A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By
Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Racist
killer, 15, jailed for life

A
teenager was jailed for life on Friday for a racist attack, which killed an
Asian cook.

Judge
Richard Hawkins ordered that Stephen Hansen, 16, should be detained for at
least 13 years. He was 15 when he carried out the attack.

Hansen
was convicted of murdering Shibula Rahman, who was beaten and stabbed outside
his home in east London.

Terry
Cooper, 18, and Ian Devlin, 17, were convicted of manslaughter and ordered to
be detained for nine years.

Source:-
The Times  Saturday 15 December page 12

Life
for murder of Kurd refugee

A
man who killed an asylum seeker in an unprovoked attack was jailed for life
yesterday.

Scott
Burrell was found guilty of murdering Firsat Dag after a six-day trial at
Glasgow crown court.

Lord
Kingarth who sentenced Burrell to serve at least 14 years in prison said the
attack was “shameful and cowardly and totally unprovoked”.

Source:-
The Guardian  Saturday 15 December page 13

Police
chief calls for rethink on drug laws

A
chief constable will call for a rethink on Britain’s drug laws saying the only
way to win the war on drugs is to legalise them.

Head
of north Wales police Richard Brunstrom will call for a Royal Commission on
legalisation when he addresses his police authority.

In
a statement released on Friday, he compared Britain’s policy to that of alcohol
prohibition in 1920s America.

He
argues that despite the huge amount spent on tackling drugs, cannabis, ecstasy,
cocaine and heroin are cheaper and more readily available than ever before.

Source:-
Independent  Saturday 15 December page 9

Study
finds no cannabis link to hard drugs

Cannabis
does not lead to the use of hard drugs, a study will say this week.

The
survey based on drug users in Amsterdam over a 10-year period shows that
cannabis users start using the drug between the ages of 18 and 20, whereas
cocaine use starts between 20 and 25.

The
study, which will be published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research in
London, concludes that cannabis is not a step to using cocaine or heroin and
argues that most of the evidence suggesting this to be the case is
circumstantial.

Source:-
The Sunday Times  Sunday 16 December page 5

Police
want new powers to lock up paedophiles

Senior
police officers called for greater powers to enable them to lock up known
paedophiles without charge in a bid to prevent more murders like that of Sarah
Payne.

The
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens believes that the authorities
should have the power to section high risk offenders, just as people with a
mental illness can be removed from the community for treatment.

Scotland
Yard released the names of four dangerous paedophiles whose whereabouts are
unknown to a Sunday newspaper.

Further
reports claim hundreds of paedophiles may have vanished after failing to
register following their release.

Source:-
The Observer  Sunday 16 December page 1

Family
split up by homeless ruling

Hundreds
of children could face 2002 in care as a result of councils exploiting a new
legal loophole, housing experts have warned.

Chief
solicitor at Shelter Russell Campbell said: “Homelessness has become a valid
trigger for removing children from their families. Since the Court of Appeal
upheld the new legal position last month we’re seeing more and more cases like
this.”

The
Children Act 1989 offered protection for families who fell through the housing
net, but the recent judgement accepted that councils need only offer
accommodation to children.

Shelter
is in contact with families throughout Britain who expect their children to be
taken into care within weeks.

Source:-
The Observer  Sunday 16 December page 13

Sarah’s
killer to be quizzed over unsolved child murders

The
man convicted of murdering Sarah Payne is to be questioned about the killing of
two girls 15 years ago.

Sussex
police are still investigating “Babes in the Wood” killings of Karen Hadaway
and Nicola Fellows in Brighton in 1986.

Police
believe there are strong similarities between the abduction and murder of Sarah
by Roy Whiting and the killings of the two nine-year old girls.

Whiting
was convicted in 1995 of abducting and attacking a nine-year old girl which
showed there was a pattern to his actions in Sarah’s case. Now they believe it
could indicate he was involved with the earlier killings.

Source:-The Sunday Telegraph  Sunday 16 December page 1

Jailed
sex attacker sues

A
sex attacker, who was jailed indefinitely after committing horrific assaults,
has launched an appeal for freedom under the Human Rights Act 1998.

Paedophile
Peter Oates was told he would remain in hospital for life after committing
sexual assaults at knifepoint. He has issued a writ against Lambeth, Southwark
and Lewisham Health Trust and claiming he should be freed and paid £15,000 in
damages for stress.

The
case has caused outrage among MPs, just days after Roy Whiting was jailed for
life for the murder of Sarah Payne.

Shadow
home secretary Ann Widdecombe said the court action exposed another flaw in the
Human Rights Act: “Our first concern should be the protection of children.”

Source:-
The Sunday Telegraph  Sunday 16 December page 8

Red
Cross to close scores of charity shops

Forty
British Red Cross charity shops are to close and the charity will shed 10 per
cent of its staff in a drive to cut costs and direct more money into
humanitarian crises.

The
charity is also planning to move its headquarters from London’s Belgravia,
which it considers “inappropriate”.

The
reforms will begin in January and is aimed at eliminating all loss making
enterprises in Britain – apart from those directly combating crises – including
its work with residential care for older people.

Source:-
Independent  Sunday 16 December page 6

Public
to have say in guard on sex abusers

The
official panels that decide how best to monitor sex offenders will include
members of the public alongside child protection experts.

Home
secretary David Blunkett promised an increased role for community
representatives yesterday but rejected the idea of whole neighbourhoods knowing
the whereabouts of paedophiles.

His
decision was announced as deputy prime minister John Prescott praised the News
of the World for naming and shaming four convicted paedophiles who have failed
to sign the sex offenders’ register. Blunkett said people would have an
increased role but it would not result in the introduction of Sarah’s law.

Source:-
The Times  Monday 17 December page 4

Prisons
chief ‘forced to quit’

Home
office officials forced the former chief inspector of prisons out of his role
in an “appallingly underhand way”, Sir David Ramsbotham has revealed.

By
the end of his five-year term he was barely on speaking terms with the then
home secretary Jack Straw, and he claims the Home Office was a “terrible place”.

Sir
David was appointed by then Tory home secretary Michael Howard in 1995, but he
was often admonished for “straying beyond his brief”.

Sir
David became increasingly disenchanted with the red tape and inefficiencies of
the system.

He
hoped his contract would be extended to serve three more years by “mutual
agreement”. But permanent secretary at the Home Office David Omand told him in
December 2000 that his role would be merged with probation and asked him to
sign  an agreement that he would work
until July 2001 to oversee the change.

“I
thought it was appallingly underhand to slip out an announcement like that
without even consulting me,” he says.

Source:-
Daily Telegraph  Monday 17 December page 1

Big
fines imposed on disability assessment firm

Repeated
fines have been given to the company responsible for managing controversial
“MoT tests” on disabled people for failing to meet performance targets, the
government said.

Secretary
of state for work and pensions Alistair Darling has given SchlumbergerSema
until next summer to improve or it faces losing the contract to perform medical
assessments on people claiming incapacity benefits.

Ministers
revealed financial penalties have been imposed on the company every month for
more than two years.

Source:-
Independent  Monday 17 December page 9

Scottish
newspapers

From death comes hope in Sighthill

A
page-length feature on the murder of asylum seeker Firsat Dag and the impact on
race relations in Glasgow following the conviction last week of Scott Burrell
for his murder. 

From
the public outrage at the death and the resultant demonstrations and street
violence comes hope that relations between the communities are improving and
progress is at last being made.

Source:-
Scotland on Sunday 16 December page
13

Social workers send young women to pro-life
project

One
third of the young women who resort to the Pro-Life Initiative established by
Cardinal Winning in Glasgow are sent there by local authority social workers
because there are no state-run alternatives. 

NHS
primary care trusts also send a high proportion of women there who would
otherwise have terminations. North Devon Family Planning service has now sent
21 women to the initiative for help with baby care equipment, clothes and other
practical assistance.

Social
work departments in Scotland claimed they had no policy on the use of the
service. Jim Dickie, president of the Association of Directors of Social Work
and director of North Lanarkshire Council, said:  “It would be a matter for the individual client to decide.”

Source:-
Sunday Herald 16 December page 6

Health minister accused of hypocrisy

Health
minister Malcolm Chisholm has been accused of hypocrisy in his dealings with
people suffering from Hepatitis C as a result of faulty blood products issued
by the NHS.  

Chisholm
has just announced that those who contracted Hepatitis C prior to 1998 will not
be compensated. In 1995 he was one of 259 MPs who signed a Commons motion
demanding that all people who became ill as a result of faulty blood products
be compensated.

Campaign
groups and opposition MSPs have accused Chisholm of hypocrisy.  Chisholm refused to comment on the issue
while a Scottish executive spokesperson said he was announcing executive
policy.

Source:-
The Scotsman Monday 17 December page 1