In Today's Papers

Youth in court over murder of father in street

A boy of 15 was charged last night with the murder of a father-of-two who was beaten to death outside his parents’ home. Alan Fessey, 31, suffered a fractured skull when he was attacked in Nuneaton on Friday night.
 
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 4 July 2005, page 2
 
Police use of Taser is cut

Taser stun guns are “too dangerous” to be handed out to all patrolling police officers, a Home Office minister has said. Hazel Blears said that Tasers were not appropriate for “everyday use”.

 
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 4 July 2005, page 6

Fear drives one teenage boy in ten to carry a gun

One in ten teenage schoolboys has carried some kind of gun in the past year, according to an unpublished government-funded report by the Metropolitan Police .

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 1
 
Prison death

A prisoner has died after being found hanging in his cell. Allan Blake, from Slough, who would have been 19 today, was in Reading prison awaiting sentencing after being convicted at Reading Crown Court.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 2
 
Beaten and tortured, the asylum-seeker sent back to Mugabe’s police by Britain

A report on an asylum seeker who was deported from Britain to Zimbabwe eight weeks ago.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 3
 
Lessons in loving

Children should be taught more in the school curriculum about sex and relationships, including how to say “no,” say researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University College, London.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 5
 
Tories ‘are not here to defend privilege’

The Tories must become the party of the poor, David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary will say in his first major speech setting out his vision.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 26
  
Zimbabwean deportation halted at last minute

Zimbabwean failed asylum seeker Patricia Mukandara, who has been on hunger strike to stay in the UK, was allowed to stay after her lawyer won a high court injunction stopping her removal.

Source:- The Guardian, Monday 4 July 2005, page 10
 
Tortured and dumped: the fate of those sent home to Mugabe by UK

 Refugees sent back to Zimbabwe by the British government have been tortured and beaten by Robert Mugabe’s secret police.
The revelations will fuel the row enveloping the Home Secretary after he refused to halt the forcible returns of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 12
 
New city the size of Leeds planned by Livingstone in east London
 
Plans by Ken Livingstone to house 700,000 people in east London undermine John Prescott’s ambition for massive housing growth in the Thames Gateway area of Kent and Essex.
City East would concentrate development on parts of London with existing transport and jobs.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 20
 
Blair humiliates Clarke for going soft in the fight against crime

A secret Downing Street memo has revealed that the Prime Minister has taken personal charge of the drive to stamp out antisocial behaviour. Tony Blair has ordered Louise Casey, the national director of the government’s antisocial behaviour unit, to report directly to him.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 1
 
Advertisers target children’s play areas

Parents’ groups and watchdogs have criticised a marketing company for offering advertising space on place mats, lunch boxes, posters and cardboard cutouts all aimed at children as young as three. Boomerang media says it has moved into 300 play areas across England and promises to reach 1.2million children.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 13
 
Child porn suspects set to be cleared in evidence “shambles”

Dozens of men accused of downloading child pornography from the internet may have been wrongly prosecuted, according to expert prosecution and defence witnesses. New evidence suggests Operation Ore may have prosecuted innocent men on the basis of discredited American policy testimony and questionable forensic methods.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 16
 
Clarke hits at “celeb” mandarins

The home secretary has mounted a campaign to silence “celebrity” civil servants such as the head of the antisocial behaviour unit Louise Casey.
Casey recently attacked “liberals” for criticising the government’s antisocial behaviour orders.

 Source:- The Observer Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 11

Secret report says war on drugs has failed

A secret Downing Street report on crack and heroin has discovered that the government’s war on drugs has failed.
Researchers found that stamping down on hard drugs through the police and courts had little effect on production or the harm they caused.

Source:- The Observer Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 12           
 
Doctor justifies his role in baby death cases

The multiple injuries of Sally Clarke’s babies were detailed to the General Medical Council yesterday as Professor Roy Meadow defended his reputation against accusations that his evidence had led to her wrongful conviction for double murder.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 6
 
Crackdown on Cornwall’s posh teens

Antisocial behaviour laws used to patrol beach beloved of ‘Knightsbridge-on-Sea’ set

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 12

 
Yob is banned from wearing a hood (unless it’s raining)

A youth who terrorised his neighbours has been banned from wearing a hood - except in the rain. The ban forms part of an antisocial behaviour order imposed on a 14-year-old from Lancashire. But his mother claims it will be impossible to enforce.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 15
 
Jail officer’s fight to wear shirt and tie ‘cost his job’

Steve Brooks, a prison officer at Huntercombe young offender institution in Oxfordshire, claims he was forced out of his job after staff were ordered to wear ‘politically correct’ clothing. Brooks believed his traditional shirt and tie uniform was vital to convey an air of authority to the young and often violent offenders, an employment tribunal in Reading heard. He was granted leave to sue for unfair dismissal.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 25
 
This vile abuse of trust

Suffering dementia, and at her most vulnerable, Daphne was placed by her family in a NHS hospital. What they say happened to her there – beaten, robbed, raped – is almost beyond belief.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 34-35
 
Care homes hit by spread of superbug

More and more elderly people living in care homes are falling victim to MRSA.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 36
 
Father’s group film planned

The company behind the hit film Calendar Girls is planning a movie about the pressure group Fathers 4 Justice.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 10
 
Victim attacks ‘Lancet’ editor

Sally Clark, the solicitor convicted and then cleared of murdering her two babies, said she was “incensed” by remarks made by Richard Horton, the editor of influential medical journal The Lancet, in support of Sir Roy Meadow.

Source:- The Independent , Saturday 2 July 2005, page 19
 
Doubts on private sector role as prisons chief quits

The future of the private sector’s involvement in the prison service was in doubt following the resignation of Martin Narey as head of the National Offender Management Service. Narey has been a leading advocate in Whitehall of the use of competition from the private sector to improve performance in the public sector – notably in prisons.

Source:-The Financial Times, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 2
 
Father’s suicide

A father of three killed himself after he was left broke by payments to the Child Support Agency, an inquest in Manchester was told.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 4

Welsh digest

Councillor jailed over child porn collection

A former Tory councillor has been jailed for possessing, making and distributing pornographic images of children.
Dean Jenkins, who was a councillor in Newport, was sentenced to 14 months.

Source:- Wales on Sunday, 3 July

Council face up to £8m a year sickness cost

Absence due to sickness is costing Cardiff Council £8.5m a year according to a new report.
The average absence in 2002-2003 was 13 days for every employee at the council. Almost two-thirds of absences were long-term.

Source:- Western Mail, July 2, Saturday

GCSE heroin dealer locked up

A 16-year-old has been locked up for after being found with more than £2, 000 of heroin.
The boy was in the middle of his GCSEs. He has admitted that he hoped to profit from selling the drug.

Source:- South Wales Echo, July 2, Saturday

Scottish digest

Prostitution tolerance zones for every local council

Ministers are expected to announce plans for every local authority to have the power to set up managed tolerance zones for street prostitution. Causing alarm to a third party by kerb crawling or soliciting would also be made an offence. The proposals, which follow the recommendations of an expert working group on prostitution earlier this year, are expected to face widespread criticism.

The Herald, 4th July

Children in care miss out on share of £6m windfall 

Many of Scotland’s looked after children have been denied access to support worth #600 each because of a “scandalous” bureaucratic blunder. The problem arose because many social workers weren’t told about the scheme – some councils say they weren’t told about the scheme by Cosla, but it says the executive didn’t give councils enough time. As a result, only 18 of Scotland's 32 local authorities applied for extra money to help children in their care before the deadline for applications ran out.

Scotland on Sunday, 3rd July

Protesters criticise move to evacuate Dungavel during G8

Dungavel immigration detention centre will be evacuated and closed during this week’s G8 summit. The Home Office said the move was being made amid concerns for the safety of staff and detainees at the complex in South Lanarkshire. All 38 detainees will be transferred to other centres by Tuesday, when a mass demonstration by the G8 Alternatives group is planned outside the site.

Sunday Herald, 3rd July.