By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson.

Charities criticise sexually explicit children’s novel

A sexually explicit children’s novel that is accompanied by the words "warning explicit content", is causing controversy before it has gone on sale.

Critics claim that positioning "Doing It" by Melvin Burgess in the young adults section of bookshops and libraries is a marketing ploy to attract a younger readership for whom sexually explicit content may not be appropriate.

Sex education campaigners believe the book to be published in May, could add peer pressure on younger teenagers to have sex, by contributing to the myth that "everybody is doing it".

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 17

Soham killings PC is jailed over child porn

A former police officer, who worked on the Soham murder case, was jailed for six months yesterday on child pornography charges.

Anthony Goodridge, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, had admitted possessing 330 indecent images of young girls. He was investigated after officers from Operation Ore tracked him down.

Goodridge worked as an exhibit officer during the investigation into the deaths of Holy Wells and Jessica Chapman at Soham last year. He was dismissed by Cambridge Constabulary earlier this month.

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 18

EU backing for asylum centre plan

Home secretary David Blunkett claimed yesterday that he had won "substantial support" for his proposals to set up asylum processing centres outside of the EU.

The "transit processing centres" would hold all asylum seekers to the EU while their claims are being processed.

Blunkett presented the ideas at an EU meeting in Veria, Greece, after which he said they had agreed to "follow up urgently" the ideas.

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 18

10% of pupils regular smokers

Ten per cent of 11-15 year-olds are regular smokers, according to a survey of 10,000 pupils by the department of health.

Eighteen per cent took drugs last year and 24 per cent had drunk alcohol in the seven days prior to the poll being conducted.

The drinkers said they typically had 10.5 units a week, nearly double the figure in 1990.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 29 March page 15

Adoptions from care rise

There has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of children in care in England being adopted since 1999 to 3,400.

Health minister Jacqui Smith said the government’s drive to promote adoptions was succeeding.

Other statistics showed the number of people being held under the Mental Health Act fell to 26,300 in 2001-2002 from 26,600 in 2000-2001.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 29 March page 15

Clergyman gets 10 years for abusing two boys

Canon Lawrence Davies was sentenced to 10 years in jail by Cardiff crown court yesterday for sexually abusing two boys.

The vicar denied the charges, but was told his name must be on the sex offenders register for life after his release from jail, and he would never work with children again.

The court heard how his victims had become clergymen.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 29 March page 16

Sports centres ban taking of child photos

Parents may have to seek written permission before they can take their child’s photographs at sporting events, under new guidelines circulated by a leisure industry watchdog.

The Institute of Sport and Recreation management has advocated the stringent new rules following increasing concern over child abuse, and the spread of mobile phones acting as cameras.

In a paper sent to more than 10,000 local authority run leisure centres, the ISRM urges a ban on photographs of partly clothed children.

Source:- The Sunday Times 30 March page 11

One in 100 black adults now in jail

One in every 100 black adults in Britain is now in prison, according to home office statistics.

Following a crackdown on guns, drugs and street crime there has been an explosion in the number of prisoners from an African or Caribbean background, who now account for one in six of all inmates.

The figures have sparked fears of an American style penal system where black men are 10 times more likely to go to prison than whites, and one in twenty over the age of 18 is in jail.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 20

School exclusions cut

Exclusions in school have been reduced drastically following the introduction of restorative justice schemes, the Secondary Heads Association conference heard yesterday.

The schemes require children, who have abused or assaulted classmates or teachers, to face their victims and explain their behaviour.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 20

Tragedies spark action on fathers who kill

A string of killings by fathers has urged ministers to order a major review of the safety of children caught up in bitter divorces.

Ministers want to identify "flashpoints", and trends that may help to prevent further deaths. Court forms will also be altered to enable any history of violent behaviour to be raised at the earliest opportunity when ruling on visiting rights.

The move follows cases such as that of Keith Young, who last week gassed himself and four children after his estranged wife informed him she was pregnant by another man.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 24

Young people ‘more stressed than ever’

Record levels of stress have been recorded among teenagers, according to an official study.

Nearly one in four 15-year-olds are now thought to suffer from anxiety disorders, sleepless nights and forms of depression, according to the Medical Research Council survey.

The figures rise from 24 per cent to 38 per cent for middle class girls where the pressure to fit in and dress fashionably is felt more acutely.

Source:- Independent on Sunday 30 March page 20

Asylum lawyers hit

Lawyers who spin out asylum appeals are to be targeted by new government powers this week.

David Blunkett’s plans to crackdown under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act will also prevent bogus asylum seekers delaying their expulsion.

The crackdown means there will be no right of appeal in the UK for asylum seekers who have made an earlier appeal elsewhere in Europe.

From Tuesday, claimants will be removed to where they lodged their initial appeal, and senior home office sources believe this will reduce the number of asylum seekers entering Britain.

Soaring numbers of appeals have sent legal aid bills spiralling to more than £150 million a year.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 30 March page 41

Man who killed sons is found hanged in prison

A man who was convicted last week of murdering his two sons has been found hanged in prison.

Steve Wilson, aged 44, was discovered by his cellmate hanging by his shoelaces from the upturned end of his bed yesterday afternoon. Prison officers and paramedics at Blakenhurst prison in Worcestershire tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead an hour and a half later.

Wilson died just five days after Birmingham crown court found him guilty of stabbing his sons Brad, seven, and Brett, eight, with a screwdriver. He was given a life sentence for the double murder.

A Prison Service investigation into the circumstances of his death has begun.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 march page 13

Care registers

Social workers in Britain are to be registered from this week.

The profession is to be regulated by the General Social Care Council (for England), the Care Council for Wales, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council and the Scottish Social Services Council.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 March page 15

Free condoms

The Green Party yesterday called for free contraceptives to be provided in schools, and children to be able to access family planning advice without parental consent.

It called for more sex education in schools to reduce levels of under-age sexual activity and teenage pregnancies.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 March page 15

Intimidation and fear of violence driving pupils to join street gangs

Children are joining street gangs to protect themselves from violence in and around their schools, Lord Warner told a headteachers conference.

The chairperson of the Youth Justice Board said many young people were joining gangs to ensure that they were not preyed on themselves.

"It’s a case of if you can’t beat them, join them," he told the Secondary Heads Association conference.

Source:- The Independent Monday 31 March page 11

Scottish newspapers

Lawyer pleads for woman who killed babies to remain free for treatment

A young mother who killed her two newborn babies and kept their bodies for up to five years in bin bags, could end up in a psychiatric hospital if she were sent to jail, the high court in Glasgow was told on Friday.

Gordon Jackson QC, defending, pleaded with the judge, Lord Bracadale, not to send Susan MacLeod to jail but to allow her to receive psychiatric treatment while at liberty.

Source:- The Herald Saturday 29 March page 7

Drug dealers might lose right to early prison release

Drug dealers could lose their right to early prison release if Labour wins the May election.

Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell wants to scrap rules that allow dealers sentenced to four years or more to be considered for parole after serving half their sentence.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 31 March page 10

Welsh newspapers

Social workers’ register will weed out the inept

All social workers in Wales will have to register from tomorrow as the government moves to restore public confidence in the profession.

The new register will put the profession on a similar footing as medicine and teaching, and the aim is to drive up standards and provide better public protection.

Social workers have argued for regulation and the new register is seen as a landmark development. The Care Council for Wales will be the body charged with registering the 70,000 workers in the sector, within the principality.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 31 March page 8

Health teams ‘to react strongly’ over £20m debts

The new local health boards poised to take control of Welsh health from tomorrow face crippling debts of around £20 million from outgoing health authorities.

There is concern that the new agencies will have to pay off the debts run up by health authorities from their already tight budgets.

This could have a knock on effect on patient services and senior sources within the new local health boards have said that the situation is far from ideal.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 31 March page 8