A summary of social care stories from the national newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Boy, 15, is exiled after reign of terror

A schoolboy has been banned from an area in Manchester having
terrorised the community with threats of murder and fire
bombings.

Billy Kelly cannot return within a square mile of Fallowfield in
Manchester until April 20 2011. Kelly once considered himself
untouchable in the area.

The anti-social ban is possibly the longest served in Britain,
and means that Kelly faces arrest if he enters the area.

The teenager is currently serving a sentence for threatening to
firebomb a neighbour, who complained about his behaviour.

His offending started when he was shoplifting at the age of 12,
and he soon became a pivotal figure in a local gang.

The youngsters age meant it was difficult for police to act, but
Basil Curley, the city council executive member for housing warned
that this should be a lesson to other ruthless teenagers.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 24 April page 5

Siamese twin ‘may fly home in
fortnight’

The surviving Siamese twin Jodie, may be allowed to return to
her home country of Malta within a fortnight.

The eight-month-old girl has made steady progress since the
20-hour operation to separate her from her sister, Mary, who died
during the operation.

Doctors from the Maltese island of Gozo did not know when the
baby would be discharged from St Mary’s hospital in
Manchester, where the separation took place, but a hospital
spokesperson said she could fly home within weeks.

The Siamese twins were born last August in Manchester with fused
spines and Jodie’s heart keeping them both alive.

The girls’ parents strongly opposed the separation on
religious grounds and believed it was against God’s will to
choose one girl’s life over the other. They lost a court
battle to prevent surgery taking place, and the operation occurred
last November.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 April page 3

Blair declares new war on yobs and vandals

Tony Blair will today announce plans to target litter louts,
yobs and vandals.

The prime minister will say that although the government’s
main focus is on a greater scale with issues such as the economy,
problems such as graffiti and litter, which disfigure areas should
also be targeted.

The announcement will come as home secretary Jack Straw revealed
that police numbers would reach a record high in two years, as
figures showed recruitment increase by 77 per cent.

Under the new plans, young vandals who are caught damaging
property or disfiguring walls are to be made subject to reparation
orders, which will make them clear up the damage they have
caused.

Blair will promise to tackle this and ensure the Youth Justice
Board can impose the orders to pick up litter or remove
graffiti.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 April page 7

Father who left son to starve to death gets four
years

A man was sentenced to four years imprisonment yesterday for
manslaughter having snatched his two-year-old son from his wife and
left him to die of cold and malnutrition in a run-down terraced
house.

The boy was found weighing just a third of his original body
weight when his body was found in a squalid room, the court
heard.

Judge Frank Chapman accepted psychiatric reports, which showed
that Sponford Green was suffering from clinical depression at the
time, and did not mean for his son to die.

Green snatched Aidan on February 11 from the house where the
child lived with his mother, Wolverhampton crown court heard. Aidan
was found seven weeks later after various sightings of father and
son in the area.

His body was found in a top and socks on a filthy mattress with
no blankets.

The judge said: “He died in a horrible way, a shocking way, in
that he dies from malnutrition and hypothermia.”

Green denied responsibility at first, but later admitted
manslaughter.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 April page 8

Doctors condemn ‘inhumane’ asylum
policies

The British Medical Association yesterday condemned the
government’s policies on asylum as “inhumane” and
“detrimental to health”.

The BMA joined forces with Oxfam, the Refugee Council and trade
unions by criticising the home office for the voucher system and
the dispersal scheme.

The criticisms coincided with the BMA publishing a book
yesterday on human rights and torture, which highlighted the
government’s failure to anticipate the health implications of
both policies.

At the launch, the BMA said the Immigration Act 1999 created an
underclass of asylum seekers who survived on food vouchers and 70
per cent of benefit levels. The system made refugees buy the
cheapest tinned food, not taking into account religious beliefs and
customs or the need for a balanced diet.

Later this week, Bill Morris, the general secretary of the
Transport and General Workers Union will accuse ministers of broken
plans to ban the voucher system.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 24 April page
1

Kennedy wants jobs for asylum seekers

A Liberal Democrat government would change asylum laws, to allow
asylum seekers the opportunity to seek paid jobs as soon as they
entered the country, it emerged yesterday.

In extracts of the party’s manifesto, the Lib Dems
promised to “review restrictions on paid work by asylum seekers.”
They pledged to ban the voucher system and ensure local authorities
received financial support to help asylum seekers

Under existing laws, asylum seekers cannot work until they have
been in Britain for six months.

Charles Kennedy, the party’s leader, chose to publish his
plans early amid the controversy over race and accused the Tories
of making “highly irresponsible remarks” about race.

The Tories retorted by David Lidington claiming the policies
would make Britain more attractive to bogus asylum seekers.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 14 April page 11

Scottish newspapers

Crime rate falls in Scotland

Justice minister Jim Wallace announced a 3 per cent fall in
Scotland’s crime rate saying that it had been brought about
by “strong, well resourced” forces. Recorded episodes of non-sexual
violence decreased slightly to 23,300 while serious assault dropped
by 3 per cent. Crimes of indecency decreased by 4 per cent and
sexual assault, including rape, fell by 6 per cent.

The Scottish executive claimed that much of the pattern was a
direct result of its Safer Scotland Campaign. Opposition political
groups highlighted the increases in several categories of crime
including fraud (up 14 per cent), vandalism (up 5 per cent), and
the overall increase since Labour’s general election victory
in 1997 of violent crime, which has risen by 22 per cent.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 24 April page 7