The ban protecting the identities of the James Bulger’s killers identities may need to be altered further to make it clear to the media what they can and cannot publish, according to a judge yesterday.
President of the high court’s family division Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said: “The press and the media in general are entitled to know where they stand.”
Speaking before a contempt of court application by the attorney general against the Manchester Evening News for allegedly breaching the injunction, Butler-Sloss said the issue was whether or not there really was a breach of the injunction when the paper was published Information that could have led to the identification of the secure units where Thompson and Venables were being held.
The judge said the attorney general accepted that the publication last June, if it was a breach, was not deliberate.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 October page 15
The inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie led by Lord Laming heard yesterday of staff cuts in one of the councils who came into contact with the child before her death.
Former director of Brent social services Mike Boyle told the inquiry that staff and spending cuts had “unravelled” the department’s ability to deal with child abuse cases.
Source:- The Independent Friday 19 October page 16
£1.5m plea for social workers
An advertising campaign will be launched today in a bid to attract a number of social workers into the profession.
Last year almost two thirds of social services departments reported difficulties in recruiting with London and the south-east the worst hit.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 19 October page 2
Almost 25,000 more older people died last winter than in the preceding summer or autumn and the following summer despite mild weather and low levels of flu, according to government figures published yesterday.
The figure was an improvement of the year before the there was a recorded 48,440 “excess” deaths in the winter months, the highest in almost 15 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Campaigners for older people said more action was needed to stop these unnecessary deaths.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 19 October page 14
A staff member at Rochester prison in Kent was being held hostage by a number of young offender inmates yesterday.
The prison service said he was taken hostage around 7.40pm.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 October page 15
An older couple were recovering in hospital yesterday after anti-social behaviour from children drove them to attempt suicide.
The couple who have not been named sent letters to their son, local newspaper and police saying the “shouting and shrieking” had become too much for them.
They were found by ambulance crew having taken overdoses of pills.
Their letter read: “The cause of death of my wife and myself has been the anti-social behaviour of our neighbour’s children and their friends, the total lack of consideration of their parents as to the distress they have caused.”
Source:- The Times Friday 19 October page 15
Appeal judges in Scotland have decided that those caught downloading child porn from the internet should be subject to a maximum of nine to 12 months in prison unless in exceptional circumstances.
The court of criminal appeal was considering the case of former Olympic weightlifter, Alan Ogilvie, who had been sentenced to six months on such charges. Ogilvie’s computer had been found to contain 12,000 indecent pictures of children. When the police confiscated the computer, Ogilvie bought another one and downloaded a further 10,000 images.
Lord Sutherland presiding said that the judges believed that sentence to be appropriate. That, in exceptional circumstances, factors such as the scale of child pornography involved, the degree of indecency and peddling it to others should all be taken into account in determining the maximum sentence of up to three years. The judges rejected the notion that child porn is a “victimless” crime, but their judgement is bound to attract condemnation from child welfare groups.
Source:- The Herald Friday 19 October page 1
Home office immigration officials have launched an investigation into women being smuggled illegally into Glasgow to be forced into prostitution. Immigration officials believe that the city has become a major target for international dealers in smuggling the women, mainly from the Far East and the Balkans, into the city then withholding their passports and enslaving them to prostitution rings. Strathclyde Police and Glasgow Council have joined forces with the Home office.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 19 October page 5
The most radical overhaul of mental health legislation in Scotland in 40 years was announced by Susan Deacon, health minister, yesterday. The Scottish executive’s proposals are geared to enhance the rights of service users and carers. Compulsory treatment will no longer be dealt with by sheriff courts, but by new mental health tribunals, chaired by a lawyer but served by experts on mental health and community care. Service users are to have more access to advocacy support and free access to legal representation. New community orders will allow, for the first time, certain patients to be treated compulsorily while living in the community. The executive’s proposals are expected to become law early next year.
Source The Herald Friday 19 October page 14
Speculation mounted that new private prisons are to be built to replace existing jails as Scottish prison bosses trawl the country for new land. According to inside sources, a stretch of land near Cambuslang has been earmarked as one of three potential sites. Another is the location of the former Stoneyetts Hospital near Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire, which could be used to replace Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison.
In recent weeks, critics have claimed that the governors of many Scottish prisons have been forced out to make way for a new privatisation programme. A spokesperson for the Scottish Prison Service confirmed that a number of sites had been identified for potential development but denied that any decisions had been made.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 18 October page 1
Despite UK unemployment dropping to the lowest levels since 1975, jobless figures for Scotland have bucked the trend and increased for the first time in two years.
Across the UK, unemployment dropped by 4,900 over the last month while it increased in Scotland by 800. International Labour Organisation (ILO) figures, which take account those not claiming benefit, showed a dramatic rise of 27,000 in Scotland since August – more than half the entire UK increase of 53,000 – and the biggest jump since 1993. Analysts blame the increase in unemployment in Scotland’s greater dependence on tourism, and the effects of the foot and mouth crisis as well as heavy losses in the IT industries.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 18 October page 2
