In Today's Papers

Baby rapists 'must serve term to match depravity'
Two babysitters who carried out sexual offences of the "gravest depravity" on a baby girl should have been sentenced to 27 to 30 years, the Attorney General said yesterday.
Source:- The Times, Thursday 4 May 2006, page 23

Embattled Clarke accused of knee-jerk reaction
Charles Clarke triggered a human rights storm when he vowed to repatriate all foreign offenders – even those convicted of minor offences – in the biggest shake-up of deportation rules for decades. He announced all overseas nationals who are in jail would face deportation at the end of their sentence. At the moment they are only removed if they receive a sentence of a year or more.

Source:- The Independent, Thursday 4 May 2006, page 2

Mystery of London man found on a raft off Norway
Police and immigration officials in several countries are attempting to establish how a homeless man from London came to be discovered floating on a raft in the sea between Denmark and Norway. The American Church in London has said the man was a regular at a soup kitchen it runs.
Source:- The Independent, Thursday 4 May 2006, page 13

Anger as teenager who scarred teacher for life is given six months
A drunken former pupil who knocked a teacher unconscious and left him scarred for life has been ordered to be detained for six months. The sentence prompted calls from teachers and police for tougher punishments as a deterrent against attacks on public servants.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 4 May 2006, page 10

Scottish news

Father fined £300 for home alone lock-in
A father who locked his two young children in their home after being called in to cover an emergency at work over Christmas has been fined £300.
Police officers acting on a tip-off knocked on the door and found the children, aged six and three, shut in the family's Edinburgh house. The father admitted he had left at 9:30 that morning and locked the children in, saying it was for their own safety, before returning at 11.45.
Children's charities and opposition politicians said the interests of the children were paramount and that imposing large fines was not the answer.
Source:- The Scotsman, Thursday 4 May 2006
 

Concern over levels of care staff for OAPs
More care staff, including increasing numbers from overseas, will be needed to cope with the future needs of Scotland's ageing population.
The number of over-75s in Scotland is projected to rise by 75 per cent, from 370,000 in 2004 to 650,000 by 2031.
A report by the executive's range and capacity review group said workforce issues needed to be addressed now to cope with future demands on services. It said the NHS and social care would be competing with the likes of call centres for a declining younger working population.
Source:- The Scotsman, Thursday 4 May 2006
 
Patients flees mental ward
A patient with a history of violence has fled from a psychiatric hospital.
Mark Biggley escaped from a locked ward at Ailsa hospital in Ayr on Tuesday night along with another patient.
Former heroin addict Biggley, from Kilmarnock, has distinctive scrolls tattooed on both hands.
Source:- The Record, Thursday 4 May 2006

Welsh news

Children have more freedom
Children these days have more freedom than their parents when they were growing up according to a new study. The research by Saga found that more than a third of parents said that they let their offspring do as they pleased more than they had been allowed when they were younger.
It also found that almost half of the grandparents questioned were not entirely happy with the way their grandchildren were being raised.
Source:- Western Mail, 4 May Thursday 2006