In Today's Papers

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Man who gave his lovers HIV is jailed
A man who infected two lovers with HIV after lying to get them to have unprotected sex has been jailed for eight years.
Asylum seeker, Mohammed Dica, aged 38, left one woman pregnant, after telling her he had had a vasectomy and promised the other woman a relationship that would last a lifetime.
Both women now face death within a decade despite taking drugs to prevent the disease turning into Aids.
Source:- Financial Times Tuesday 4 November page 3

Race to save new victims of child porn
Police fear that children are being abused on a daily basis to meet the demand of paedophiles swapping hardcore images of child sex abuse through file sharing technology.
The sharing of files, normally involving the swapping of music and films, between paedophiles has increased rapidly and police state that it is now larger than almost any other paedophile network they have dealt with.
Source:-  The Guardian Tuesday 4 November page 1
Judge's warning as Soham trial starts
The process of picking a jury for the trial of Ian Huntley, who is accused of murdering Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman,  began at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Huntley and Maxine Carr, who is charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice, were in the dock as a group of 100 jurors was reduced to 25. From this the actual 12 will be selected and sworn in today.
The judge told potential jurors that they had to disregard anything they had read about the pair, and make their decisions based solely on the evidence presented to them.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday November 4 page 5
Quite a panto over Snow White and the seven asylum seekers
A decision to ban a Devon village pantomime entitled Snow White and the Seven Asylum Seekers unless its title is changed has split residents.
The community of Merton near Okehampton has been divided by the ban and the play's author Bob Harrod has pulled out criticising political correctness.
The Village Hall's Management Committee, the play was due to be shown in the hall, contacted the Commission for Racial Equality, the Devon and Exeter Racial Equality Council, and the Community Council for Devon after becoming concerned about the play.
They subsequently asked Harrod to change the play's title without having seen the script.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 4 November page 7
My illness could help others, says Bruno
Frank Bruno said that he hoped his recent manic depression would help to reduce the prejudice attached to mental health problems in a television interview last night.
Speaking to Trevor McDonald, the former heavyweight champion said: "One in four families go through this so it would be nice to make it so people don't condemn them and run them down and disown them because of prejudice."
Bruno was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in September, and spent three weeks in hospital. He was diagnosed as having manic depression with a compulsive disorder.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 4 November page 11
Judges 'saving asylum seekers from starvation'
Youth sentencing 'a lottery'
Young offenders in one part of England and Wales are 28 times more likely to be sent to jail than in another part, according to new figures from the Youth Justice Board.
The figures show the sentencing lottery faced by young offenders throughout the country.
The Youth Justice Board said that although there was some improvement in the level of consistency there was still "significant variations" in the use of custody for those aged under 17.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 4 November page 4
Internet sex groomers face 10-year sentence
The Home Office has announced that paedophiles who groom children in internet chatrooms could be sentenced to up to 10 years.
The maximum sentence, for a new offence of sexual grooming included in the Sexual Offences Bill currently before parliament, was previously proposed to be seven years.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph November 4 page 9
Figures 'shatter the myth of easy adoption'
One in five children in Britain waiting to be adopted does not have any inquiries from families wanting to adopt them, according to a new report from the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
The charity looked at the levels of inquiries for 347 children who were recently in its monthly newspaper ‘Be My Parent’. It said the findings ended the myth that it's easy to find adopters for children in Britain.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 4 November page 9
Hidden homeless at 400,000, says first survey
Around 400,000 people in Britain are living on friend's floors, in hostels, squats or bed and breakfast accommodation  because of delays in helping them to find permanent accommodation, according to a new report.
The survey, by homeless charity Crisis, also found that one-in-three of this group have mental health problems and one in four had a drug addiction.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 4 November page 10
Judges 'saving asylum seekers from starvation'
Destitute asylum seekers are being saved from "starving in the streets" by judges and the Human Rights Act, a senior appeal court judge said yesterday.
The Asylum Act, under which asylum seekers have to claim asylum as soon as "reasonably practicable" or be denied basic accommodation and support, includes a provision that this denial must not breach the asylum seeker's human rights.

He explained that this enabled the high court to grant support to such asylum seekers under the Human Rights Act.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 4 November page 11
Scottish newspapers
Kirk offers redundant churches to house refugees
Empty churches could be converted to provide refuges for the children of asylum seekers, a church spokesperson claimed yesterday.
The Church of Scotland has entered into talks with voluntary organisations, charities and religious groups in a bid to get the scheme off the ground.
Under the proposals, empty church buildings would be converted into refuges similar to those that house victims of domestic violence, and they would house the children of asylum seekers and their families.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 4 November page 3
Charity says abused boys reluctant to seek help
The charity Childline claimed yesterday that boys often have to reach ‘breaking point’ before they seek help with issues troubling them.
Many boys who contact the helpline feel that admitting they have a problem makes them a failure and feel weak unlike “real men”.
The charity has launched a six-month scheme to challenge stereotypes which prevent boys and young men from seeking help when they need it.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 4 November page 8
Girl death inquiry
Inquiries into the death of schoolgirl Marianne Shanks have been completed by the police.
The 15-year-old, who was a pupil at Dundee High School, was found hanged at her home near Perth in September.
Investigating officers said there were no apparent links to any form of bullying in the tragic case.
Source:- The Daily Record Tuesday 4 November page 10
Babysitter’s sex attack on girl, 8
A teenage babysitter climbed into an eight-year-old girl’s bed intending to rape her, the high court in Inverness heard.
David Norris molested the youngster and made her perform a sex act on him in May last year. He was disturbed by another child who told the girl’s mother the next day what had happened.
Norris was placed on the sex offenders register. He will be sentenced later.
Source:- The Daily Record Tuesday 4 November page 14
Welsh newspapers
My Girl Slipped Into Drugs Hell
A south Wales mother whose daughter’s life has been blighted by drug addiction, pleads with others not to follow in her footsteps.
Carol Pringle says that her daughter Sarah Williams, who is now serving a prison sentence for four years for armed robbery, is finally beginning to turn her life around and has received training as a drugs counsellor.
But she says that her daughter almost lost her life because of her addiction to crack cocaine and heroin.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 3 November pages 1, 4 and 5
Still fostering at the age of 71
As part of National Adoption Week the newspaper reports on two women who have cared for children by adopting or fostering them.
At 71, Vi Gregory from Newport shows that there is no age limit to giving children love and care. She began fostering in her sixties after being assessed by social services, and says that she wants to continue for as long as possible.
Denise Edmunds is also a foster carer and has adopted five children through Caerphilly social services department. She is currently about to adopt a sixth child.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 3 November page 13
Judge jails paedophile and puts life-ban on child contact
A paedophile who was once in a charge of a children’s home was yesterday jailed for six years by a court in Caernarfon.
The court was told that John Barnett had groomed an eight-year-old boy and Judge Huw Daniel said that he was pleased that Parliament had now made this a specific offence.
Barnett was given the six-year jail sentence for indecently assaulting the boy and was banned from having any contact with children for the rest of his life.
He had been put on probation for three years in 1971 for an indecent assault on a boy, and gross indecency when he was acting superintendent of a children’s home in Hackney.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 4 November page 3
Hospital consultant downloaded porn through pressure of work
A West Wales hospital consultant who was arrested as part of Operation Ore after downloading pornographic images of children from the internet, had been pushed to the limit by pressures of work, a court was told..
Radiographer Charles Bartlett escaped a prison sentence after admitting 17 charges of making and possessing indecent images of children. He was given a three-year community rehabilitation order that includes attending a community sex offender’s treatment programme. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 4 November page 5