By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson.
Couple jailed for starving tortured daughter to death
An investigation into how a social services department failed to protect Ainlee Walker from abuse began yesterday after the child’s parents were jailed for starving and torturing the two-year-old to death.
Leanne Labonte and Dennis Henry were convicted of manslaughter and child cruelty at the Old Bailey, nine months after Ainlee’s body was found with 64 injuries.
Labonte was sentenced for 10 years and Henry to 12 after the jury found them guilty of what doctors described as "the grossest of gross neglect".
Newham social services in east London, where the couple lived, admitted that it made mistakes and has set up a multi-agency independent inquiry which will report in November.
Source:- The Times Saturday 21 September page 7
Deportee ‘stunt’ under attack by rights groups
A group of illegal immigrants was deported yesterday while being filmed by television cameras in a bid by ministers to persuade the public that the asylum policy is working.
Human rights groups branded the stunt, which saw 48 men, women and children from the Czech Republic boarding a chartered aircraft at Stansted airport "appalling".
Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson Simon Hughes said: "It is verging on the obscene for the home office to stage photo opportunities as we send back from Britain those asylum seekers whose applications for asylum have not succeeded."
Source:- The Times Saturday 21 September page 14
Divorced father fight for share of child benefit
A man who shares the care of his son equally with his ex-wife won the right yesterday to mount a legal challenge to the rules denying him a share of child benefit.
Benefit rules discriminate against fathers, according to Kevin Barber. He claims the rules treat him like an "absentee" father even though he looks after his 11-year-old son, Gareth, for half the week.
All the child benefit payment goes to Gareth’s mother, Karen, and the department for work and pensions has refused to split it between the parents.
Barber’s lawyers claim the rules violate his right to respect for his home and private life and to freedom from discrimination under the European convention on human rights.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 21 September page 6
Prisoner found hanged in cell
A prisoner on remand was found hanging in his cell at Bedford prison yesterday.
Gary Horth from Peterborough had been charged with supplying drugs.
Staff and paramedics failed to resuscitate him.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 21 September page 13
Council unions accept two-year 7.7% pay deal
Three public sector unions accepted a 7.7 per cent pay rise over two years yesterday, avoiding a repetition of the winter of discontent of 1979.
Unison, the GMB and TGWU had threatened disruption to services if no agreement had been reached.
But the threat of strikes remains because, despite the agreement, there could be more disputes if councils press ahead with the privatisation of more services.
Local government employers admitted that more work may have to be "outsource" to pay for the deal, which will also see a rise of 10.9 per cent for those on minimum wage rates.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 21 September page 8
Ecstasy death father in clear
The father of Jade Slack, Britain’s youngest ecstasy victim, has been told that he will not face charges over his daughter’s death.
Simon Slack, from Galgate, Lancashire, was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of controlled substances. But police have now confirmed that the case against him has been dropped.
Slack’s daughter, Jade, aged 10, died in July after swallowing up to five tablets.
A 20-year-old man and two women aged 17 and 20, have been arrested in connection with Jade’s death and are due to answer police bail on Tuesday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 21 September page 8
Police set to arrest 2,000 paedophiles
The largest police inquiry in Britain could result in up to 2,000 suspected paedophiles facing arrest.
Among the suspects are several magistrates and solicitors, civil servants and councillors, 30 police officers, top business people and a crown prosecutor.
Social workers and teachers in London are known to be among more than 500 people under suspicion. A judge in Ireland is under investigation.
Teams of detectives in England, Wales and Scotland are now preparing to make arrests over the next few months after finalising shortlists of suspects.
Source:- The Sunday Times 22 September page 1
Granny tags to protect the elderly
Older people are to be tagged electronically in a bid to track their movements and prevent them from wandering into harm’s way.
The plastic wrist tags, that are used on young criminals, will set off an alarm if they wander outside a radius of up to 300 yards or through the wrong doors.
Wardens will be able to identify zones within a care home where each tagged resident is located using the wireless technology that sends a digital signal from the tag to a central monitor.
The technology was developed by Dmatek a company that helps the home office tag young offenders. The scheme could eventually be used to monitor a person’s heartbeat and body temperature.
The pilot scheme is the firs of its kind in Britain and will be launched at Martin House, a residential home in Southall, west London.
Source:- The Sunday Times 22 September page 12
Blair adviser on elderly quits after nursing home scandal
The government adviser to Tony Blair and Alan Milburn on issues concerning older people has been forced to step down from his post as well as from the board of Help the Aged, following a report into one of his former company’s nursing homes.
Labour party donor Chai Patel has agreed to stand down as the health secretary’s adviser and has also resigned from the board of Help the Aged because of an independent report exposing neglect and treatment of 72 frail residents at Lynde House in Twickenham, Middlesex.
A number of older people were found to have suffered physical injuries, poor nursing care and a lack of basic hygiene.
The report dealt with allegations by relatives and residents dating back to 1999. The home at the time was run by Westminster Health Care, the company founded by Patel.
Earlier this year he sold his share of the company and he is now chief executive of Priory Healthcare.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 22 September page 2
MPs back anonymity for child abuse suspects
People accused of sex offences including rape and child abuse should be granted anonymity until they are convicted, according to a House of Commons committee.
A report to be released later this year by the home affairs select committee will say that the anonymity of victims of sex offences should be extended to the accused.
It will also argue that the reputations of people are so damaged by allegations which are later found to be disproved in court, that special dispensation should be made for those involved.
The committee, chaired by Chris Mullin, came to its conclusions following an investigation into child abuse in children’s homes and the police method of trawling for information among former residents, even if they have not approached the police with specific allegations.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 22 September page 3
Killing fuels child agency debate
Ministers are considering setting up a statutory child protection agency following the killing of Ainlee Walker.
Amid public outrage over how the emaciated two-year-old slipped through the net of care, the government is examining whether a new agency would be better quipped than social services teams to prevent such a tragedy.
Downing Street's policy unit and the department of health are considering the idea as part of a wide ranging look at children’s services.
But social services directors have warned that such a re-organisation could cause more turmoil, and that taking the responsibility out of council control would not necessarily ensure better protection for vulnerable families.
Ainlee had been on the Newham social services file since her birth in June 1999, but a year later, the case was closed against the advice of health professionals. She was taken back into the system five months before her death, but was not seen again.
Ainlee’s mother, Leanne Labonte, was jailed at the Old Bailey last Friday and the child’s father Dennis Henry was also jailed for 12 years.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 22 September page 13
Two babies were tortured to death – but no-one was tried for murder
A two-page analysis looking at how police want the law changed to remove the right to silence from parents who get away with murder by pinning the blame on each other or colluding in a fabricated story.
MPs are also calling for a shake up of the child protection system. The couple were jailed for manslaughter after sustained torture led to the death of the two-year-old girl.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 22 September page 16-17
First 50 ‘support police’ hit streets
The first 50 community support officers will begin patrolling London today as part of the government’s drive to provide a more visible official presence on the streets.
David Blunkett will announce that 27 of the 42 police forces in England and Wales have decided to employ the new type of officer, and that more than 1,000 will be introduced over the next few months.
The community support officers will be ale to issue fixed penalty tickets for a range of anti social behaviour including drunkenness, littering and graffiti, although they are not trained police officers.
In the six pilot areas the new officers will also be able to detain a suspect for 30 minutes until a sworn police officer arrives.
The detention powers will be tested for two years before it is decided whether to roll the powers out nationally.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 23 September page 8
Police look at cardinal’s role in child abuse case
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is being investigated by police into whether he covered up sex abuse by a paedophile who was later jailed for offences against children.
The allegations are from the 1980s when Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was bishop of Brighton and Arundel. They centre on the case of Father Michael Hill who was moved from his parish and made chaplain at Gatwick airport following complaints about his conduct.
He was later jailed for five years for abusing a boy with learning difficulties who he met at the airport. He was released last year.
The Catholic Church in other western countries have made accusations of a cover-up.
A Sussex police spokesperson said that following a complaint by a member of the public, the force and the crown prosecution service were "looking into the issues raised".
Source:- The Guardian Monday 23 September page 12
Call for child porn arrests
The government was urged to give police extra money to fund an operation to arrest thousands of internet pornography suspects yesterday by a group of children’s charities.
Fewer than 100 people on a list of 7,272 Britons subscribing to a US- based paedophile website network have been arrested since the information was supplied to UK police a year ago.
Detectives believe they have adequate evidence to arrest more than 2,000, but have been hindered by a lack of resources.
The Children’s Charities Coalition for Internet Safety said it was concerned that the inquiry should not suffer further delays.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 23 September page 10
Hughes calls for all violent criminals to be jailed
The Liberal Democrats will today call for new policies tackling violent behaviour, child pornographers and drug dealers.
Home affairs spokesperson Simon Hughes will demand at the party’s conference in Brighton that violent criminals be jailed automatically.
He will also propose that anyone who is found guilty of "violence against the individual" should be sent to prison, but that other offenders should be kept out of jail except as a last resort.
Dangerous drivers, hard drug dealers and people found guilty of peddling child pornography should face jail. Career criminals who failed to respond to other forms of punishment should also be imprisoned.
Shoplifters, pick pockets and recreational drug users should be offered "alternative sentences" such as community service or rehabilitation.
Source:- The Independent Monday 23 September page 6
Scottish newspapers
City firms give street prostitutes red light
Big business is pushing prostitutes out of a notorious section of Glasgow’s red light district.
Prostitutes have been forced to leave the Anderson area of the city after the police were inundated with complaints from companies moving there as part of a multi-million pound redevelopment.
The sex workers say they have been corralled back into the heart of the red light district and into dangerous unlit lanes. They have told police they fear a repeat of the vicious attacks carried out in the area in the 90s.
Source:- Scotland On Sunday September 22 page 16
Wallace rejects calls for more research into rape figures
The Scottish executive has dismissed calls for new research into Scotland’s dismal conviction rate for rape and sexual assault.
Jim Wallace, minister for justice, has enraged women’s rights campaigners by ruling out an investigation into why only 10 per cent of all rapes reported to the police ever make it to court.
Source:- Scotland On Sunday September 22 page 9
Migrants crucial to future of Scotland
A drive to encourage more migrants to come to Scotland will start this week with a campaign to challenge Scots’ racist attitudes, and persuade people that the nation will need new workers to offset its dwindling and ageing population.
Source:- The Sunday Herald September 22 page 9
Parents using informal means to control internet access for young
Most parents have a relaxed attitude to their children’s use of the internet and television, despite worries about sites featuring paedophilia and the violent storylines of some soaps, a new survey has found.
Source:- The Herald September 23 page 7
Welsh newspapers
Prison of death
Home office officials are investigating the eighth suicide in five years at Parc Prison in Bridgend.
Sean Richings was found hanging in his cell at the prison in south Wales on Friday. Prison staff tried to revive him, but he died later in hospital with his family at his bedside.
Richings had been serving a 17-month sentence for perverting the course of justice.
The suicide is the latest in a catalogue of controversies that has dogged the prison, run by Securicor, since it opened in 1997.
Earlier this year a senior officer was suspended after allegedly beating up a prisoner, and in another incident a prisoner was handed a ‘joke’ note by a guard telling him a family member was dead.
Last October, an investigation was launched after a 20-year-old inmate was injured in an alleged attack by four other prisoners.
Source:- Welsh Daily Mirror Monday 23 September page 9
Council ‘is putting staff before children’
A row has broken out over plans by Denbighshire council to build a new civic centre for staff and councillors.
The cash-strapped council has been forced to minimise budgets for vital services after inheriting a £7 million debt from one of its predecessor authorities in 1996. But it has already built two new council offices and is weeks away from signing another contract for new civic offices in Ruthin, that will cost around £14 million.
The offices will be paid for in instalments over the next 25 years, and some council tax payers are concerned that this will reduce the amount of money available for social services, road maintenance, education and other under-funded services.
The county also has some of the most dilapidated schools in the whole of Wales, and Gethin Lewis, secretary of NUT Cymru, said he was concerned that local authorities were building "palatial" council accommodation before improving schools.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 23 September page 6
