News round up: Jersey carer convicted of abuse

Jersey carer convicted of abuse

A former carer at a Jersey children’s home was found guilty today of indecently assaulting teenagers in the 1970s.

Gordon Wateridge, 78, was convicted of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault following a trial at Jersey royal court. He was the first person to be charged in connection with the Haut de la Garenne abuse investigation
Read more on this story in The Guardian

David Cameron backs NHS with memory of his late son Ivan

David Cameron invoked the memory of his late son, Ivan, today as he defended the Tories’ commitment to the NHS.

Bruised by the transatlantic row over the health service, in which a Tory MEP dismissed the NHS as a “60-year mistake”, Cameron described it as a “fantastic and precious fact of British life”.
Read more on this story in The Guardian

Unemployment rises in Britain’s seaside towns

The decision by millions of cash-strapped British holidaymakers to abandon a trip abroad in favour of a more frugal stay on home soil has failed to provide extra jobs in the country’s struggling seaside towns, new figures reveal today.

Read more on this story in The Independent

Barristers’ fees slashed in government sqeeze on legal aid bill

Defence barristers face swingeing cuts of up to 25 per cent in their fees under government moves to freeze the £2 billion annual legal aid bill. Payments for some expert witnesses giving their opinions in cases will also fall by up to 20 per cent in an attempt to reduce a £192 million-a-year bill.

Duty solicitors offering advice at some police stations will lose out as the Ministry of Justice targets legal aid in a drive to reduce the overall departmental budget by £1 billion over the next three years
Read more on this story in The Times