Friday 17 January 2003

By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Matthew Kelly bailed over child sex inquiry

Matthew Kelly, the television presenter, was released on bail
yesterday by the police investigating allegations of sexual abuse
on young boys.

Kelly was arrested on Wednesday in Birmingham where he is acting
in a pantomime. Last night he was back on stage and received
rapturous applause.

He has been ordered to return to Guildford police station in
March by police investigating allegations of sex involving boys
aged under 16 dating from the 1970s.

He rejected the allegations last night in a statement released
by his solicitors.

Source:- The Times Friday 17 January page 4

Six stabbed as asylum gangs clash in Kent

Six men were stabbed after rival gangs of asylum seekers fought
a running battle in two Kent towns.

The first fight took place in Gravesend on Wednesday evening and
the second in Rochester 20 minutes later.

Police found two knives, one at the scene of each fight. Nine
men are being held in custody at Dartford police station.

Source:- The Times Friday 17 January page 9

Two boys jailed for friend’s murder

Two boys were jailed for 12 years each yesterday for the murder
of an 18-year-old friend who had learning difficulties.

Steven Knott, aged 17, and Leon Paige, aged 16, killed Richard
Parker because they suspected him of telling the police that they
were shoplifters. They beat and stabbed him to death then dumped
his body in a ditch.

Knott and Paige denied the murder, but were convicted by a jury
at Oxford crown court. The court heard that Parker had not informed
on them.

Source:- The Times Friday 17 January page 12

Cambridge accepts rejected deaf girl

The deaf state school student who was turned down by Oxford
despite having been awarded six As at A level, has been awarded a
place at Cambridge.

Anastasia Fedotova, whose rejection from a mathematics course at
Brasenose College refuelled controversy over the university’s
admissions policy, has been accepted by Trinity College.

Source:- The Times Friday 17 January page 13

Brown’s pay squeeze at odds with his goals, says
Unison

Britain’s biggest public sector union criticised Gordon Brown
yesterday for giving warning of a continued squeeze on public
sector pay.

Unison, which represents 1.3 million workers, warned the
Chancellor that the country could not have world class public
services on the cheap.

Source:- The Times Friday 17 January page 16

‘Sleeper’ alert on 3,000 Algerians

How rest of Europe shows us the way to tackle asylum

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 17 January page 4

Tories savage ‘world’s worst system’

The Tories have accused the government of forming the worst
asylum system in the civilised world.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin made the charge as
colleagues claimed that asylum had become a ‘Trojan horse for
terrorism’.

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 17 January page 5

Judge orders urgent asylum case hearings

A high court judge yesterday ordered urgent hearings into two
human rights test cases challenging the legality of the
government’s new policy of denying welfare benefits to asylum
seekers who do not claim refugee status as soon as they arrive in
Britain.

He ordered the legal challenges to go ahead in the high court in
London on 31 January, as Shelter and the Refugee Council
highlighted the problem with the case of a severely traumatised
torture victim who had been sleeping rough in a Leeds car park as a
result of the new rules that came into effect nine days ago.

The two cases to be heard at the end of this month involve M, a
Rawandan woman, who failed to apply for asylum immediately after
flying into Britain, and J, an Iranian, who arrived in the country
hidden in the back of a lorry.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 17 January page 11

Scottish newspapers

Paton and Kelly released on bail after allegations of
abuse

Tam Paton, former manager of seventies pop band, the Bay City
Rollers, was released on bail yesterday after being questioned as
part of an inquiry into sexual abuse against young boys.

He was held in connection with historic allegations of sexual
abuse against boys under 16.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 17 January page 1

Council suspend housing activist

A leading activist against the Glasgow housing stock transfer
has been suspended from his council job in what his supporters
claim is a politically motivated vendetta.

Sean Clarkin, chairperson of the Glasgow Campaign Against
Housing Stock Transfer, was sent home after taking a call from his
mother, amid claims he was co-ordinating opposition to the stock
transfer plans during office hours.

Source:- The Herald Friday 17 January page 13

Council inquiry into ‘racist Edinburgh’
claims

An independent inquiry has been launched by Edinburgh council
into claims it is “institutionally racist” and employs prejudiced
officials.

Former chief executive of Strathclyde regional council, Sir Neil
McIntosh, is to investigate allegations that the council allowed
racists to inform policy, after a Pakistani organisation was
refused a grant of £50,000.

Source:- The Herald Friday 17 January page 16

Revealed: proof that boys are more trouble from the
moment they are born

Some women may claim that trouble with men starts early, after
research shows that baby boys cause more problems than girls at
birth.

Researchers at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin have
found that boys’ larger heads, among other factors, account
for longer labours and more Caesarean sections.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 17 January page 11

Welsh newspapers

Ex-runaway may testify on behalf of Turkish
boyfriend

The north Wales schoolgirl who ran away to be with her Turkish
boyfriend may testify on his behalf next month.

Rachel Lloyd, aged 15, from Wrexham was brought back from Turkey
in December after she ran away to join 24-year-old Mehmet Ocak.

He is now facing a charge of statutory rape and could face a
seven-year sentence if found guilty.

Rachel’s father Bob Lloyd has asked for more information
from Ocak’s defence team before deciding whether to allow his
daughter to give evidence.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 17 January page 8

Teen tearaway gang banned

A group of four teenagers have been banned from the centre of
Port Talbot and from bus and railway stations in the town.

The four were ‘named and shamed’ in court as part of
a crackdown on unruly behaviour, and the teenagers aged between 13
and 17 could face prison if they break the order.

The four had abused and intimidated staff and security guards in
supermarkets, shopping centres and in bus and train stations.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 17 January page 11