By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
'She lied about her age. I'm very, very mad'
The whereabouts of the former US Marine and a 12-year-old British girl who ran away together after they met on the internet, is still unknown although they are believed to have parted company.
Toby Studabaker's family said last night that he had left Shevaun Pennington, from Wigan, and contacted the FBI.
The couple flew to Paris together on Saturday and Manchester police admitted that it had been "frustrating" playing "catch-up" with the pair after confusion with French police.
Studabaker claims that he believed that the girl he was going to meet was 19-years of age.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 July page 1
Asylum service branded a shambles
A new report has slammed the home office organisation responsible for dispersing asylum seekers around the country.
The independent review found the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) to be a shambles, and unable to get on top of the job.
It went on to highlight poor management at all levels of the organisation with confused procedures and business practices.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 July page 2
Internet runaway runs rings around four police forces
Detectives in Manchester, Paris, Dublin and Detroit were embroiled in confusion last night when all four forces claimed that runaway couple Toby Studabaker and Shevauan Pennington were not in their jurisdiction.
French police disputed Manchester police's claim that the couple had taken a flight to Paris on Saturday evening and were now in the city. The French force stated that an "S.Pennington" had taken a flight to Liverpool barely an hour after the couple's alleged Paris flight would have landed, but Manchester police said they did not believe this was Shevaun.
The search spread to Ireland due to Studabaker's relatives saying that he planned to visit the country. Studabaker's family also claimed that he had now contacted the FBI in Detroit.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 July page 5
Princess' fund 'can give way £10m'
Franklin Mint, the Diana memorabilia producer, gave her memorial fund the chance to continue to provide £10 million already outlined as for charity.
The US company, which is suing the fund for malicious prosecution over its previous failed attempt to stop Franklin Mint producing souvenirs featuring Diana's image, promised to safeguard the cash for good causes.
The fund was forced to cut £10 million of promised payments to charities when the legal action was launched.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 July page 6
A playground for paedophiles
Two years ago, Fiona and Peter Moran, from Edinburgh, discovered that their 10-year-old daughter Nicole was being groomed by a paedophile posing as a child in an internet chatroom
Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday 16 July page 19
Legal redefinition announced
The home secretary is due to announce a new legal definition of a charity today requiring charities to work for the "public benefit" in 12 sectors.
The changes will allow human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, and amateur sports clubs to gain charitable status for the first time.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 16 July page 6
NHS Performance ratings
Among mental health trusts 14 got three stars, compared to four last year, 43 got two stars, 28 one star and three no stars.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 16 July page 10
Guardian Society
A leap of faith
Some are classed as gangs, others as peer groups. But whatever the name, something has to be done about youths involved in street crime and violence.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 2
Government snaps up Peabody boss
The head of the Peabody Trust, a leading housing association, is leaving to head up the implementation of the government's communities plan.
From November, Richard McCarthy, who is also chairperson of the National Housing Federation (NHF), will be director general of the plan, which was announced by the government in February.
Measures within the plan include the building of 200,000 homes in four areas in the southeast.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 4
Charities to spurn calls to 'move on'
The government's calls for the voluntary sector to drop their campaign for charities to be exempt from VAT has provoked angry reactions from charity leaders.
John Healy, economic secretary to the Treasury, has said that the sector should end their calls and move on as irrecoverable VAT will not be removed.
However, Nick Kavanagh, chairperson of the Charities Tax Reform Group (CTRG) and finance director of Save the Children, said the amount of money that the sector was deprived of due to the tax was too large to ignore.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 4
Play for keeps
Sarah Middleton-Lee on the community that has transformed a hangout for drug dealers into a haven for children and parents
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 5
Home alone
Contrary to popular belief, elderly Asian people can no longer rely on their relatives for care
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 10
Make some noise
Profile Simon Topman, whistle manufacturer hoping to revive pride in Aston
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 11
The right track
Alison Benjamin on how not-for-profit companies are helping hard-up councils to improve and extend services
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 12
Power trip
After leading the way at the audit commission, Andrew Webster has returned to running social services
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 13
Aim high
David Walker looks at the lessons public services can learn from the ministry of defence, one of our biggest producers and consumers of management skills
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 14
Taste of experience
Life skills on menu for young adults with learning disabilities
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 119
World power
Can people with mental health problems take the sting out of stigma by reclaiming pejoratives?
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 16 July page 120
Scottish newspapers
Home teaching plan ‘putting children at risk’
Ministers have been accused of putting children at risk of
abuse and poor teaching by scaling down home visits for those
children not enrolled for school.
The Scottish executive has caved into pressure from the vocal lobby group of parents who teach their children at home, according to the Scottish Parent Teacher Council.
Revised guidelines issued yesterday suggest dropping a number of controls for children outside the education service.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 July page 2
Inspectors visit detention centre
The quality of educational provision at an asylum detention centre
in Scotland was being investigated by three inspectors
yesterday.
The inspectors from the education inspectorate were assessing the facilities provided at Dungavel centre and reporting on process.
The centre, in Lanarkshire, has been the centre of controversy, particularly after a family of asylum seekers have been held there for nearly a year.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 July page 4
Retired teacher, 83, jailed for abusing young
boys
A former teacher became the oldest inmate in the Scottish prison
system yesterday at 83, after he was jailed for two years for
sexually abusing young boys in his care at a List D school in
Stirlingshire.
Charles McKenna became the third former member of staff from St Ninian’s school to be jailed following their conviction on a series of sexual and physical abuse charges.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 July page 6
Cannabis campaign highlights MS victim’s
plight
A protest by cannabis campaigners is to be staged at
Westminster today to highlight the plight of multiple sclerosis
sufferer Biz Ivol, who used cannabis to ease her pain.
Last month, Ivol from South Ronaldsay went on trial facing charges of cultivating, supplying and possessing cannabis. The case was dropped because of her deteriorating medical condition.
She subsequently attempted suicide following the case, but has since been released from hospital.
The Legalise Cannabis Alliance said today’s protest is to ask why Ivol was prosecuted, and why people who use cannabis for medical reasons are taken to court.
Source:-The Scotsman Wednesday 16 July page 8
Study finds 40 per cent of Scots back legalisation of
cannabis
Almost 40 per cent of Scots currently support the
legalisation of cannabis, according to new research published
yesterday.
More people than ever believe the laws regarding the drug must be changed, but a report from the Economic and Social Research Council revealed there are still limits to what is acceptable in the area of drug-taking.
Attitudes towards heroin and ecstasy in Britain as a whole remained negative with nine in 10 believing both drugs should remain illegal.
Source:- The Herald Wednesday 16 July
Welsh newspapers
Modern healthcare system in the pipeline
New ways of delivering health and social care in south Wales are under discussion by Gwent Healthcare Trust and the area’s five local health boards.
The findings of the recent Wanless report on health and social care in Wales will be fed into the discussions, and there is expected to be greater emphasis on preventing hospital admissions and a wider role for primary care.
Source:- South Wales Argus Tuesday 15 July page 6
Assembly’s £500,000 to boost healthy living
The Welsh assembly has announced £500,000 in grants to boost healthy eating and physical activity.
The Food and Fitness Grant Scheme gives community and voluntary groups up to £75,000 over the next two-and-a-half years to promote lifestyle projects for children, and both young and older people.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 16 July page 2
