By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson.
Blair’s on-the-spot-fines are just the ticket
The prime minister’s idea of on-the-spot-fines to curb street crime and anti-social behaviour appears to have been successful.
Police are praising the scheme as the perfect financial "clip round the ear" for offenders, giving officers extra authority on the streets and more time on patrol.
Early figures suggest the scheme has worked in the pilot areas, and it is now likely to be introduced nationally as early as next year.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 17 September page 3
Boy, 16, killed baby
A 16-year-old boy was ordered to be detained for 12 months yesterday after he shook his girlfriend’s baby to death.
The teenager, who was described by his girlfriend as a "Jekyll and Hyde" character, became stressed with the four-month-old child when he was left to look after her. He shook her to stop her crying and put her to bed.
But the teenager from Leicester told the police that when he went to wake her she was limp.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted manslaughter at Nottingham crown court.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 17 September page 5
‘Cot death’ couple lied to hide guilt
The parents of a baby concocted a false story after one of the adults shook the child to death, a coroner concluded yesterday.
Angus Fell was thought to have been a victim of cot death when he died at his home in Ormsgill, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in December three years ago.
Coroner Ian Smith concluded that the child had been unlawfully killed. There was overwhelming medical evidence that the baby had been shaken, but if it cannot be proved which parents shook the child, neither can be prosecuted.
The couple, Anthony and Angela, lost another son, Gareth, to cot death syndrome when he was three months old in 1993.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 17 September page 5
Girl, 13, forced to smuggle £900,000 of heroin
The case against a 13-year-old girl accused of smuggling heroin into the country was dropped yesterday.
A court was told how the teenager accused of smuggling £900,000 worth of heroin into Britain from Pakistan, was coerced into acting as a drug "mule".
The child’s future will now be decided by a family court after the case against her was dropped, and a formal verdict of not guilty was recorded at Manchester crown court.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 17 September page 7
Strategy seeks to cut number of suicides by 20 per cent in eight years
The first national suicide prevention strategy was launched yesterday by ministers in a bid to reduce the number of people taking their lives by at least 20 per cent in eight years.
Young men, prisoners, farmers, alongside other high risk groups in England, will be targeted to identify better ways of providing mental health services to the people who need them most.
Factors such as unemployment and poor housing will be examined by a cross-government network, to see how they can impact on people with mental health problems.
Safety at suicide hotspots such as cliffs and railway bridges will need to be improved by local authorities.
Health minister Jacqui Smith said that £329 million was set aside in the NHS Plan to improve community mental health services, including the provision of more crisis resolution teams.
Around 5,000 people commit suicide in England each year. It is the most common cause of death in men under 35, and the main cause of premature death among people with mental health problems.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 17 September page 7
Hanging victim had record of self-harm
A 16-year-old boy found dead at Feltham young offenders’ institution, west London, had tried to hang himself at least once in the previous fortnight, an inquest heard yesterday.
Kevin Jacobs had been found semi-unconscious and "seconds away from death" after he tied a sheet around his neck and the bars of his prison cell, 15 days before he was found hanging on 29 September last year.
The jury at west London coroners court also heard how three days before he committed suicide, staff found ripped up sheets hidden in his single cell. They were "extremely concerned" for his safety after he tried to smash a chair and wardrobe door through his window, and had been found playing with a plastic knife.
The inquest also heard how the 16-year-old who was serving a six-month detention and training order for robbery and assault, had a well documented history of self-harm.
The hearing continues.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 17 September page 9
Independent review of Soham evidence
An independent review was ordered yesterday into the handling of exhibits collected during the investigation of the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.
Police want to ensure that the integrity of the investigation has now been compromised after one of the officers responsible for the exhibits was charged with child pornography offences.
PC Antony Goodridge was one of five exhibits officers involved in the inquiry into the deaths of the two ten-year-old girls. He was charged last week with four counts of child pornography offences.
Police have insisted that the arrest of Goodridge and DC Brian Stevens, who faces three charges, is not connected to the murder investigation.
However, there are fears that if the review is not undertaken, a defence barrister may try to use the situation to put doubt in a jury’s mind about the investigation.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 17 September page 11
A child’s well-being ‘can be blighted by where they live’
Research has found that the likelihood of children becoming teenage parents, suicidal or binge drinkers can be dependent on where they live.
Those in Scotland tend to be the best educated, but the most prone to suicide, while young people in Wales are most likely to turn to drugs, drink too much and become teenage parents.
Northern Ireland has the highest infant mortality rate, but the lowest teenage fertility rate, according to the research by save the Children and York University.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 17 September page 10
Scottish newspapers
Executive in £10m drive to boost education of teenagers in care
Proposals to improve the education of Scotland’s 11,000 children in care will be announced by the executive today.
Jack McConnell, the first minister, will unveil a scheme worth up to £10 million to help disadvantaged 16 and 17-year-olds in care to get to university or college.
Source:- The Scotsman September 17 page 9
Nearly every child in one area of Dundee is living in poverty
Children in Scotland live in some of the most deprived areas, have the worst diets and the highest youth suicide rates in the UK, according to a study from Save The Children and York University.
It shows one district of Dundee, Whitfield South, as having the UK’s highest local concentration of poor children with 96 per cent living in poverty.
Source:- The Herald September 17 page 1
Save Our Kids
Suicide among young Scots is soaring. Today we ask readers to donate to our appeal to save Scottish kids.
Source:- The Daily Record September 17 pages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
England versus Scotland
Scotland is lagging behind England in the fight to protect children and young people from the pressures which can lead to suicide.
The government launched England’s first ever suicide prevention strategy yesterday as part of a £329 million investment in community health services.
There has been no similar plan in Scotland – despite a vow from the executive two years ago.
Source:- The Daily Record September 17 pages 6 and 7
Nightmare of kid hookers
Joanne was just 14 when she sold her body on the streets of Glasgow.
The depressed youngster ran from social work care to the city’s "drag".
Source:- The Daily Record September 17 page 9
Welsh newspapers
Our children are Britain's poorest
Welsh children are the poorest in Britain and with a third living in poverty the impact on their later lives can be devastating.
A new report from the charity Save the Children says that parents on low incomes " simply do not have enough money or other resources to be able to eat a healthy, balanced diet".
The charity suggests that the mental and physical stresses on children caused by being unable to afford an adequate diet may be so severe as to contravene the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The 400-page report published just one day before the Government unveils its own child poverty report reveals that the most deprived ward in Wales is Tredegar Park, Newport, where 81.7 per cent are judged to be living in poverty.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 17 September page 1
Time to help all the victims of heroin
An interview with North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom about ways of tackling the escalating drug problem in Wales:
The chief constable calls for a 'seamless approach' where agencies would work together rather than have separate agendas, but he stresses that for this to happen the Welsh Assembly needs to show greater leadership.
He says that in England there is an agency that has been set up to improve treatment for drug addicts, and that it is important to think beyond arrest to more effective ways of dealing with addiction.
"If you treated these offenders not just as offenders, but also as patients, or as victims of their addiction, then as a society we start thinking of these things differently," he said.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 17 September page 11
