify and rescue
youngsters who are in danger of being attacked by paedophiles.

Childbase, the first database of its kind, will enable police to
compare images with any new photographs they seize, enabling them
to tell if a new victim is involved.

Several prosecutions are pending due to pilot tests of the
system and some children have already been saved.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 25 July page 2

Demand for new laws on refugees

A think-tank has recommended that Britain forms its own
legislation for dealing with refugees and renounce international
refugee and human rights legislation.

MigrationWatch UK said the government should “cut loose from the
straitjacket” of various conventions arguing that these made it
impossible to operate the system in the country’s best
interests.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 25 July page 6

Scottish news

Expert says belt beating not excessive

A man accused of beating a teenager with a belt did not
use excessive force, according to a leading forensic expert
yesterday.

Professor of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University, Anthony
Busuttil, told a court in Stirling that the boy was hit with the
soft end of the belt and not the buckle.

The academic is appearing as a witness for the defence in the
case of Angus Mackie, who claims that beating the youth with a
leather belt was “reasonable chastisement”.

Mackie is accused of beating the boy after he refused to attend
school. The trial continues.

Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 25 July

Sight test promise

Regular eye tests are to be offered to all diabetes
patients in Scotland by 2006, it was announced yesterday by health
minister Malcolm Chisholm.

The condition affects more than 150,000 Scots and the number of
cases is expected to double in the next 10 years.

Diabetic retinopathy is the single biggest cause of blindness
and sight problems in working age people.

Source:- Daily Record  Friday 25 July

Welsh news

‘He shook her with such force she ended up close
to death’

A nightclub bouncer shook a toddler so hard that she was left
blind and brain damaged, a court was told.

Ajmal Khan allegedly injured the child when she was left alone
with him.

Cardiff crown court was told that the child was found close to
death after emergency services were called and that doctors later
discovered she had a broken wrist and a bite mark on her
shoulder.

Khan denies charges of wounding and child cruelty. The case
continues.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 24 July page 7

Council Fund Fiasco

Voluntary groups in Cardiff have been left without vital
money because of a four-month wait for grants from Cardiff
Council.

At an emergency meeting yesterday it emerged that many groups
were facing the prospect of redundancies and cuts to services as a
result of the funding fiasco.

Shelley Horwood of Voluntary Action Cardiff said that the cuts
had been made without consultation and had left many groups with an
uncertain future.

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said that the grant system had
undergone major changes to improve accountability and
transparency.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 24 July page 13

Child poverty ‘needs separate
budget’

Wales must have a separate children’s budget if it
is to address the national scandal of child poverty, according to a
leading children’s charity.

One in three children in the Principality live below the poverty
line and Save the Children in Wales is calling on the Welsh
assembly to be more transparent about how much it spends on
children.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 25 July page 9