Tuesday 12 August 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Trainee teacher used internet to order girl, 9, for
sex
A 19-year-old trainee primary school teacher has been jailed for
attempting to set up a meeting with a young girl for sex over the
internet, but has avoided being put on the sex offenders’
register.
Luke Sadowski used an “internet pimp” to set up a meeting with a
nine-year-old girl, but was unaware that the website he used had
been set up by the police.
Sadowski was arrested when he arrived at a London hotel to meet the
girl. He told the website he wanted to go “all the way” with
her.
Campaigners were outraged yesterday when he was given only a
three-year sentence, and is likely to be out of prison by next
spring. Under the new Sexual Offences Bill expected to become
effective later this year he could have received up to 14
years.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 August page 2
Beggar mounts test case ban
A beggar in Manchester launched the first legal challenge of its
kind against the police and the local authority in an effort to
carry on begging without facing possible imprisonment.
Manchester crown court heard lawyers for Leonard Hockey argue that
although he had been arrested almost 100 times for vagrancy
offences he should not come under a city-wide civil
injunction.
They said this would leave him liable to a two-year prison sentence
if he broke the order.
Under the criminal law people cannot be imprisoned for persistently
begging, and breaching the Vagrancy Act.
The judge reserved his judgement of the case yesterday until 21
August.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 August page 8
Concern over ‘sex grooming’ at overcrowded
jail
Prison inmates as young as 18 may be being ‘groomed’ for abuse by
sex offenders they are being housed with at an overcrowded jail,
according to a new report.
The revelations come after inspectors carried out an unannounced
visit to HMP Holme House on Teesside this year.
At the time of the inspection the prison was holding 39 young
adults on remand. Some of the 18-20 year-olds were housed in the
vulnerable prisoner unit (VPU) with convicted rapists, child
abusers and sex offenders.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 12 August page 6
Scottish newspapers
One in four Scots feel unsafe on the streets
A new report has found that a quarter of Scottish people feel
unsafe in the communities where they live.
Twenty four per cent of Scots are afraid to walk alone in their
neighbourhoods after dark, while 20 per cent do not feel safe on
public transport, according to the Scottish Household Survey.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 12 August page 1
Prisoners rescued as blaze breaks out at
Barlinnie
Five prisoners and seven prison officers were treated for smoke
inhalation last night following a fire in the hospital wing of
Barlinnie jail in Glasgow.
The cause of the fire is being investigated, however, investigating
officers from the fire service are looking at the possibility of
prisoners setting alight a mattress in the health centre.
One of the prisoners involved is thought to have suffered slight
burns to his feet.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 12 August
Family of murdered asylum seeker have compensation
halved
The family of  a murdered asylum seeker have reacted angrily to the
decision to halve the level of compensation for his death after his
character was called into question.
The parents of Firsat Dag, who was fatally stabbed in Glasgow, have
had their £11,000 maximum award halved to £5,500 because
their son allegedly applied for asylum using a false name.
Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 12 August 
Children of eight fighting anorexia
Children as young as eight are now being affected by the eating
disorder anorexia nervosa, according to a report by Australian
doctors yesterday.
In one case researchers found a four-year-old girl to be suffering
from the condition.
The average age of children with the illness dropped from 14 years
and six months in 2001 to 12 years in 2003, according to the
Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, which surveyed all
paediatricians in Australia over a 12-month period.
Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 12 August
Scot who led riot act at detention centre to be
deported
A Scot who became the first person to face court charges in
Australia in connection with a wave of violence and arson that
swept through detention centres looks likely to be thrown out of
the country.
Darren McCreadie, believed to be from Edinburgh, was recently
jailed for six months for his part in the problems at Sydney
immigrant detention centre.
McCreadie is now fighting a deportation order.
Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 12 August
Alzheimer’s group in clash over value of new
drug
A new drug aimed at more advanced sufferers of Alzheimer’s
disease caused a clash between Alzheimer Scotland and The Scottish
Medicines Consortium yesterday.
The patient group said it was “surprised and
disappointed” that the consortium had withheld approval for
mematine.
Although it is the only drug licensed for use in moderately severe
to severe Alzheimer’s disease, the consortium said its effect
on the disease was extremely small.
Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 12 August  
Be nice to Big Mags
Charity chiefs are fighting plans to crackdown on people acting in
an anti-social manner.
Shelter Scotland claim moves to dock benefits from people like Mags
Haney are unfair. They fear nuisance neighbours could end up being
evicted.
Government ministers say docking housing benefit is a vital move to
end the scourge of trouble-makers like Haney, a drug dealer, and
her family, who made life a misery for neighbours on the Raploch
estate in Stirling.
Source:- Daily Record  Tuesday 12 August
Disabled OAPS fined for flipped permit
A disabled couple have been given a £60 parking fine because
their permit was the wrong way up.
Edinburgh’s Enforcers doled out the penalty even though their
own photo evidence showed the holder’s picture and name were
clearly visible.
Marion and Alexander Wood were at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary when
they were fined. Despite appeals the couple, both 77, were told the
fine must stand as the permit was not properly displayed.
Source:- Daily Record  Tuesday 12 August
Camp site
Social services in Germany have set up a boot camp to break
children’s addiction to the internet.
Children are forced to participate in outdoors activities at
seaside Boltenhagen, and are only allowed 30 minutes a day
on-line.
Source:- Daily Record  Tuesday 12 August
Welsh newspapers
Youth club staff ‘not checked’
A family-run youth club in Newport needs compulsory police checks
on staff as a “matter of urgency”.
A report commissioned by Newport council to help them decide on a
funding application acknowledges though that the Youth Scene group
based at the Millbrook Community Centre, Bettws, is run by an
enthusiastic and dedicated team. It found that the staff work hard
to provide opportunities for young people, but says that the club
leader’s grasp of child protection issues is sketchy, and
that the premises are poorly maintained.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 11 August page 4
‘Stress caused child-porn
addiction’
A computer expert suffered so much stress at work that he began
surfing the internet for child porn, a court was told.
Peter Ryder, who was a school governor and had helped to organise
the local carnival, was caught as part of the police crackdown on
internet pornography, Operation Ore.
Ryder, from near Mold in north Wales, was jailed for nine months at
Flintshire magistrates court. He had admitted three specimen
charges: two of downloading indecent photographs of children, and
one of possessing them between May and August last year.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 12 August page 8