Tuesday 28 October 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Church sees reports of abuse in positive light

The Roman Catholic archbishop has said that the disclosure that
nearly 150 cases of sexual and physical abuse have been reported to
the church in 12 months is a “positive thing”.
The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said
that he was unsure whether the figure represented an increase or a
worsening of the level of child abuse in the Catholic Church.
“To have an increasing number of reports is a positive thing for
two reasons,” he said. “It means that people have a growing
confidence that they can say what has happened to them. Also it
gives us a chance to do something about it because the whole
scandal of abuse cannot be stopped unless we have the
information.”
The 150 cases include complaints against clergy as well as lay
people in the Church and includes historic as well as current
inquiries.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 28 October page 2
Abuse of the elderly to be investigated by
MPs

MPs are set to investigate the mistreatment of older people in care
homes and by family members.
The Commons select committee on health aims to assess the true
extent of abuse and whether “race and gender affect the incidence
of abuse”.
Campaigners argue that the sexual abuse of older people, including
rape, is increasing.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 28 October page 6
Preliminary hearing for Soham pair
Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr’s trial over the deaths of Holly Wells
and Jessica Chapman is due to begin next week.
Huntley, the former caretaker at Soham Village college in
Cambridgeshire, denies murdering the 10-year-old girls last
year.
Carr, previously the girls’ classroom assistant at St Andrew’s
primary school in Soham, is charged with attempting to pervert the
course of justice and two counts of assisting an offender, she also
denies the charges.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 28 October page 12
Blunkett to toughen controls on asylum
Asylum seekers who try to enter Britain without the correct
documentation could be prosecuted under measures announced by the
government yesterday.
The measures could cause asylum seekers who have no documents
“without reasonable explanation”, and those who fail to co-operate
with redocumentation to be prosecuted.
Source:- The Financial Times Tuesday 28 October page 5
Scottish newspapers
Police plan national database of children at risk of
abuse

The details of thousands of children and their relatives are to be
held on a national database in a bid to prevent child abuse cases,
under proposals from Scottish police forces.
Social workers, police, teachers and doctors will be asked to place
information into a centralised register to let professionals act
more quickly to prevent “avoidable” deaths such as that
of 11–week-old Caleb Ness.
Factors such as parents taking drugs, relatives’ violent
offences or suspicious injuries on the child will be logged on the
system.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 28 October
Kirk elder smothered his wife to end her dementia
suffering

A Church elder who killed his wife as he struggled to cope with her
dementia, was spared a prison sentence yesterday by a judge who
said he had punished himself enough.
Kenneth Edge put a pillow over his wife Winifred’s head in
March. He then phoned the police to tell them what he had
done.
Lady Smith told Edge at the high court in Edinburgh that she would
not jail him after he admitted carrying out the culpable homicide
at the couple’s home in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire. She said
he had punished himself enough by removing his lifetime partner who
he loved and cared for. She deferred sentence on him for 18
months.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 28 October
Hunt for girls in teenage assaults
Different girl gangs are being hunted by police following separate
attacks on two schoolgirls in Edinburgh at the weekend.
Both victims were punched and kicked in the unprovoked
attacks.
The assaults are the latest in a string of cases involving girl
gangs in the city and could represent a form of bonding among girls
as they abandon traditional kinds of group activities and games,
according to Keith Topping, a professor in social research and
education at Dundee University.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 28 October
Nursery nurses in Highlands suspend strikes
Strike action has been suspended by nursery nurses in the Highlands
to allow talks with management as industrial action continues
elsewhere in the country.
Sufficient common ground has been established during a series of
meetings between Unison and Highland Council officials for the
union to suspend the action and try to agree a settlement.
The public sector union warned yesterday that it was seeking a
national settlement, and said further strike action in selected
areas would continue.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 28 October
Immigrants held by police
Police were questioning a group of 27 suspected illegal immigrants
last night at a police station in central Scotland.
Central Scotland Police intercepted a bus on a country road near
Bo’ness, West Lothian, and officers found 25 men and two
women in the vehicle.
It is understood the group hold valid passports, but are suspected
of breaching visa regulations.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 28 October page 6
How a night out helps the homeless
A charity which supports homeless people through restaurant dining
launched its annual campaign yesterday.
During November and December, restaurants subscribing to the
StreetSmart scheme give customers the chance to add £1 to
their bill for the evening, which is distributed  directly to
charities, hostels and projects dedicated to helping the
homeless.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 28 October page 7
Welsh newspapers
Rethink on plan to cut babysitting service

Councillors in Torfaen have demanded a re-examination of a decision
to cut babysitting services for autistic children.
The cancellation of the service to 29 families with children
suffering from autism or Asperger’s Syndrome was made two
weeks ago, and was met with dismay by parents, who say that they
were not consulted.
Torfaen social services is currently facing a £1.9 million
overspend, but councillors voted unanimously to look again at the
decision to cut the service that costs the council £6,000 per
year.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 27 October page 4
Asylum court inquiry returns
Plans for an asylum appeals court based in Langstone in
Newport are back in the spotlight today, when the public inquiry on
the proposed scheme resumes.
A decision to hold an inquiry was made following protests by
residents over the location chosen for the court by the Immigration
Appellate Authority. The inquiry is being held at Newport civic
centre.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 27 October page 7
Widow’s relief as Hutt backs review of killer’s
treatment

The widow of a man stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic has
welcomed a review of the case.
Welsh assembly health minister Jane Hutt said that she would
consider whether an independent inquiry was needed into the case of
man who launched a frenzied attack on 72-year-old Brian Dodd,
stabbing him 37 times in March last year. She will do that once the
external review for the Cardiff local health board had been
completed.
Paul Khan of Cardiff was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order
after slashing a man’s throat in 1996. Four years later a
mental health tribunal decided that he could be treated in the
community.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 28 October page 3

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.