A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Thousands more names to go on sex register

Thousands more criminals should have their names on the sex
offenders’ register, according to home office proposals.

People convicted of murder, kidnapping or malicious wounding
would be added to the list if there was evidence of a sexual motive
for the crime at their trial, under the proposals. A loophole that
protects known sex offenders because they carried out their crime
abroad will also be closed.

Those offenders changing name or address will have to inform the
police in person eight days prior to the move, as opposed to 14
days in advance by post, as is currently the law.

The proposals come out of a review of the 1997 Sex Offenders Act
announced a year ago.

Home office minister Beverley Hughes said: “The inclusion of
burglary with intent to rape, giving courts the discretion to
require offenders convicted of sexually motivated violent offences
to register and increasing the number of offenders convicted of
indecent assault on the register, will help police in their
monitoring of sex offences.”

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 31 July page 1

Lover’s photos cost care worker her
job

A social worker was sacked after her boyfriend sent photographs
of her to a pornographic magazine, unknown to her, a tribunal heard
yesterday.

Shropshire Council ruled that Fleur Maidment was projecting a
disreputable image, even though she knew nothing of the pictures,
and she was sacked from her £20,000 a year job.

Her claim for unfair dismissal was rejected yesterday at a
tribunal in Shrewsbury.

The photographs appeared in Escort magazine and on a
pornographic website. A girl in her care saw the photographs and
complained, and Maidment was sacked and barred from doing social
work.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 31 July page 8

Migrants try to cross the Channel on
airbeds

Two illegal immigrants tried to cross the Channel on inflatable
airbeds yesterday, in a desperate bid to reach Britain.

Coastguard officers in France described the attempt by two
Lithuanians to cross the 22 miles of water wearing only vests and
underpants as “crazy”.

The men, who were using just their arms for propulsion, were
picked up yesterday by a ferry between seven and eight miles off
France after paddling for 10 hours.

They were rescued by a P&O Stena Line ferry Provence and
taken back to Calais. The men risked dehydration, exhaustion and
drowning, as well as being run down by freighters.

“This just shows the desperation of these people to get to this
country,” a Dover coastguard spokesperson said yesterday. “They
were on children’s Lilos and had both been on them for 10
hours with their bags.”

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 31 July page 1

Kilshaws made twins suffer, says judge

The internet twins, known as Belinda and Kimberley, suffered
significant harm in the care of Judith and Alan Kilshaw, and were
likely to suffer continuing harm if they were allowed to stay with
them, the judge who heard their plea ruled in a judgement just made
public.

The Kilshaws application was turned down in April by Mr Justice
Kirkwood, and the babies were sent home to Missouri for a court
their to decide their future.

The Kilshaws had an overriding pre-occupation with the media
that overshadowed any concern for the welfare of the twins, the
judge ruled. He damned Judith Kilshaw’s “volatile and angry
behaviour”, and accused them both of lacking insight and empathy
for the twins.

The judgement, just published on the internet site of the
subscription service Family Law Reports, paints a damning picture
of the Kilshaws as parents for the twins.

The couple acquired the twins through a Californian baby broker,
and paid £8,200 before driving them to Arkansas where they
secured an adoption order.

The judgement reveals that the Kilshaws were already known to
Flintshire social services department for “concerns about
parenting” of Judith’s teenage daughter Kaley in 1996, and
the couple’s sons Rupert and James in 1999.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 31 July page 1

Childcare funding fails to help families in
need

Less than one in eight parents can afford to send their children
to a nursery or childminder, according to a survey.

Government schemes to improve access to childcare have failed to
help many low and middle income families.

The report from the Daycare Trust also highlights the complex
funding of childcare provision. Providers can apply for up to 55
sources of public money to find those for which they are eligible.
This process can deter centres from setting up.

Parents of a two-year old child now pay more than £5,700 a
year for a typical full-time nursery, more than the average
household spends on housing. In London, typical nursery places cost
£7,000 a year.

Stephen Burke, director of the Daycare Trust, said: “Millions of
children are missing out on early learning, with many families
simply unable to afford quality childcare.”

Source:- The Times Tuesday 31 July page 6

Court urges review of race murder in cell

Former prisons minister Paul Boateng may be forced to defend his
decision not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of an Asian
prisoner by a racist psychopath, following a high court hearing
yesterday.

Feltham young offenders institution staff could also face
charges of manslaughter due to gross negligence, as a result of the
inquiry, according to representatives of Zahid Mubarek’s
family. The boy was beaten to death by cellmate Robert Stewart in
February last year.

As Stewart was jailed for life, Boateng asked the commission of
racial equality to include Mubarek’s murder, and conditions
of Feltham in general, in an inquiry into racism at Brixton and
Park prisons.

In addition, the west London coroner refused to reconvene an
inquest on the grounds that the verdict of unlawful killing was
obvious.

As a result, the family feel there has been no public scrutiny
into why Mubarek was placed in a cell with a psychopath with a long
record of violence and racism.

Mubarek’s family were yesterday seeking a judicial review
of the CRE decision and Mr Justice Hooper suggested the family also
apply to the home office for a judicial review of the decision not
to convene a public inquiry, and the coroner’s refusal to
hold an inquest.

The hearing was adjourned until September 3, when Mr Justice
Hooper will hear an application for judicial review of the
decisions by all three parties.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 31 July page 9

Scottish newspapers

Family chief wins legal protection

Hawys Kilday, chief executive of the Brook Advisory Service in
Scotland, has won a court action preventing ant-abortion group, UK
Life League led by Jim Dowson, protesting outside her home and
clinic.

Kilday had been granted an interim interdict against the group
18 months ago over fears for her own safety when her personal
details were posted on two anti-abortion internet sites. Her home
address was posted on the notorious US-based internet site,
Nuremberg Files, which has been linked to the murders of several
medical staff.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 31 July page 6

Move to lower age of criminal
responsibility

The Scottish Law Commission has issued proposals to abandon the
age of criminal responsibility, currently eight years of age in
Scotland and one of the lowest in Europe.

The commission suggests scrapping the law but allowing the lord
advocate discretion whether or not to prosecute a child under that
age in the adult criminal courts. In reality little is likely to
change in practice with 99.5 per cent of children under the age of
16 years already being dealt with under the children’s
hearing system rather than the courts.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 31 July page 6