In Today's Papers

By Simeon Brody, Mithran Samuel, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Girl’s rape “filmed by teenagers on mobile”

A gang of teenage boys raped an 11-year-old girl and filmed the attack on a mobile phone. The video of the assault was circulated to pupils at the victim’s school and had been seen by hundreds of children by the next day, according to reports.

Three 14-year-old boys have been arrested in connection with the incident in North London.

Source:- The Times Saturday 18 June 2005 page 2

Mother abandons 3 children for holiday

A mother abandoned an infant and two toddlers with a 15-year-old babysitter while she went on holiday in Turkey.

Police and social services were alerted to the woman’s absence by neighbours on the Red Hall council estate in Darlington but are uncertain of her whereabouts.

The children seemed well but were taken into care and are now with relatives.

Source:- The Times Saturday 18 June 2005 page 13

Age of consent “confuses young”

Setting the age of consent at 16 may be encouraging children to have sex before they really want to, according to an expert on teenage pregnancy.

Kay Wellings, the lead researcher responsible for evaluating the government’s teenage pregnancy strategy, said some young people were interpreting the age of consent not as the age they can legally have sex but the age they should be doing it.

Source:- The Times Saturday 18 June 2005 page 34

Met calms fears of child killings

Allegations that African boys were being trafficked into Britain for slaughter during macabre church services have been largely discredited by Scotland Yard.

The Met commissioner said he had no evidence to support the most alarming claim in a report leaked last week that boys were being smuggled in for ritual killing. He also said there was not evidence to support the suggestion that 300 African boys are missing in London

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 18 June 2005 page 11

Flexible working deal for family carers

People caring for older relatives and disabled children will be given the right to ask to work part-time or work from home.

The trade and industry secretary Alan Johnson says he will seek to change the law to give carers the same right as parents of young children to demand flexible working arrangements.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 18 June 2005 page 1

Teenager given counselling for addiction to her mobile phone

A teenager has been referred for counselling by her family doctor because she is addicted to mobile phone calls and text messages.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 18 June 2005 page 3

Cannabis users “at risk”

Teenagers who occasionally smoke cannabis over long periods are more likely to turn to more addictive drugs such as heroin, according to Swedish research.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 18 June 2005 page 6

Traveller-hit village hires private army

Villagers in Sussex have hired a private security firm to patrol their community following a spate of violent burglaries after a group of travellers settled nearby.

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 18 June 2005 page 52

The teacher facing jail for seduction of a pupil

A teacher who seduced a teenage pupil and took him on holiday to Spain is facing a prison sentence.

Nicola Prentice, 25, of Loughton, in Sheffield was 22 when she began flirting with the 15-year-old boy. When he turned 16 she seduced him at his home while his parents were away

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 18 June 2005 page 53

Schools call on more men to be childcarers

The government and councils will use targeted advertising campaigns and men-only training courses to bring about a five-fold increase in the male childcare workforce.

The increase is needed to supply an extra 163,000 childcarers to fulfil the government’s commitments on universal childcare provision.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 19 June page 9

Police war on hard drugs falters

The number of hard drug dealers arrested in the capital had dropped by almost 20 per cent over the past four years.

The Metropolitan Police figures call into question the government’s decision to downgrade the classification of cannabis to save the police time to tackle the hard drug trade.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 19 June page 11

New happy hour ends with ‘martial law’

The government will deploy military police this summer to combat antisocial behaviour in up to 20 towns near barracks.

The move will support the government’s use of a range of anti-social behaviour powers over the summer period, to tackle youth disorder in particular.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 19 June page 1

Goats’ milk formula ‘not suitable for infants’, government warns

Parents feeding their babies on formula derived from goats’ milk could be putting their children at risk, the government has warned.

The warning, which focuses on the fact that proteins in goats’ milk are too concentrated, comes following a sharp rise in its use.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 19 June page 8

My exorcisms get results, says voodoo priest of north London

A self-proclaimed exorcist has admitted charging parents to “cleanse” children as young as six of “evil spirits”.

Malcolm Poussaint said he knew of another 10 so-called “voodoo priests” performing a similar role, but claimed his methods were non-violent.

Exorcism hit the headlines with the recent conviction of three people for the abuse of an eight-year-old girl they thought was a witch.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 19 June page 14

Happy, loving parents? They must be child abusers.

The safety of convictions of parents and carers for killing their children will be brought under the spotlight in two cases this week.

Four people will continue their appeal against their convictions by challenging so-called Shaken Baby Syndrome, which claims that internal head injuries to babies can only be caused by shaking of sufficient force.

And paediatrician Sir Roy Meadows will answer charges of gross professional misconduct in a General Medical Council hearing focusing on his evidence in the trial of Sally Clark, the solicitor convicted and later cleared of murdering her two sons.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 19 June page 19

Doctors demand right to die law

The British Medical Association will debate whether to end its long-standing opposition to assisted suicide at its conference next week.

A group of GPs is leading the campaign for the BMA to take a more liberal stance, a move which could encourage the government to do the same.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 19 June page 1, 5

Bosses’ fears over flexible working hours for carers

Government plans to extend flexible working rights to carers could backfire by discouraging businesses from hiring them, the Conservatives have claimed.

Equality spokesperson Eleanor Laing said a balance needed to be struck between employees’ and firms’ needs.


Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 19 June page 22

Compulsory lessons for parents of unruly parents

Parents of children who misbehave at school may be forced to attend parenting classes, the education secretary has said.

Ruth Kelly said councils could use compulsion if voluntary measures, such as contracts, did not work.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 19 June page 1

U-turn on cannabis law by Clarke

Officials say home secretary Charles Clarke will reverse predecessor David Blunkett’s decision to downgrade cannabis to a Class C drug.

He is concerned that the move has led to more people using the drug, they say. In March, Clarke commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate the link between cannabis and mental health problems.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 19 June page 6

After six years, baby murder case expert to face disciplinary panel

Sir Roy Meadow will finally stand trial on disciplinary charges tomorrow almost six years after giving evidence that helped to convict Sally Clark of murdering her two sons.

Professor Meadow faces being struck off the medical register if found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Source:- The Times Monday 30 June 2005 page 9

Stop neighbourhood rot before the dogs move in

Guidance on how to identify neighbourhoods in danger of falling into terminal urban decline has been issued by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Source:- The Times Monday 30 June 2005 page 9

Strike threat over pension reform

Co-ordinated strike action over plans to increase the public sector pension age from 60 to 65 is likely to be threatened this week by Unison.

Action across the leading trade unions could brink five million public sector workers out on strike.

Source:- The Times Monday 30 June 2005 page 22

High house prices force nurses to quit NHS

Nurses are being forced to leave the profession because they cannot afford to buy their own homes, the Royal College of Nursing said yesterday.

Key worker housing schemes are helping but nurses from outside the south-east or who work for charities or the private sector are ineligible.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 30 June 2005 page 7

The Asbo Generation

Children are given more Asbos than adults, leading some commentators to warn that the government is in danger of making it a crime to be a child.

More than half of Asbos issued between issued between June 2000 and March 2004 were imposed on children.

One 15-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome was given an Asbo which stated he was not to stare over his neighbour’s fence.

Source:- The Independent Monday 30 June 2005 page 1

Misery of asylum seekers “illegally held in detention”

Thousands of asylum-seekers are being unlawfully locked up and left to languish in detention, according to an Amnesty International report.

The organisation accuses the government of “inappropriate and disproportionate” use of immigration detention centres.

Source:- The Independent Monday 30 June 2005 page 16

Teenage cannabis users face up to ten times the risk of mental illness

Scientists have found that cannabis can cause permanent physical changes to the still-growing brain while can lead to psychosis and schizophrenia in the worst affected.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 30 June 2005 page 8

Special school pupil, 14, sues over pregnancy

A girl of 14 is suing her local education authority after she became pregnant at the special needs school where she was boarding in Merseyside.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 30 June 2005 page 12

Scottish news

Failing social workers and police face jail

Social workers and police face jail if they fail to protect the public from dangerous young offenders, under new laws to be introduced this week.

The reforms will include placing professionals under a legal duty to stick to action plans for each child, cut red tape and force police and social work to share paper-work and create a lead professional. It is also believed that ministers want to send more juvenile offenders to adult courts rather than the children’s hearing system.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 19 June

Edinburgh's failing parents to get live-in social workers

Edinburgh social workers are to be given powers to allow them to enter the homes of failing parents to give parenting lessons.

Under the pilot project, seven council staff are to train families in every aspect of daily life, including cooking breakfast in the morning, making sure children are properly dressed for school and even helping them with homework.

The measures will compel parents not fulfilling their responsibilities to accept help, with those that don't committing a criminal offence. 

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 19 June

Detaining children at Dungavel ‘illegal’

Imprisoning children at Dungavel detention centre is unlawful and there should be a new procedure to monitor the use of detention within the asylum system, according to a report released today.

Amnesty International strongly criticises government policy on the imprisonment of asylum seekers and estimates that more than 25,000 people, including women and children, were detained under Immigration Act powers in 2004.

The organisation called on the government to justify the lawfulness of it in each and every case.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 20 June

Welsh news

Welsh GP speaks out about violent patients

A leading Welsh doctor has spoken out about violent patients at the British Medical Association’s annual family doctors’ conference in London.

Dr David Bailey, a GP from Trethomas in Caerphilly, said that although violent patients could be registered by their GPs and sent to specialist practices if they moved, there was no way of tracking where they had gone.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 18 June

‘Tug of love for my little Caitlin nearly killed me’

A father from New Zealand who was involved in a high-profile battle for his daughter with her mother has spoken out about the heartbreak involved.

Stephen Jelicich went on the run with baby Caitlin in New Zealand earlier this year.

He is currently in New Zealand while Caitlin is in Wales after a New Zealand Family Court granted custody of her to her mother Diane.

Source:- Wales on Sunday  Sunday 19 June