Tuesday 24 September 2002

By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Auxiliary police on patrol

David Blunkett’s first new auxiliary police went on patrol
in central London yesterday.

The 44 community safety officers aged between 19 and 58, were on
the streets equipped with a police radio and body armour. By next
year, Scotland Yard hopes to extend the scheme to Heathrow, London
City Airport and Canary Wharf.

As the recruits began work, the home secretary announced that it
would allow regular officers to end security patrols and return to
frontline policing.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 24 September page 2

Further video hearing for Carr

Maxine Carr is to again appear in court via a video link later
this week. The woman is accused of perverting the course of justice
in connection with the killings of Holly Wells and Jessica
Chapman.

Carr, of Soham, Cambridgeshire will appear on the video screen
at Peterborough crown court on Friday.

When Carr appeared at Peterborough magistrates court earlier
this year, there were scenes of anger and violence as hundreds of
people shouted abuse and threw eggs. The special arrangements are
being made to avoid a repetition of these scenes.

Ian Huntley, who was a caretaker at Soham Village College, is
accused of Holly and Jessica’s murders, and is currently
being held at Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 24 September page 9

Poor children at greater risk on roads

Children in Britain’s poorer neighbourhoods are three
times more likely to be knocked down by cars, according to research
which is calling for a widespread speed limit of 20 mph.

The Institute for Public Policy Research will publish the study
next month and call for 20mph limits to be the norm in residential
areas, with poorer areas given high priority.

Eight thousand children were killed or injured on the roads in
Britain’s poorest 10 per cent of council wards during 1999
and 2000 compared with just 1,000 casualties in the richest
wards.

The worst areas were Small Heath and Sparkhill in Birmingham and
Middlesbrough’s Easterside estate.

Tony Grayling, associate director of the IPPR, said: “This is a
huge social problem – there are big inequalities underlying
our bad record in child pedestrian safety.”

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 24 September page 10

4,000 could lose sight in one eye due to drug
delay

The delay of the introduction of a new drug for sight loss to
the National Health Service could result in up to 4,000 people
going blind in one eye.

Medical charities are expressing fears that patients are missing
out on therapy for age related macular degeneration (AMD), which is
the most common form of blindness in Britain.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence was due to
recommend limited use of the first NHS treatment for the disease in
July. But when doctors warned the guidelines would ration the
therapy to people who had already lost sight in one eye, the
decision was postponed for six months.

The delay means that between 3-4,000 people will miss out on
potentially sight saving therapy, according to the Royal National
Institute for the Blind.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 September page
8

Scottish newspapers

Shirley On Board

Shirley Manson of the pop group Garbage has admitted that as a
victim of bullying she herself would “mercilessly torture” her
sister.

Manson, who suffered depression as a child, was badly bullied
whilst at secondary school, but at home she would abuse her sister,
Sarah, daily and would threaten her with a knife.

The singer has pledged her support to the Daily
Record’s campaign to tackle the increasing rate of suicide
amongst young people.

Source:- Daily Record Tuesday 24th September page
11

Trust pledge on mental health

Mental health services in the west coast of Scotland are facing
uncertainty after three of the four area’s consultant psychiatrists
resigned.

Meeting yesterday, officials from Lomond and Argyll Primary Care
Trust sought to ease concerns of patients and the public by
announcing that the trust was in talks with Greater Glasgow Primary
Care Trust to secure consultant cover to allow the service to
continue.

The three consultants, who have tendered their resignations, are
known to have complained to the director of mental health services
for the trust about the scarcity of resources for mental welfare in
the area. The trust admitted the national shortage of consultant
psychiatrists could hinder the filling of these vacancies.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 24th September page 6

Mother ‘haunted’ by baby’s death

A mother accused of murdering her daughter told yesterday how
she stood “petrified” as her partner swung the 13-month-old baby
against the wall.

Andrea Bone was giving evidence to the trial in Stonehaven at
which she and her former partner, Sandy McClure, are charged with
the murder of Carla-Nicole Bone earlier this year.

McClure is accused of murdering Carla-Nicole by grabbing the
child and slamming her head and body against a wall and knocking
her head against the floor at the couple’s cottage at Forgue,
Aberdeenshire. Bone is accused of wilfully failing to protect her
and ensuring her wellbeing or seeking medical treatment following
the alleged attack.

Bone told the court how she had once loved McClure, but now
hated him for killing her “little girl”.

On the day of the alleged attack she said, “”It was a side of
him I had never seen. His face was full of evil. It wasn’t like
him.”

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 24th September page 8

Welsh newspapers

Sex abuse case may be retried

A jury was discharged yesterday after it failed to reach a
verdict on 12 charges against a former foster carer charged with
sexually abusing boys.

Ronald Jones had been found not guilty of two charges of buggery
and two of indecent assault last week at Mold crown court in north
Wales.

But the jury, whch had been considering a further 12 charges,
could not come to a conclusion and Judge Merfyn Hughes discharged
them.

He said that the case could be re-listed next week, and the
prosecution could then decide whether to continue or press ahead
with a retrial.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 24 September page 3

‘We swore blind his accusers were
lying’

An alleged victim of abuse at a school in south Wales has told
an inquiry that he wishes he had spoken out sooner.

The inquiry chaired by Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Peter Clarke is looking into the circumstances surrounding alleged
abuse by former drama teacher, John Owen.

The former pupil said that Owen had a psychological hold over
his alleged victims, and that at the time when the first
allegations were made in 1991 he was unable to tell the truth about
what had happened or come forward to support those who were making
the allegations.

John Owen killed himself last year the day before he was due to
stand trial on charges of indecency against children.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 24 September page 6