Friday 24 January 2003

By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Local resentment hampers strategy of
dispersal

The government’s decision to disperse asylum seekers around the
country two years ago was a recognition of the large strain being
placed on London and the south east since applications began in
1990.

The home secretary’s current concerns that the asylum problem
may cause a breakdown in community relations follows on from this
policy.

More than eighty eight thousand asylum seekers and their
children had been dispersed up and down the country by the end of
last September.

Source:- The Times Friday 24 January page 4

Concern for new tension in Glasgow

Months of racial tension on a Glasgow housing estate reached
breaking point 18 months ago when Firsat Dag, a Kurdish asylum
seeker, was stabbed to death.

The stabbing, which took place in Sighthill, showed what could
go wrong in the refugee dispersal programme to Glasgow, which has
received around 7,000 asylum seekers over the past two years.

Source:- The Times Friday 24 January page 4

Priest accused of abuse absconds before
trial

Father Yousef Dominic, who is accused of indecently assaulting a
nine-year-old boy, has run away from a religious retreat for
priests with sex or alcohol problems, jumping bail.

The Roman Catholic priest is believed to have gone into hiding
in Pakistan after a parish priest had provided £25,000 to get
him released on bail from Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Source:- The Times Friday 24 January page 10

Spare young from jail, says Cherie

Cherie Blair QC, said that the “majority” of young offenders
should receive community penalties rather going to prison as this
was a better way to prevent repeat offending.

She made her comments at a lecture arranged by the British
Institute of Human Rights with King’s College, London
University.

Source:- The Times Friday 24 January page 10

Blunkett fear of vigilantes over asylum

Last night the home secretary said that he was worried that the
country was like a “coiled spring” over the issue of asylum and
that anger could overflow “into the disintegration of community
relations and social cohesion”.

Making the comments in an interview with the New
Statesman magazine, Blunkett went on to say: “I am deeply
worried because genuine fears and concerns can so easily turn to a
desire to find scapegoats…I am worried about people taking
the law into their own hands.”

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 24 January page
1

My suicide husband died with dignity

Reginald Crew, the man who decided to end his life by assisted
suicide in Switzerland, finally achieved the dignity he had been
looking for after suffering from motor neurone disease for years,
in the words of his widow.

Win Crew said: “He did not have to face the horrendous end he
knew was coming if he had not done what he did.”

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 24 January page
12

Refugee helpline reports rise in attacks

Three Iraqi asylum seekers were chased by a gang of 12 white men
and then attacked, leaving two with head injuries. The attack took
play in daylight in Plymouth town centre, and is being treated by
police as racially motivated.

More than 1,700 complaints of abuse, harassment or violence from
asylum seekers were received last year.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 24 January page 6

Lone parent children at higher risk of suicide, says
study

A Swedish research project has found that children living with
just one parent are at a much higher risk of committing suicide,
having a psychiatric illness, or suffering from a drug-related
disease.

The study found that health records of nearly one million
children and young adults from an eight-year period shows the
long-terms effects for children living in lone parent
households.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 24 January page 10

Scottish newspapers

School pays over pregnant pupil

A schoolgirl who was banned from lessons at her Catholic convent
school in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, when she became pregnant, has
won more than £6,000 compensation.

Margaret McCluskey, now aged 21, was awarded the money for her
school’s sexual discrimination. She said the school had made
her feel like a “second class citizen” when she was already feeling
vulnerable and facing the daunting prospect of teenage
motherhood.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 24 January page 10

Asylum group accuses Blunkett of ‘raising spectre
of vigilantism’

Home secretary David Blunkett was last night accused of “raising
the spectre of vigilantism” when he said people might take the law
into their own hands over asylum seekers.

Asked about the link people made between terrorism and asylum
seekers, Blunkett said he was worried about tensions spilling over
into the disintegration of community relations and social
cohesion.

Source:- The Herald Friday 24 January page 4

Welsh newspapers

Syphilis Alert

More cases of the sexual disease syphilis have been reported in
Cardiff in one month than in the previous six years.

Health officials are now issuing warnings about the increase of
the disease and there are attempts to track individuals who may
have come into contact with it.

A spokesperson for Bro Taf Health Authority said that the
confirmed cases in Cardiff were all men, and had been diagnosed
after seeking medical health.

But she added that syphilis was easily passed to women, and was
especially dangerous to those who are pregnant.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 23 January page
7

There was no sex, runaway will say

The north Wales teenager who ran away to marry her Turkish
boyfriend will deny that the pair had sex, when she gives evidence
at his trial.

Rachel Lloyd, aged 15, is to fly to Turkey next month for the
trial of Mehmet Ocack who stands accused of statutory rape
following their relationship.

The teenager said that she would be asked if she and Ocack had
sex and that she would say ‘no’. She added that Ocack
was unaware that she was in Turkey on a false passport.

If Ocack is found guilty of statutory rape, he could face a
seven-year prison sentence.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 24 January page 7

Taskforce needed to tackle the most serious forms of
child abuse

A new taskforce to tackle the most serious crimes against
children and new legal definitions of child abuse are urgently
required.

Paediatrician David Southall said definitions of child abuse
should be based on motive and degree of injury rather than type of
wound.

He said that many professionals working with children found it
hard to accept that parents would deliberately harm their children,
and that this led to unacceptable delays in protecting child
victims.

Southall says that a special interagency taskforce should be set
up with highly trained practitioners from a range of specialties
that could act as child protection experts.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 24 January page 7