In Today's Papers

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Victory for rural revolt as asylum centre plan is scrapped

Ministers were forced into a humiliating climbdown yesterday when they scrapped plans to house thousands of asylum-seekers in the heart of rural communities.

David Blunkett had claimed that the proposals he made as home secretary for a network of accommodation centres was a cornerstone of government policy to keep track of asylum-seekers and make it easier to deport failed claimants.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 1

Girl in court on charge of GBH

A girl aged 12 appeared in court yesterday charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a five-year-old boy.

The girl, who cannot be named, is also accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by telling police that four other children were responsible for the attack.

She was arrested in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, after the boy was found with bruising to his neck caused by a ligature.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 4

Jury clears the man who took stand against thugs

A businessman who took a stand against a group of schoolboys who had been terrorising his neighbourhood for months was cleared yesterday by a jury of intimidation.

Christopher Fulke-Greville was facing at least five years in jail for allegedly threatening a 13-year-old who was known to the police.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 5

Rapist mocked offenders list

A serial sex attacker made a mockery of the sex offenders register by moving home and changing his name, Exeter Crown Court was told yesterday.

The identity of Tyrun Davies, a convicted paedophile with a record of attacking young girls, emerged only after police broke into his flat to rescue a 15-year-old girl after her screams were heard by passers-by.

Davis had been found guilty of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault and was jailed for nine years.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 14

Boy, 11, bailed

A boy of 11 was bailed under curfew by magistrates in his home town of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, accused of dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to stop for police and driving uninsured and without a licence.

The boy, who cannot be named, denies all charges.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 39

11 years for rape

A man who raped and impregnated a 12-year-old asthmatic girl was jailed for 11 years.

Ibrar Hussain pleaded guilty to rape at Leeds Crown Court.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 39

Murdered wife’s family still wait to contact sons

Two British boys who were taken abroad five years ago by their father after he killed their mother, have still not returned to Britain.

Social workers from Hertfordshire Council have now admitted that, although they made inquiries about the boys’ welfare as suspicion started to point to their father Garry Malone, they failed to keep their mother’s family fully informed.

Social workers have located the boys, now aged 10 and 7, in Europe and established that they are safe.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 June 2005 page 39

A crime that should make us all weep

Aided by the internet, paedophilia in Britain is on the increase.

As the NSPCC launches a major campaign, the creator of TV’s Prime Suspect tells of her own chilling investigation into the subject and makes a passionate plea for society to confront this evil

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 11 June 2005 page 16-17

Prescott overturns 111 travellers’ site rulings

John Prescott’s department has overruled councils 111 times to force through plans for traveller camps, it was revealed last night.

It is allowing one in every three planning appeals lodged by travellers, reversing the verdicts of locally-elected politicians.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 11 June 2005 page 21

Inquest hears of prison drug pass

An inquest jury was yesterday shown prison security camera footage which appeared to record a visitor passing a package – thought to contain drugs – to his brother, an inmate at Full Sutton maximum security jail near York.

The prisoner, Arif Hussain, from Middlesborough, collapsed and died in his cell in March last year.

A post-mortem examination revealed an empty plastic wrapper in his stomach containing traces of heroin.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 11 June 2005 page 4

Curfew nation: summer purge on yobs

Thousands of streets across the country will become no-go zones for teenage yobs and other troublemakers, as part of a police summer clampdown against anti-social behaviour.

Over 100 special zones have been identified as part of a zero-tolerance crackdown on drug-taking, underage drinking and alcohol-related violence.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 12 June 2005 page 1

Kelly to offer “dawn-to-dusk” care for pupils

Education secretary Ruth Kelly will reveal a £680 million package that offers “dawn to dusk” care for all school-children under the age of 14.

Children will be able to arrive at school early and stay late for activities such as language clubs, sport and drama in a programme designed to appeal to working parents.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 12 June 2005 page 2

Asbos “criminalising whole communities”

Tory leadership front-runner David Davis said asbos were a “sticking plaster over an amputation” as a solution to crime and disorder.

He told the annual meeting of Liberty that too many asbos were being issues and they were criminalising whole communities. Davis said the Conservatives would consider alternatives to custody for breaching an asbo, such as reparations orders or taking away a driving licence.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 June 2005 page 2

Judges to review “shaken baby” cases

Four people found guilty of harming or killing children will seek to have convictions overturned in a hearing that will consider claimed flaws in the evidence behind Shaken Baby Syndrome.

The Court of Appeal will hear that symptoms of SBS, the theory of how infants shaken too hard die of internal injuries, have been found in babies who have been shaken only moderately or not at all.


Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 June 2005 page 5

Child abuse police left me a broken man

The case of five staff wrongly charged with indecently assaulting former pupils of St William’s community home school for boys in Market Weighton is to be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 June 2005 page 10

Mothers going into labour still lack expert care

More than one in four women do not have a midwife or doctor giving them one-to-one care when they go into labour, according to a survey by the National Childbirth Trust to be published this week.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 June 2005 page 17

Spitting jogger given as Asbo

Karl Harrison was given a two-year asbo after he repeatedly spat at passers-by while jogging in a park in Blackley, Manchester.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 12 June 2005 page 2

Parents attack Tory hypocrisy over closure of special schools

Parents facing the closure of their children’s special schools have accused a Tory council of ignoring the party’s stance against closures.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 12 June 2005 page 13 

Disruptive infants to be treated as potential criminals, says report

Children as young as three are to be singled out by nursery staff if they display aggressive behaviour or have a family background of criminality, according to a government report.

The study, leaked yesterday, proposed nursery staff should note children of three and four who bullied other children as deemed to be at risk of growing up to be criminals.

The Home Office refused to discuss the report.

Source:- The Times Monday 13 June 2005 page 20

Burden of care for children

An estimated 17,000 children in Britain are caring for a parent with mental health problems, taking on adult levels of responsibility often with little support, according to a report published by children’s charity Barnardo’s.

Source:- The Times Monday 13 June 2005 page 25

NHS staff drinking risk to patients

The scale of drink and drug abuse among medical staff in British hospitals is revealed in a survey published today.

In the past decade 750 clinical and medical staff have been formally disciplined for offences involving alcohol or drugs at work, says tonight’s BBC1 programme Real Story.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 13 June 2005 page 8

“Council ego led to £7m white elephant”

Durham Council is moving staff into a new £7.5million eco-friendly building which has been described as a white elephant.

Some believe the building was intended to be the regional assembly building for the North East before the idea of an assembly was rejected in a referendum.

Source:- The Times Monday 13 June 2005 page 8

Curfew on the Asbo brothers aged 10 and 12

Two brothers aged 10 and 12 have been served with asbos to stop them terrorising their council estate in Caerphilly.

The boys were involved in hurling eggs at residents and workmen and shooting at passers-by with an airgun.

Source:- The Times Monday 13 June 2005 page 8

Scottish news

Low-level crime figures soar by 20%

Antisocial behaviour and low-level crime has increased by almost 20 per cent in the past year, according to figures leaked to The Herald.

Between April 2004 and April 2005 there were 221,682 criminal incidents of vandalism, drunkenness, fire-raising and breach of the peace across Scotland.

In Strathclyde alone, there were 55,091 incidents of vandalism recorded by the police in the yearly figure, a 35 per cent increase on the previous year.

Source:- The Herald Monday 13 June

Violence troubles all teens

Violent television or video game images can affect the brains of non-aggressive people, research has shown.

A study of teenagers has found that part of the brain involved in decision-making and self-control was impaired by exposure to violent scenes. And this did not just apply to those with a history of violent and disruptive behaviour.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 13 June

Welsh news

Social workers slammed

The family of a 16-year-old girl who was killed by a sex offender have heavily criticised social workers today.

Colyn Evans, 18, originally from Aberdare, South Wales, attacked Karen Dewar in Fife in January.

A report by police and social workers reveals that the authorities had known Evans for years but it stated that although there were failings in the way his case had been handled they had no bearing on Karen’s murder.

Source:- South Wales Echo Saturday 11 June

Gran claims yobs were just bored

The grandma of two brothers who were handed five-year anti-social behaviour orders this week said that they only misbehaved through boredom.

Calvin and Kyle Hooper, aged 10 and 12, were given the asbos for creating havoc on their Newport estate.

Annette Hooper said that the boys were the victims of a campaign to publicly humiliate them through naming and shaming.

Source:- Wales on Sunday Sunday 12 June

Swapping schools for families not the answer

The Welsh Conservatives called on the government to extend family credit so parents can spend more time with their children rather than working so much yesterday.

William Graham, Tory education spokesperson in the National Assembly, also said that there should be an investment in “parenting skills” to combat antisocial behaviour.

On the government’s plans for extended schools Graham said that anything that made education better was to be welcomed but that swapping schools for families was not the answer.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 13 June