By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson.
Father kills himself and four young sons
A man and his four sons were found dead in a fume-filled car yesterday in north Wales.
Police tracked Keith Young to a car park on the Horseshoe pass near Llangollen after he called his estranged wife by mobile telephone and told her what he planned to do.
A dog handler from north Wales smashed the windows of the vehicle and pulled the boys’ bodies from the back seat but they were already dead.
Young’s estranged wife Samantha yesterday identified Joshua, Thomas, Callum and Daniel at Wrexham hospital. She had left the family home shortly before Christmas.
Source:- The Times Friday 28 March page 15
Researchers focus on child killers
Men who kill their children are likely to seem happy, loving fathers before they commit suicide, according to experts yesterday.
Pressures of debt, unemployment or divorce can drive an apparently stable father to stab, shoot or gas his children.
Around 25 men have murdered their offspring in Britain in the past ten years.
While mothers tend to kill their children because they want to commit suicide and cannot bear to leave children behind, men are often motivated by jealousy, rage or desire for revenge, the researchers claim.
Source:- The Times Friday 28 March page 15
Refugee killed
A young asylum seeker died after being stabbed during an argument in a park in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
The 19-year-old is believed to be from Kosovo, and police say a man was spotted running from the scene.
Source:- The Times Friday 28 March page 18
Poor not claiming for welfare benefits
The Chancellor’s policy to aim welfare payments at the poorest households came under the spotlight yesterday after new figures showed that £3.4 billion of benefits went unclaimed last year.
One of the sharpest rises was the failure to claim council tax benefit, particularly among pensioners. A total of 1.7 million people missed failed to claim the benefit last year, losing £725 million due to them collectively. The figures were released by the office for National Statistics.
Source:- The Times Friday 28 march page 20
Charities scorn aid cash from government
British aid charities have signed a statement saying they are not going to accept government financial support for their relief work in Iraq, for fear of compromising their independence.
Directors of Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, Action Aid and Catholic agency, Cafod believe the aid would be inappropriate while fighting continues.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 28 March page 12
Police numbers reach new record
The government has reached its target of providing a 130,000 strong police force, six months ahead of schedule, according to figures published yesterday.
The announcement coincided with the publication of the new anti-social behaviour bill confirming an extension in the ability of police and other law enforcement officers to impose fixed penalty notices for a range of low level offences.
Measures to impose drug treatment and other community penalties on persistent beggars outlined in the White Paper were not included in the bill. The power to make begging a recordable offence to trigger new penalties are to follow in secondary regulations.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 28 March page 16
Amnesty condemns ‘safe haven’ scheme
Strong criticism of the government’s plans to send asylum seekers to a “transit processing centre” outside Europe while their claims are decided was voiced by Amnesty International last night.
David Blunkett will put the proposals to a European Union meeting of justice and home affairs ministers in Greece today.
An Amnesty spokesperson said: “The real goal behind the UK proposal appears to be to reduce the number of spontaneous arrivals in the UK and other EU states by denying access to territory and shifting asylum seekers to zones outside the EU where refugee protection would be weak and unclear.”
Source:- The Guardian Friday 28 March page 16
Peer warns of more child deaths
Lord Laming, chair of the inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s death, has challenged the government to act on his report published in January or face more deaths of children at risk.
Eight year old Victoria died after months of torture by her great aunt Marie Therese Kouao despite references to social services, police investigations and spells in hospital.
Former director of social services, Lord Laming told MPs on the cross-party health committee: “I hope that before any of these people in key positions think of going on summer holidays they will have satisfied themselves that those recommendations that should be in operation are in operation.”
Source:- The Guardian Friday 28 March page 19
Post-war reshuffle will enable Blair to reward loyal MPs
Tony Blair is likely to carry out a substantial post-war reshuffle in which he will reward ministers who have been loyal to him over the Iraq crisis.
Cabinet ministers believe the prime minister will take the opportunity to promote several of Labour’s rising stars from junior government in a bid to revitalise the government following the crisis.
Blair still has to replace Robin Cook who resigned as leader of the Commons last week over the prime minister’s policy on the war.
Successors have yet to be found for John Denham who quit as minister of state at the home office and Lord Hunt who resigned as parliamentary under secretary at the Department of Health.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 28 March page 12
Paedophile life ban on child contact
A judge banned a paedophile from having any contact with children for the rest of his life.
Christopher Harris, 38, is prevented from going anywhere frequented by children or even speaking to them.
Judge Paul Downes at Norwich crown court told Harris that if he breached the lifetime order he would face a five year jail sentence immediately.
Harris was given the suspended three year jail sentence on Wednesday after he admitted indecently assaulting two girls aged nine and ten. The girls were not harmed physically in the assault.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 28 March page 12
Record number of jailed women
There is a record high number of 4,477 women in jail out of a total prison population of 72,000.
Over the past decade the number has trebled and in the past five years it has increased by 40 per cent.
Most women are in custody for drug trafficking offences.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 28 March page 14
Sex advice agency gives condoms to 11-year-olds
Free condoms are to be given to children as young as 11 by a well known health agency from today, which will urge the children to practice putting them on by using a banana.
Marie Stopes International is offering the contraceptives on its sexual health website.
The organisation hopes young people, including under 16s, will feel comfortable with condoms before they think about having sex.
But critics have said the availability of the contraceptive to very young children will increase the likelihood of them becoming involved in sexual activity.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 28 March page 15
Police check community care links to killings
Links between the care in the community scheme and the murders of young women are to be studied by Scotland yard.
Officers are likely to be keeping closer tabs on people with severe psychiatric problems.
The move follows a spate of killings in London and the Home Counties.
Murder squad detectives are ‘extremely concerned’ about the number of potentially dangerous patients living in the community with little or no supervision.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 28 March page 41
Scottish news
Youngsters plagued by mental ill-health
One in ten Scottish children is suffering from some form of mental illness.
A report from the charity, Children in Scotland, says some 125,000 children are affected by debilitating illnesses such as stress, depression and anxiety, often so severe their daily functioning is impaired.
The charity is calling for parents and charities to tackle what is being seen as a mental health epidemic.
Source: The Daily Mail Friday 28th March page 41
Welsh newspapers
Only six Valleys Doctors Under Fifty
A time bomb is ticking in the south Wales valleys where only six family doctors in one area are aged under 50.
Many family doctors are now ready to retire but there is no one to replace them and within five years the situation could become critical.
The crisis is being caused mainly by unwillingness amongst younger GPs to move to what is a socially deprived area, with a high proportion of patients suffering from chronic health problems.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 27 March page 1
Canon sexually assaulted two boys
A senior Anglican clergyman was yesterday found guilty of a series of sexual assaults on young boys that began 30 years ago.
Canon Lawrence Davies had denied seven charges of indecent assault, five counts of serious sexual assault and one count of perverting the course of justice.
He was found guilty of the sexual offences but was cleared of perverting the course of justice.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 28 March page 7
