By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson.
Sex offenders move home to ‘hotspots’ close to jails
The government’s aim of bringing sex offenders together under one roof is encouraging them to set up home close to prison after release.
High numbers of paedophiles are living in areas where there are prisons specialising in their care. Experts say that when sex offenders are released, they often choose to live close to jails rather than returning home to their previous home communities, where they could be shunned.
Nottinghamshire has the highest proportion of registered sex offenders in England and Wales, according to statistics compiled by The Times. The county is home to Whatton prison, 12 miles from Nottingham which can hold 275 sex offenders.
Source:- The Times Saturday 14 September page 1
Soham policemen charged
The detective who comforted Jessica Chapman’s family following the death of their daughter was last night charged with possession of child pornography.
Following an FBI investigation into child pornography websites, police seized a computer belonging to detective constable Brian Stevens.
Stevens worked as a family liaison officer with Jessica’s parents after the 10-year-old was abducted and murdered with her friend Holly Wells.
A second policeman involved in the investigation into the girl’s disappearance last month was also charged with possession of indecent images of children. Constable Tony Goodridge was responsible for storing and cataloguing evidence in the investigation.
Both men were due to appear before magistrates at Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, on Saturday
Source:- The Times Saturday 14 September page 1
Home therapy breakthrough for autistic children
A new method of home therapy for young autistic children has proved so successful that nearly all the children in the study were able to start school, researchers said yesterday.
One-to-one training carried out at home is now being evaluated to see how it can be extended.
Professor Alec Webster, who led the research which was funded by Bristol council, said: "It is a major breakthrough for a number of reasons."
"All of the children without exception have made huge gains in their development," he added. "There is nothing negative to say about it."
The National Autistic Society has welcomed the research saying it might prove to have key pointers to helping autistic children take part in every day life.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 14 September page 11
Pre-trial children can be locked up
Children as young as 12 could now be locked up while awaiting trial under new powers to come into force across the country next week.
Children could now be remanded in custody by magistrates as opposed to automatically being granted bail in all but the most serious cases.
The law was introduced following complaints from police that thousands of street robberies were being committed by young offenders on bail.
Courts in 10 crime hotspots have had the powers since April, and these will be extended across the country from Monday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 14 September page 15
IDS pledges to slay the ‘five giants ‘ that ruin life for millions
The Conservative party leader promised to slay the ‘five giants’ he claimed were stalking the land and making life a misery for millions.
Iain Duncan Smith pledged to champion the vulnerable who have been left behind by New Labour.
In a speech to mark his first year as Tory leader, Duncan Smith placed reform of public services at the heart of his political creed.
The five giants of today are failing schools, sub-standard healthcare, crime, child poverty and insecurity in old age, he said.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 14 September page 2
90% of asylum rejects do not leave Britain
Nine out of 10 asylum seekers, whose application to stay in Britain were rejected last year, remained illegally in Britain, according to a new study of the country’s immigration crisis.
The study says that 97,500 immigrants who should have been deported last year as a result of home office decisions remained illegally in the country.
The report is to be presented by former British ambassador Sir Andrew Green, who is now chairperson of Migrationwatch UK, an independent thinktank set up last October to monitor the government’s immigration and asylum policies.
In evidence to the select committee on home affairs, Green will say the government’s policy of removing illegal refugees is a sham.
Source:- The Sunday Times 15 September page 30
British paedophiles make mockery of ‘crackdown’
The government’s crackdown on sex tourism is being defied by British paedophiles, who are travelling to Cambodia and sexually abusing children, a Sunday Telegraph investigation has revealed.
The sex offenders who come from America, Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland as well as Britain, were recorded by reporters boasting about sexual exploits with children as young as six.
The behaviour is occurring despite government promises to tackle the problem of paedophiles travelling abroad for sex. In 1997, the government introduces a Sex Offenders Act, under which paedophiles can be prosecuted for offences committed abroad.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 15 September page 1
Two Soham police officers in court over child pornography
The family liaison officer who comforted the family of Jessica Chapman appeared in court yesterday charged with possessing and seeking to distribute child pornography.
Detective constable Brian Stevens faced three charges of inciting the distribution of indecent photographs of children. Alongside him, constable Antony Goodridge faces four charges.
Both were arrested on Thursday as part of a world-wide investigation into child pornography. Both officers were remanded into custody until tomorrow when another hearing will discuss bail.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 15 September page 4
Revealed: the true cost to children of a marriage break-up
Children who grow up with both parents are more likely to be happier, healthier and more likely to succeed than those born to single parents, according to a study.
The children of married couples were also less likely to suffer physical and mental illness or turn to crime or drugs, according to the study by thinktank Civitas. This remained the case even when their background was as poor and underprivileged as the children of lone parents.
Single mothers were found to be poorer, less healthy and more depressed than married women, while lone fathers had higher death rates, drank more and indulged in unsafe sex.
Author of the report, Rebecca O’Neill said her findings proved the benefit of traditional family life, and called for the government to admit publicly that marriage is the best way to raise children.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 15 September page 14
Immigrants told to speak English – even at home
The home secretary said yesterday that immigrants should abandon their mother tongue and speak English instead.
David Blunkett said parents should speak English to their children to prevent "schizophrenic rifts" between generations.
Blunkett said children should be encouraged to talk to their mothers "in English as well as in their historic mother tongue".
Acting chairperson of the Commission for Racial Equality, Beverley Bernard, said: "The commission has always supported the view that proficiency in English is a springboard to future independence. This is true for ethnic minorities as it is for white working class people.
"But the suggestion that we might prescribe, what, how and when a language is spokes in people’s private homes is not acceptable," she added.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 September page 1
‘Disabled’ car cheats may dodge £5 toll
Thousands of drivers are likely to evade the £5 traffic toll in central London next year by exploiting free access for disabled people.
Measures are to be introduced by Transport for London as it is so concerned about the prospect.
There are 1.93 million holders of blue badges, up by a million in a decade.
Disabled groups claim that up to 700,000 badges are used fraudulently to obtain parking privileges.
Transport for London will now ask badge holders to sign declarations that they may be jailed for two years or fined £5,000 if they abuse the system. Random checks are to be carried out.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 September page 2
Unvetted trainees face teaching bans
Thousands of trainee teachers could be prevented from teaching placements in schools because they have not been vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau.
Up to a third of students embarking on teacher training courses have still not had their checks completed.
Those taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Education are due to begin placements in schools as early as this week.
Universities are concerned that some may not qualify as teachers if they cannot spend adequate time in schools as head teachers refuse to accept them without clearance.
A survey found 11,000 of the 30,000 people starting courses this month had not been cleared.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 September page 7
Paedophile name change curb demanded
The government has been urged by the head of a child protection charity
to close a loophole in the law that allows sex offenders to assume an alias and re-offend.
Mary Marsh, director and chief executive of the NSPCC, said that a police background check should be compulsory for anyone applying to change their name.
She said the ease with which child abusers could get close to children by changing their names was shocking.
"It’s crucial that your identity has some integrity, so that people can trace you right back," she said.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 September page 7
Law increases danger, prostitutes say
A television programme tonight will claim that Britain’s 30,000 prostitutes are more likely to be beaten or raped because of a new law aimed at deterring kerb crawlers.
Nearly three out of four prostitutes said they had been sexually assaulted or seriously beaten in the last year.
Police crackdowns led to a quarter of those interviewed agreeing to unsafe sexual practices as clients decreased, makers of the Channel 4 programme found.
New laws introduced last October mean that kerb crawlers are at greater risk of arrest or having DNA taken by police.
The film will be broadcast tonight at 9pm.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 16 September page 2
Blair attacked over ‘failing’ family policy
The government is accused today of marginalising the role of men as fathers and undermining women who try to combine raising children with a career.
Three leading government-funded organisations says the emphasis on men as wage earners rather than fathers prevents mothers achieving an influential role in the labour market. Men’s child-rearing role is not respected.
The report by the Fawcett Society, the Equal Opportunities Commission and Fathers Direct calls for a "gender audit" of government departments and public services to address the situation.
Blair should examine the work of the health, education, legal and social services to identify where they fail to support women in fulfilling their potential at work.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 16 September page 7
Violence against refugees reaches new high
Two thousand racially motivated attacks have been inflicted on asylum seekers who have dispersed around Britain under the government’s dispersal scheme, which began two years ago.
The home office figure raises doubts about the validity of the dispersal scheme, which was introduced by the government to take pressures off local authorities in London and the south-east.
Nearly 100 of the "racial incidents" have been reported in Sunderland, and the home office said that it has stopped sending asylum seekers there.
Source:- The Independent Monday 16 September page 1
Blunkett and Brown argue over cash for prison reform
David Blunkett and Gordon Brown are arguing over the home secretary’s aim to squeeze more money out of the Treasury for Britain’s overcrowded prisons.
Blunkett has ordered an independent inquiry into the prison, probation and youth justice services that is designed to strengthen his hand in his battle for extra money.
Brown was furious at the way Blunkett originally set up the value for money prisons inquiry in his spending review. According to Brown's allies, the home secretary agreed not to go ahead with the inquiry without his backing.
But the plan was then added to Blunkett’s home office white paper at the last minute.
The Chancellor clashed with Blunkett over the home secretary’s bid for extra money before the Budget in April, and the home office was given a less than generous cash boost than health or education in the July spending review.
Home office ministers hope the investigation will strengthen the case for alternatives to prison, including offenders serving "weekend" sentences so they can hold down a job during the week.
They are concerned that the prison population is now a record 71,000, and half of all prisoners released in 1997 were reconvicted within two years.
Source:- The Independent Monday 16 September page 7
Scottish newspapers
Climbdown on smacking hits Wallace
Fresh humiliation has been heaped on justice minister Jim Wallace who has been forced to abandon plans to ban the smacking of toddlers.
The beleaguered Liberal Democrat announced that the proposal to criminalise parents who struck a child of under-three would be dropped after an all-party parliamentary committee rejected the idea.
Source:- The Herald September 14 page 1
Fears over high rate of young suicides
The suicide of a 12-year-old girl, the latest in a series of deaths among young Scots, led to accusations that the government was clinging to policies that no longer worked.
Emma Morrison was found hanging from her bunk bed by her mother at their home in Edinburgh.
She is the tenth young person to have taken their own life in the Lothians since January.
Source:- The Herald September 14 page 8
Suicide prompts calls for action on bullying
The family of a 12-year-old girl who killed herself after being taunted by classmates has called for the government to set up units to tackle bullying in schools.
Source:- The Sunday Times September 15 page 8
Conti ‘ignored confession claim of sex abuse’
Scotland’s most senior Catholic clergyman faces accusations that he turned a deaf ear when an eight-year-old boy told him in confession he was being abused at a Catholic care home.
The alleged incident is said to have happened in 1961 when Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow, was a parish priest in Aberdeen.
One of the nuns in charge of the home was Sister Alphonso who was charged in September 2000 and convicted last year for physically abusing children in her care.
Source:- The Sunday Times September 15 page 1
Fears for elderly over shortage of places in care homes
Older people hoping to spend their retirement in the comfort of a care home could be shunted into sheltered housing instead.
Edinburgh council has estimated that, despite plans to build six more care homes, hundreds of extra places will be needed in the next five years.
Source:- The Scotsman September 16 page 3
Schools fight web porn
Access to internet pornography will be removed from the classroom, using new software aimed at protecting children.
Source: The Scotsman September 16 page 7
Survey uncovers shock legacy of the single parent
The full price paid by children for the breakdown of the family has been spelled out for the first time.
A new analysis reveals that children without fathers face a higher chance of death as babies and, in adulthood, they are more likely to be unemployed, homeless or imprisoned.
The analysis from the Civitas civic affairs think tank blames the collapse of the two-parent family for rising crime and violence, for the erosion of community spirit and for growing welfare dependency.
Source:- Daily Mail September 16 page 26
Posters highlight obscenity of child prostitution
A hard-hitting advertising campaign highlighting the problems of child prostitution will be launched across the UK today by Barnardo’s.
In the first national campaign of its kind, a series of disturbing adverts depict child victims of abuse with prematurely aged faces.
The campaign is accompanied by a report urging the Scottish executive to do more to protect children from abuse through prostitution.
Source:- The Herald September 16 page 3
Welsh newspapers
Children, six, forced to work as prostitutes
Children as young as six are being abused and exploited by adults and forced to work as prostitutes, according to new research.
The report, 'Stolen Childhood', released today (Monday) by the charity Barnardo’s calls for new legislation that will make it a criminal offence to buy the sexual services of a child. The new law would also make criminal, recruiting, inducing or compelling a child into commercial sexual exploitation illegal.
Sally Jenkins, project manager for the Barnardo’s Marlborough Road project in Cardiff, said that young people were being charged with prostitution offences, which was sickening and farcical. She added that children were not the purveyors of crime, but were being grossly abused by adults.
The charity’s policy officer Andy James said that children as young as six are known to have been abused through prostitution. These children have been entrapped, coerced, beaten and abused.
Barnardo’s Cymru, Wales’s largest children’s charity, says existing legislation in Wales and England regarding sexual offending is complicated and outdated.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 16 September pages 1 and 7, and comment page 10
