Friday 22 August 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson. 
US police trace more Britons who buy child porn
US investigators have sent British police a list of
thousands more Britons who are suspected of paying to look at child
pornography sites, as this country’s largest investigation into the
crime is close to breaking point.
The new list of suspects is believed to be far longer than the
7,272 names received last year, which are being investigated by
Operation Ore.
Police said it will take “years and years” to clear the backlog of
names from the first list before they can start on the new
suspects.
Source:- The Times Friday 22 August page 2
Beggars face jail as addict loses case
Beggars throughout England and Wales could be jailed if
they ask for money after one was told that he could be jailed if he
continued to beg in Manchester.
Manchester Council won  a two-year civil injunction banning Leonard
Hockey, a heroin and crack cocaine addict, from begging in the city
centre in the first case of its kind.
Birmingham now plans similar action and other authorities,
including Westminster and Oxford said they are likely to
follow.
Source:- The Times Friday 22 August page 5
The mystery picture
A third schoolgirl has claimed that she saw an obscene picture of a
child on Soham detective Brian Stevens’ computer, but that this
evidence was ignored.
Stevens was cleared on Wednesday of child porn charges and sexually
assaulting two girls.
The third girl, aged 17, said he claimed the image was on his
screen as a part of his work, but police are not allowed to have
such images at home.
Her allegations go against Stevens’ defence that he did not
know any porn was on his computer.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 22 August page 5
The £100,000 detention
A failed asylum seeker is suing the Home Office for £10,000
because he was held in a detention centre while he fought against
an order for his deportation.
Obrou Kakou said he was illegally placed in the centre for 10
months because the deportation order, which was later lifted, was
not made by a court.
Kakou, who is from the Ivory Coast and speaks French, also claims
that the Home Office failed to adequately explain the reason for
his detention in a language he could understand.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 22 August page 27
Child case marine in the UK
The former U.S marine accused of abducting a 12-year-old girl he
met on the internet was extradited to Britain last night.
Toby Studabaker, aged 31, faces charges of child abduction and
inciting a child to an act of gross indecency. He is due to appear
in court today.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 22 August page 37
Payout for woman’s 10 years in hospital
A woman with severe learning difficulties spent 10 years in
hospital unnecessarily because of a string of incorrect actions by
her local authority, the local government ombudsman ruled
yesterday.
Wakefield metropolitan district council were ordered to pay
£20,000 to the woman’s aunt after she complained that it
failed to keep her informed of what was happening to her niece over
the years.
An ombudsman found the council guilty of “maladministration causing
injustice” to both the woman involved and her aunt.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 22 August page 10
Scottish newspapers
Child porn on increase

The number of websites containing child porn has almost doubled
over the past year, according to a report yesterday.
Reports to the Internet Watch Foundation, which monitors websites
containing child pornography were up by 64 per cent.
Internet paedophiles are also increasingly adopting
counter-intelligence techniques to protect themselves from being
traced, according to the annual National Criminal Intelligence
Service UK Threat Assessment.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 22 August page 10
Murdered Jodi’s boyfriend due back at
school

The boyfriend of murdered schoolgirl Jodi Jones is expected to
return to school today.
Luke Mitchell had been asked to stay away from St David’s RC
High School in Dalkeith, Midlothian, when term began earlier this
week. Education officials excluded him for his “well-being
and safety”.
His family threatened to take legal action if he was not reinstated
at school today, and last night it was confirmed that the
15-year-old would be returning to school.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 22 August page 11
Sheriff: You had right to belt boy
A man who beat a 13-year-old boy with a leather belt after
he refused to go to school, was cleared of assault yesterday.
Angus Mackie admitted delivering “two or three blows”,
but told Stirling sheriff court he had been at his wits’ end.
The boy had been taking drugs, playing truant and stealing
cars.
The case was reported to the police after a social worker
identified faint red weals on the boy’s legs.
Sheriff Robert Younger ruled that the beating, partly cushioned by
a duvet, was “reasonable chastisement” following four
days of legal argument.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 22 August page 11
Heroin trade shame
Scotland has been branded one of the top spots for heroin
trafficking in the UK.
Britain’s leading crime fighting agency claimed many Scottish
gangs have set up links with suppliers in the Netherlands to flood
Scotland’s streets with the drug.
A National Criminal Intelligence Service report said the key
players in the UK drug distribution are based in Scotland, London
and Merseyside.
Experts have also singled out Glasgow as a “significant
regional hub” for Class A drug distribution.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 22 August page 25
Find Them
Holidaymakers from south Wales are being encouraged to help in the
search for an eight-month-old baby, who was abducted by his parents
from social services care.
The couple are believed to have fled with the child to France, and
police are concerned about the baby boy’s welfare, as his
father Gerald Baker, has several convictions for sex
offences.
The baby was picked up for a routine unsupervised contact visit on
Monday this week, by his mother but was not returned to social
services in Ebbw Vale. Police are asking that local people, who may
be on holiday in France, keep a look out for the couple.
Source:- South Wales Echo Wednesday 21 August page 1
Life expectancy shorter for Merthyr women
Women in Merthyr Tydfil are destined to lead shorter lives than
their contemporaries in the rest of the UK.
Life expectancy for women in the area currently stands at 77.6 only
slightly up on 10 years ago when it was 77.3, according to figures
from the Office for National Statistics.
Health experts say social factors like poverty, deprivation, poor
diet and high levels of smoking and alcoholism contribute to the
shortened life expectancy.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 22 August page 2
Pensioners get day out thanks to funeral home
Older residents of a nursing home were given a trip to the
seaside in a funeral car after their minibus was vandalised.
Six older people from the Baybridge Nursing Home in Cardiff were
treated to the day out after the manager of the James Summers and
Son, funeral home heard of their plight and offered the use of the
firm’s fleet of cars
Transport charity, Vest based in Cardiff recently had all of their
11 minibuses damaged by vandals and many older and disabled people
in the area had trips cancelled as a result.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 22 august page 11

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