A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Asylum alert on Tunnel security

More guards were manning the Channel Tunnel entrance yesterday
after a major security alert which led to 44 asylum seekers walking
seven miles along the tunnel towards the UK.

The asylum seekers were the first to break through a number of
security measures since the 31-mile tunnel opened. The men were
among 300 migrants who had marched towards the tunnel in a show of
force.

Four hours after the migrants were spotted, passenger and
freight trains were brought to a halt. The latest tactics used by
the asylum seekers from the Red Cross centre at Sangatte occurred
after security has been tightened at the Eurotunnel terminal at
Coquelles in a bid to prevent asylum seekers leaping aboard freight
trains.

Source:- The Times Friday 31 August page 1

European beds for NHS patients by the new
year

NHS waiting lists in the UK will be reduced considerably by the
new year as patients are taken to Europe for surgery, according to
department of health advisers.

Health secretary Alan Milburn has been told he does not need to
pass a law to enable groups of patients to undergo treatment on the
continent as first thought.

He has been told that only the Privy Council needs to agree the
motion.

Officials are preparing guidelines for primary care trusts.

Source:- The Times Friday 31 August page 1

Prostitutes’ phone box cards outlawed

Prostitutes’ advertisements often found in phone boxes
will be outlawed this weekend alongside a clampdown on drinking in
public places.

Home office ministers insisted yesterday that police powers were
needed to combat anti-social drinking on the streets and
prostitutes’ cards that could damage the image of an area and
prove nuisance to residents and businesses.

Police will be allowed to confiscate alcohol in designated
public places under the clampdown.

They will also be able to arrest prostitutes’ ‘carders’
for the first time and those pasting advertisements on phone boxes
or public structures could face a maximum penalty of up to
£5,000 or six months in prison if caught.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 31 August page 9

Murder charge dropped on killer of asylum
seeker

A murder charge against a man who killed an asylum seeker
believing he had indecently assaulted a young girl, was dropped at
the Old Bailey yesterday.

Gian Singh Nagra was struck in the face with a golf club by
Matthew Dorrian and died shortly afterwards.

Earlier this month, a jury trying Dorrian were unable to reach a
verdict. Judge Jeremy Roberts urged the prosecutors to reduce the
charge in any trial to manslaughter.

Yesterday Dorrian accepted the charge of manslaughter as did the
crown, and he was remanded for pre-sentence reports.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 31 August page 10

Family massacre Pc had record of domestic
violence

The policeman, who massacred most of his family and hung
himself, had a history of domestic violence, it emerged yesterday.
Pc Karl Bluestone also tried to commit suicide after being arrested
two years ago following a violent incident at his home in
Gravesend, Kent.

Bluestone’s wife-to-be lodged a complaint about him of
common assault in 1994 after he hit her several times. In 1999 he
was arrested after one of their children was injured in a domestic
dispute.

Social workers became involved in the case after he was arrested
for breaching the peace. Officers were called to the family home
during a violent row between the policeman and his wife pregnant
with their fourth child.

After an investigation it was decided by police and social
workers that he did not pose a risk to the safety of his
children.

On Tuesday evening, the Pc used a claw hammer to kill his wife
and two sons – aged three and 18 months.

Kent social services will now conduct a review under department
of health guidelines to see whether there were institutional
failings in the protection of the children.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 31 August page 4

Bullied girl takes fight to Blair

A teenager took her fight for a children’s commissioner to
the prime minister yesterday.

Joanne Geldart, who has been a victim of school bullies,
delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street after Tony Blair turned
down a request to meet her in his Sedgefield constituency.

She has already sent him a 300-name petition.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 31 August page 6

Scottish newspapers

Prison delays are scandalous, says chief
inspector

Delays in improving Scotland’s jails have resulted in an
overcrowding crisis according to Clive Fairweather, chief inspector
of prisons.

In his annual report for 2000–2001, Fairweather reveals
that five out of the country’s 17 penal establishments are
now seriously overcrowded compared with two at the same time last
year. Most seriously overcrowded is Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow (32
per cent), where delays in a £3.7 million refurbishment
programme has resulted in the practice of slopping out still
continuing. Fairweather described the delays as “scandalous”.

Source:- The Herald Friday 31 August page 4

Tolerance zone abandoned

Lothian and Borders Police decided yesterday to abandon
Scotland’s only official tolerance zone for prostitutes after
a vociferous campaign by local residents.

The zone, in an industrial area of Salamander Street in Leith,
was introduced on 15 August, and will be abandoned at the end of
November. Local residents claimed that prostitutes had broken the
rules by having sex in open stairwells, and leaving a mess of used
syringes and condoms.

Edinburgh Council, renowned for its liberal policy towards the
sex industry, now faces policy confusion and uncertainty. Ruth
Morgan Thomas, project manager of the Scottish Prostitutes
Education Project, predicted that the removal of the zone will
result in an increase in crime in the area.

Source:- The Herald Friday 31 August page 8