Monday 8 August 2005

By Simeon Brody, Mithran Samuel, Derren Hayes and Clare
Jerrom

We should not change our democratic values under provocation by
terrorists

Muslim leaders said the government’s package of
anti-terrorist measures would alienate people and drive them into
the hands of extremists.

Plans to close bookshops, ban organisations opposed to violence
and deport preachers to countries that use torture were condemned
by the Muslim Council of Britain and community groups.

 Source:- The Times Saturday 6 August 2005 page 8

 Girl abandoned as mother runs off with Turkish
beau

Social workers have begun an investigation after a mother moved
to Turkey to start a new life leaving her 15-year-old daughter home
alone.

Elaine Walker, from Redmire in the Yorkshire Dales, is believed
to have gone to live with a man she met on holiday, leaving her
daughter, who is now staying with family friends, £25 to live
on.

A police spokesperson said there were no plans to send officers
to Turkey to interview Walker.

Source:- The Times Saturday 6 August 2005 page 18

Teenage boys locked up for savage racist
attack

Three teenage boys have been jailed for a racist attack on three
Asian schoolboys involving a mob of up to 100 white youths in
Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Jason Brassington, 17, and Brandon Crossley, 16, were sentenced
to 16 months and Stephen Lee to eight months in young offender
institutions. Michael Culkin, 15, was given a supervision order. A
fifth defendant, James Peters, disappeared during an adjournment
and a warrant is out for his arrest.

Last September, they attacked Raza Ali and Aadil Nabil, then
both 11, and Raza Shan, who was then 14,

Source:- The Times Saturday 6 August 2005 page 36

Baby survives after gunman kills three people in London
flat

A nine-month-old baby is in the care of social services after
being found alive and unharmed amid the bodies of three murdered
relatives in a flat on a London estate.

The three, two women, aged 27 and 34, and a 62-year-old man, had
been shot. One is believed to be the baby’s mother.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 6 August 2005 page
10

Two face court over student’s killing

Two men have appeared in court charged with the murder of black
teenager Anthony Walker. Paul Taylor, 20, and a 17-year-old man
appeared at Knowsley Magistrates Court and were remanded to appear
at Liverpool Crown Court on 23 August.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 6 August 2005 page
19

Children face arson risk

Seven schools a week are suffering arson attacks during the
school day, with most fires started in cloakrooms and London
schools most at risk, the government has reported.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 6 August 2005 page
19

The debt lifestyle sends bankruptcies to a 45-year
record

The number of people declared bankrupt has hit its highest level
in 45 years, following a 37 per cent rise since last year.

Figures for the second quarter of this year showed 15,394 people
were declared insolvent, almost three times the level of seven
years ago.

Some experts blamed a law under which people are discharged from
their bankruptcy after one year, rather than the previous
three.

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 6 August 2005 page 8

Our lovely gentle lad

The mother of black teenager Anthony Walker has spoken of her
grief following his killing.

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 6 August 2005 page
10-11

The rising toll of cannabis users on psychiatric
wards

The number of people admitted to psychiatric wards because of
cannabis use has risen sharply according to figures revealed by the
government.

There were 710 people admitted in 2003-4, up from 580 in 2002-3,
health minister Rosie Winterton admitted. The statistics led to
calls for cannabis to be reclassified as a Class B drug, following
its downgrading to Class C last year.

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 6 August 2005 page 33

State seeks control of Muslim schools

Up to 150 new Muslim state schools will be created by ministers in
an attempt to bring the Islamic education of British children under
government control in the wake of last month’s
bombings.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday August 7 2005 page
4

Six teenagers arrested after death of popular pub
landlord

A pub landlord was run over by a car during a confrontation with a
gang of teenagers in a Cotswolds village.

Six teenagers, a 16-year-old girl, two men aged 18 and three
17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday August 7 2005 page
6

A million phone calls a year to the Child Support Agency
end in frustration

More than a million phone calls to the CSA last year were abandoned
as desperate parents gave up all hope of speaking to a helpful
human being.

Over a quarter of calls to the agency ended in frustrated failure,
according to official figures.

Source:- The Independent Sunday August 7 2005 page
13

“I blame racism in schools”

The mother of Stephen Lawrence has accused white teachers of
failing to tackle racism in schools and argues there has been
little improvement in race relations since the Sixties.

Source:- The Observer Sunday August 7 2005 page 6

15-year-old raped in Belfast

A teenage girl was raped twice in front of her friends in west
Belfast, police said yesterday.

The victim was robbed and attacked by an older youth wielding a
screwdriver.

Source:- The Observer Sunday August 7 2005 page 8

Police plan central unit to tackle rape crisis

A Met police report to be published next month will conclude that a
centrally organised rape care unit is needed to tackle a postcode
lottery when it comes to care.

Source:- The Observer Sunday August 7 2005 page 12

Pups not pills: NHS offers dogs on prescription

At least one health authority has adopted a scheme that allows the
long-term sick to buy a dog in the hope that it will keep them out
of hospital.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday August 7 2005 page
1

District general hospital may be on its last
legs

Increasing amounts of non-emergency surgery are set to be moved
out of general hospitals to freestanding treatment centres, some
run by the private sector, and more care for chronic conditions is
set to be shifted to family doctor-based services.

Source:- The Financial Times Monday August 8 2005 page
3

Britain to rebrand ethnic minorities

The government is proposing to rename ethnic minority groups
along US lines in an attempt to strengthen and highlight their
British roots. Minorities could be described as, for example, Asian
British, rather than Asian.

Source:- The Times Monday August 8 2005 page 1

Patients left waiting in pain

Only half of all children and elderly patients with broken limbs
receive adequate pain relief within an hour of arriving at accident
and emergency departments, according to the Healthcare
Commission.

Source:- The Times Monday August 8 2005 page 8

Tories call for rethink on child tax credit for better
paid

Conservatives say public money is not being targeted at the
poorest families after figures revealed that 300,000 families
paying top-rate tax receive the Child Tax Credit.

Source:- The Times Monday August 8 2005 page 13

Man arrested over double rape

Police have arrested a man in connection with the rape of a
15-year-old girl in West Belfast. The girl was attacked by two men
and raped twice by one of them. It is understood police are still
looking for the suspected rapist.

Source:- The Times Monday August 8 2005 page 23

Doctors fear mute “Piano Man” will never be
identified

The mute blond virtuoso found wandering near a remote beach in
Kent four months ago remains in a psychiatric hospital in Kent. His
carers said yesterday they believe he may never be identified.

Source:- The Independent Monday August 8 2005 page
17

Scottish news

Council tax ‘rip-off’ for care home residents after
Executive blunder

Care home residents are being forced to pay more than £1,000 a
year in council tax for their individual rooms following a blunder
by ministers.

New housing laws introduced by the Scottish Executive have
inadvertently defined hundreds of pensioners in nursing homes as
tenants, making them eligible to pay council tax.

Thus, despite having only private accommodation consisting of a
room and a bathroom, they are receiving bills from councils
demanding full rates.

Source:-The Scotland on Sunday 7 August

Fear of arrest prevents drug overdose witnesses calling for
medical help

Drug addicts are dying because witnesses fear being arrested by
police if they call to report an overdose, a study has found.

The investigation, commissioned by deputy justice minister Hugh
Henry, found in almost a fifth of fatal overdoses no ambulance was
called to the scene.

In 81 per cent of cases where paramedics were contacted, the call
was made too late to save the drug taker.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 7 August

Justice system is failing victims of sexual crimes, says
minister

Communities minister Malcolm Chisholm has admitted that the law is
failing to “properly protect” the victims of sexual
crime.

During a visit to the Central Scotland Rape Crisis Centre in
Stirling, Chisholm heard that Scotland, with a conviction rate of
just 6 per cent for sexual crime, has the second worst record in
the Western world.

He admitted the statistics were “concerning”.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 7 August

Campaign to cut overdose drug deaths

The Scottish executive is to launch an education campaign for drug
addicts so that they know what to do if someone overdoses.

It follows research that shows evidence that other drug users are
usually present but helpless when an overdose occurs.

Some take the wrong action, such as putting the dying person in a
cold bath, or slapping them.

Source:- The Herald Monday 8 August

Satanic case report claims ‘child sex abuse did
occur’

A critical report into the collapse of Scotland’s biggest child sex
abuse investigation has concluded that the three girls at the
centre of allegations did suffer physical and sexual abuse.

The official inquiry into the satanic abuse investigation on the
Isle of Lewis in 2003 is expected to make strong criticisms of the
way in which medical evidence was gathered and how child protection
orders were served.

Seven men and one woman were arrested on the Isle of Lewis and in
England in October 2003, but charges were later dropped.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 8 August

Welsh news

Baby left disfigured and disformed

A baby girl has been left disformed and disfigured by the
actions of her depressed mother,  Cardiff Crown Court heard.

The 34-year-old mother picked and scratched at infections on the
child’s skin and sometimes the wounds were so bad that bone was
exposed.

The mother has pleaded guilty to neglect and causing grievous
bodily harm but denies a charge of causing harm with intent. The
child is now with foster parents.

Source:- South Wales Echo Saturday 6 August

Welsh social work crisis

Radical changes are needed in the Welsh social work profession,
according to a report by the Association of Directors of Social
Services Cymru.

It highlights that the country’s most vulnerable children are being
placed at risk due to the massive social work recruitment and
retention problem.

Source:- Western Mail  Monday 8 August

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.