Wednesday 9 March 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Racism ‘still at the core of the police service’

More than five years after the murder of Stephen Lawrence murder
inquiry, another major report has concluded that racism is still at
the heart of the police service. The Commission for Racial Equality
found that police forces in England and Wales were still
“frozen solid at the core” in their attempts to handle
race issues.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
6

Officers at private jail ‘ignored heroin
use’

Prison officers at Kilmarnock prisoner turned a blind eye to heroin
abuse and endangered lives by pretending to make checks on suicidal
inmates, an undercover BBC documentary at a privately run jail
claims today.

A reporter found that officers at the prison, where seven prisoners
have killed themselves since it opened in 1999, failed to make the
regulation half-hourly checks on potentially suicidal inmates. The
prison is one of five run by the Premier Custodial Group, which
also operated three secure centres for young offenders.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
15

Race case award

A black housing officer who claimed she was passed over for
promotion 11 times in two years, was awarded £82,050,95.

Caroline Duncan told the Commission for Racial Equality that she
had endured racial discrimination and victimisation at Sandwell
Council in the West Midlands.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 9 March 2005 page 9

Babysitter murdered boy by hitting his head on
banister

A babysitter faces life in jail after she was found guilty
yesterday of murdering a toddler by repeatedly ramming his head
against a banister rail.

Suzanne Holdsworth had been looking after two-year-old Kyle Fisher
at her home in Hartlepool, Teeside, last July.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 9 March 2005 page 27

Only one out of 15 asylum seekers deported

Only one out of every 15 asylum seekers whose claims have failed
are deported from Britain it was revealed last night.

Just 4, 100 out of 62, 700 such asylum seekers were deported
immigration minister Des Browne admitted in a parliamentary
question yesterday.

Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday March 9 page 20

Paedophile with long list of sex attacks was given
school cleaning job

A paedophile got a job as a cleaner in a church school despite
having a history of sex offences, a jury heard yesterday.

Jim Aldous, 63, was first convicted in 1957 for sexually assaulting
a seven-year-old girl.

He got a job as a cleaner at St Bede’s school in Cambridge in
2000.

Aldous was jailed for life for sexually assaulting  four boys at
Cambridge Crown Court yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 9 March page
11

Clarke: despot or realist?

Home secretary reveals his frustration at criticism

If Labour wins a third term and Charles Clarke keeps his job he
would like to tackle big issues such as health and education in
prison.
He said: ”We are the government of health and education. Who
has the least? Those in the penal system.”

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page 4

Couple ‘had death pact’ over sick son

Andrew Wragg killed his terminally ill son after he and his wife
agreed the boy’s death was for the best, a court heard
yesterday. On the sixth day of his trail for the murder of his
10-year-old son, Jacob, Wragg said his wife, Mary, from whom he is
now divorced “was completely aware” of what was
happening on the night of the murder.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page 11

Clash of ideals

Against the odds, a Hull cooperative set up 20 years ago by a group
of ‘green anarchists’ is still providing quality,
affordable housing. That’s precisely what ministers want
– so why are the authorities preparing to knock them
down?

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
2

Risk strategy

Police and health professionals are poles apart on how best to deal
with potentially dangerous mentally ill people.

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 pages
6-7

Sisters of mercy

Community matrons aim to keep sick or disabled elderly people out
of hospital by providing care in their own homes and improving
their quality of life.

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
8

Will Blair’s pledge to disabled children be met? He
still has a few options.

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
9

On the pile

Cuts in funding have sounded the death knell for Tottenham House in
Wiltshire, a stately home that serves as a residential support unit
for troubled young people – and more closures will
follow.

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
10

The challenge of trying to raise awareness about the abuse
of older people

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
11

Isle of smiles

Even the remotest communities can successfully integrate asylum
seekers – a report from Shetland.

Source:- The Society Guardian Wednesday 9 March 2005 page
12

Scottish news

Plea to give deafblind same aid as in south

Deafblind campaigners are to lobby the Scottish Parliament to
demand the same assistance as is given in England.

Margaret Mitchell, the Conservative MSP who is devoting a member’s
debate to the issue, accused the executive of failing to meet the
special needs of deafblind people in Scotland, unlike Westminster
which put in place special help for sufferers such as a programme
of assessment and properly trained communicators.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 9 March

Heroin addict whose baby died is given one-year
sentence

Politicians have criticised a one-year jail sentence given to a
heroin addict whose baby died of blood poisoning from nappy
rash.

SNP MSP Alex Neil called Mary Pickering’s sentence “too
lenient”. Pickering admitted willfully neglecting her three month
old baby, who died from septicaemia, between December 2002 and 9
March 2003.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 9 March

Offenders to be hounded for cash ‘so crime doesn’t
pay’

The Scottish executive is to give new powers to councils to claim
on behalf of victims compensation from criminals up to five years
after being convicted.

The new proposal is contained in the Executive’s Management
of Offenders Bill, which will bring in a range of new measures in
an attempt to reduce Scotland’s high re-offending rates. It
will be used alongside tagging for low-risk prisoners and new
restrictions to make sure sex offenders are kept under licence when
they leave prison.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 9 March

Scandal carer in fight for job

A care home assistant fired over claims she abused an older
resident says she was unfairly sacked.

Margaret Williams was axed after the Daily Record secretly filmed
her shouting and swearing at the man. The footage was played at an
industrial tribunal in the city, but Williams claimed comments had
been taken out of context and she had been joking with the
resident.

Source:- Daily Record Wednesday 9 March

Welsh news

Assembly urged to fund more childcare

There are just 3, 600 registered childcare places for children
under eight-years-old in Wales, experts revealed today.

This is equivalent to one place per seven children. The revelation
comes in a report by the Bevan Foundation and the Equal
Opportunities Commission Wales.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 9 March