By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.
Brother ‘seconds from saving Sarah’
Sarah Payne was only 10 seconds away from being saved by her brother, it emerged yesterday at Lewes crown court.
Luke Payne was chasing Sarah as she fled a cornfield where the family had been playing, but he turned back to comfort his younger sister Charlotte. When he looked back to Sarah, it was too late to stop her running onto the road where her other brother Lee said he saw a man in a white van.
In a police video recorded the day after Sarah vanished, both brothers gave descriptions of the last time they saw their eight-year-old sister.
Sarah’s body was found in Pulborough, west Sussex, 16 days after she disappeared.
Roy Whiting denies kidnapping and murdering Sarah in July last year.
The trial continues.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 20 November page 3
Climbie parents may sue over care failings
The parents of Victoria Climbie may bring private prosecutions against police officers and care workers whose negligence contributed to her murder, their lawyer said yesterday.
Imran Khan, the solicitor representing Berthe and Francis Climbie said anyone who was found to have failed the child would be brought to book.
A public inquiry into the death of the eight-year-old has heard of 12 occasions when social workers, police and hospital staff could have intervened.
Her parents allowed Victoria’s great aunt Marie Therese Kouao to take the child to Europe in hope she would receive a better education.
Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning were sentenced to life imprisonment in January for murdering and abusing the girl.
Khan said: "At the end of this inquiry, it is possible there may be complaints relating to certain individuals. I am getting déjà-vu from the Lawrence inquiry."
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 20 November page 10
Officer in Climbie case ‘was scared of scabies’
A police constable refused to go into Victoria Climbie’s home for fear of catching scabies, an inquiry into the girl’s death was told yesterday.
PC Karen Jones was asked to inspect the eight-year-old’s home before she was discharged from hospital where she had been admitted with scalding wounds on her head.
She told the inquiry into Victoria’s death: "I was thinking if she has scabies it would be in the home too. It might not be logical, but I did not know anything about scabies."
Instead Marie Therese Kouao was invited to social services offices two days before Victoria was due to return home.
Jones found no grounds for seeking police protection, and Victoria was returned home.
She died six months later.
Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The inquiry continues.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 20 November page 13
So why does a woman stay with a violent man?
For 10 years lecturer Teena Gould put up with the violent behaviour of her partner. Here she tells why she did…
Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 20 November page 26-27
Scottish newspapers
Plan to attract more nurses
A £1.5 million strategy has been launched by the Scottish executive to halt the exodus of nurses to the private sector and reverse the public sector’s shortage of staff.
The plan includes a £200,000 advertising campaign, £200,000 spent on creating 1,000 clinical leaders under a programme created by the Royal College of Nursing, and £100,000 spent on providing grants to former nurses and midwives to encourage their return to the profession.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 20 November page 4
