Friday 1 November 2002

Brown gets tougher on hardcore unemployed

Stringent new measures to tackle the hardcore unemployed who
refuse to work even when jobs are made available to them are to be
announced today by Gordon Brown.

The proposals include plans to force claimants to have more job
interviews, mobile job centres in unemployment hotspots and job
centre staff working street by street to identify those unwilling
to seek work.

The chancellor will make his speech at the urban
“summit” in Birmingham.

Source:- The Times  Friday 1 November page 2

Peers inflict defeat on asylum plans

The home secretary’s plans to overhaul the asylum system
suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords last night.

The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill which would
authorise the government to detain refugees in accommodation
centres while asylum applications are processed suffered three
defeats in the Lords.

Source:- The Times  Friday 1 November page 2

Uncle ‘had 2 mobiles on day Danielle
vanished’

The man accused of murdering his niece Danielle Jones had two
mobile telephones on the day the teenager disappeared, one of which
resembled Jones’, a court was told yesterday.

Neighbour of Stuart Campbell, Kay Hahn, said that she saw the
builder with a telephone with a black cover and another with a
distinctive blue cover that had a smiley face and the words
“my Dad” printed on it. The court had earlier heard how
the teenager’s phone had this cover.

Campbell denies abducting and murdering his niece.

The trial continues.

Source:- The Times  Friday 1 November page 11

Asylum verdict

The fast-track asylum policy of detaining asylum seekers while
their applications were heard did not breach human rights, five law
lords ruled unanimously.

The government said that the ruling confirmed its power to
process applications fairly and quickly.

Source:- The Times  Friday 1 November page 16

Crackdown in Sangatte smashes refugee
smugglers

Six British-controlled Iraqi-Kurdish gangs that have smuggled up
to 20,000 illegal immigrants across the Channel from Calais have
been broken by French police.

The gangs infiltrated the Sangatte Red Cross refugee centre near
Calais and charged more than £500 to help asylum seekers to
board lorries heading for Britain on ferries or the Eurotunnel
shuttle, according to police in Paris.

The gangs earned millions of pounds by smuggling between 12,000
and 20,000 illegal immigrants across the Channel in the past
year.

More than 100 suspects were arrested during the six-month
inquiry. A total of 35 ringleaders have been charged with
organising the French side of the traffic and remanded in custody
in France.

Source:- The Times  Friday 1 November page 17

Parents ‘get away with murder’

Hundreds of parents who kill their children are exploiting
loopholes to get away with murder, according to an NSPCC working
group.
Police forces in England and Wales dealt with 492 cases in the
three years up to December 2000 where children under 10 had been
killed by their parents or carers.

In 61 per cent of cases no charge was brought and only 27 per
cent ended in conviction, compared with 90 per cent when a child
was killed by a stranger.

Even when there was a conviction it was for child cruelty rather
than murder or manslaughter in many cases.

The stumbling block is a court of appeal ruling in 1987 which
held that here there was no evidence showing which of the two
parents or carers harmed the child then neither can be convicted of
murder or manslaughter even if nobody else is present.

Source:- The Guardian  Friday 1 November page 9

Vandalism is the ‘big issue’

The government’s law and order priority next year will be
tackling anti-social behaviour, according to Tony Blair
yesterday.

Measures to deal with disorder will be “the biggest
issue” in the Queen’s speech on November 13th, which
will set out the government’s legislative programme for
2003.

The prime minister described anti social behaviour such as
vandalism, graffiti, and fly tipping as “probably the biggest
immediate issue for people in the country”.

Source:- Daily Telegraph  Friday 1 November page 10

Minister to toughen laws on beggars

Powers for police and local authorities to deal with beggars,
buskers and rough sleepers were unveiled by the government
yesterday.

The powers are under consideration as part of a five-year
campaign to make Britain’s towns and cities more attractive
places to live.

The options for consultation include “begging”
courts in which magistrates could deal with repeat offenders and
new street nuisance legislation that would allow local authorities
to create begging-free zones.

Source:- Independent  Friday 1 November page 2

Scottish news

Anger as levels of abuse rise for the third
year

A worrying increase in the incidence of domestic abuse has been
seen in Scotland for the third year, leading to accusations of
complacency being levelled against the government.

Source:- The Scotsman November 1 page 8

Thieving carer not a criminal

A care worker who stole more than £6,000 from an eighty
year old woman with senile dementia has escaped jail after being
told she was “not a criminal”.

Rachel Hamilton received a cheque intended for Glasgow council
from the woman’s brother to pay for her care, but this money
was never passed on to the social work department.

Sheriff Dierdre MacNeill told her she should have been
imprisoned but the fact she was in dire financial straits made it
an unusual case and therefore she was not a criminal.

After pleading guilty to the offence in September, she was
ordered to pay back the money and got a year’s probation as
well as 240 hours community service.

Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 1 November

Welsh papers

Abuse cases report shock

A police investigation into child abuse allegations in south
Wales may have sent the wrong people to prison, MPs have
concluded.
The report from the Home Affairs select committee found that
“ a new genre of miscarriages of justice” had arisen
from the “over enthusiastic pursuit” of abuse
allegations in children’s homes.

MPs did not specify where miscarriages of justice had occurred
but said south Wales had been identified to them by one witness as
home to one of the most dangerous trawling operations by
police.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 31 October page
15

Shelter launches support campaign

Thousands of people across south Wales are not claiming the
housing support that they are entitled to, according to Shelter
Cymru.
The charity is now about to launch a new campaign aimed at telling
people how to claim their housing rights.

Director of Shelter, John Puzey said that it was important to
raise awareness of eligibility for housing and benefits because
following new legislation more people in different circumstances
could now make claims.

Source:-  South Wales Echo Thursday 31 October page
15

Commons rap for over-keen police pleases falsely accused
child carer

A former housemaster at a children’s home in south Wales
says that his life was destroyed by false allegations of abuse
against the children in his care.

Last year, Mike Doggett, 58, endured a three-week trial on 17
different charges of sexual and physical abuse made by nine men he
had taught as boys at Ty Mawr approved school near Abergavenny.

He was cleared on all counts and he welcomes the report by the
Home affairs select committee that is critical of the way some
investigations into abuse in children’s homes have been
handled by police.

Source:-  Western Mail Friday 1 November page 5