Tuesday 28 January 2003

By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Tories want refugees screened on arrival

The Conservatives have called for all asylum seekers to be held
in secure centres as soon as they arrive in Britain until they have
undergone security checks.

The party argues that the checks are necessary to combat
terrorism.

They are also seeking a review of all the international laws on
refugees, such as the UN convention, the Dublin convention and the
European Convention on Human Rights, that could cause the end of
guarantees that refugees would not be sent back to certain
countries.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 28 January page 4

Night courts are too dear to justify

Night courts and early morning sittings in magistrates courts,
one of Tony Blair’s attempts to tack youth crime, were ended
yesterday after being branded “prohibitively expensive” by a new
report.

The experimental hours, piloted at Bow Street magistrates court
in London and a court in Manchester, were found to be a lot more
expensive than traditional sitting times and were not cost
effective.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 28 January page 4

Father rescues naked girl after net
rendezvous

A middle-aged man who lured a 14-year-old girl to meet up with
him by posing as a teenager in an internet chatroom has been foiled
by the girl’s father.

The father rescued his daughter after finding her naked under a
duvet in the back of the man’s car parked in a lay-by on an
isolated road in Northumberland.

He was alerted by his daughter’s friends when a teenage boy they
had arranged to meet turned out to be the 50-year-old man and the
girl agreed to go for a drive with him. The friends knew where the
car would be parked.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 28 January page 8

Climbie inquiry will make 100
recommendations

One hundred recommendations to improve the child protection
system will be made by an independent inquiry into the murder of
Victoria Climbie, to be published today.

The report, led by Lord Laming, is expected to call for new
joint working teams to be created to provide a comprehensive
locally-based service and better regulation of private
fostering.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 28 January page 1

Blair asylum pledge was a ‘tactical grab for
headlines’

Tony Blair has retreated from his plans to look at ending some
of Britain’s commitments under the European Convention on Human
Rights, prompting criticism from the left and the right.

Since making the suggestion only yesterday, Blair has now moved
away from making any new plans instead saying the government would
assess existing measures before making any new ones.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 28 January page 5

MPs call for ban on smacking to close ‘loophole for
abuse’

There should be a total ban on smacking according to some MPs
speaking yesterday.

David Hinchliffe, chairperson of the Commons’ health committee,
said that current rules allowing “legal chastisement” of children
left social workers with “one hand tied behind their backs”, and
added that he was prepared to draw up his own legislation to create
a ban.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 28 January page 8

Lack of murder register puts children at
risk

Britain’s lack of an open national murder register has caused
more children to be killed or be put at risk, warned child experts
yesterday.

One specialist described the situation as outrageous saying the
information was being “institutionally repressed” by the government
and local authorities.

It is thought that Lord Laming’s report into the death of
Victoria Climbie published today will make a recommendation for
such a register.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 28 January page 1

Tories: lock up refugees, but not in my
constituency

Plans to open an asylum accommodation centre in Portland in
Dorset, the backyard of the shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin,
are being opposed by the Conservatives despite planning to call for
all new asylum seekers to be locked up until they have undergone
security checks today.

The revelation comes in leaked emails written on Sunday showing
that Dorset Conservatives are prepared to go as far as conducting
“disruptive direct action blockades” in order to keep in with local
campaigners against the centre.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 28 January page 2

Tales of neglect amid deprivation

A day in the life of a social worker in Haringey, four years
after the death of Victoria Climbie

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 28 January page 12

Child support changes ready to go

Flat rate payments are to be introduced by the child support
agency, four years after they were announced by the government.

The payments will be introduced next month and are designed to
make the system more enforceable after complaints from many
parents.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 28 January page 14

Scottish newspapers

Attacks on prostitutes up 300% in one year

New figures have revealed that the number of attacks on
prostitutes increased by almost 300 per cent in the year following
the controversial scrapping of the tolerance zone in Edinburgh.

The nature of attacks has also changed, according to Ruth Morgan
Thomas, from ScotPep, the Scottish Prostitutes Education Programme,
with far more instances of rape, serious assault and robbery.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 28 January page 1, 7 and
18

10 years for sex attacks

The entire male population of a remote Highland community has
been DNA-tested after a woman was sexually assaulted.

The operation in the village of Laggan trapped John MacLean,
aged 62, a married father of five. Following his arrest, two more
women came forward and told police they had been sexually abused by
MacLean as children in the eighties.

Source:- Daily Express Tuesday 28 January page 16

Probe after lecturer accused of racist slur on
students

An Asian law lecturer is being investigated by the police over
claims he racially abused students.

Naveed Kayani is alleged to have called female students “white
bitches” to their faces. The students gave statements to police and
Kayani could face charges of a racially motivated breach of the
peace.

Bosses at Bell College in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, are also
investigating the claims.

Source:- Daily Record Tuesday 28 January page 13

Welsh newspapers

John Owen Inquiry moves to city hotel

The Clywch inquiry into the handling of allegations of child
abuse made against the late teacher John Owen will start again
tomorrow (Wednesday).

Owen, who was also the creator of a popular TV soap opera for
children on the Welsh fourth channel, S4C, was facing allegations
of sexually abusing teenage boys when he killed himself a year
ago.

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Peter Clarke, is
expected to hear more evidence from key witnesses, including
officials responsible for the handling of complaints about
teachers. The inquiry was halted in April when South Wales Police
were asked to investigate allegations that five adults were
implicated in incidents involving Owen. No further charges have
been brought.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 28 January page 7

Husband and wife battering at record level

Domestic violence in Wales is at a record high with record
numbers of people complaining to the police about brutal
partners.

In the North Wales Police area there was a 50 per cent increase,
from 3,186 to 4,891 complaints a year. In the south, the increase
was 28 per cent. Police say that the current focus of anti-domestic
abuse strategies is multi-agency working to increase the numbers of
opportunities for people to complain.

Jane Hutt, assembly minister for health and social services,
says that health professionals need to be alert to the signs of
abuse because they are likely to coming into contact with most
victims at some time.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 28 January 28 page 1

Mental health deaths `cover-up’

Health officials have been accused of covering up unexpected
deaths at two South Wales psychiatric hospitals. Between April 1999
and February 2000 there were five suicides at Whitchurch Hospital,
Cardiff, and Sully Hospital in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists carried out an investigation,
but the Vale Mental Health Campaign says that critical sections of
the report were removed before it was finally published. “There is
something wrong with a health service that thinks it can cover up
documents like this,” says campaign spokesperson Max Wallis.

Source:- South Wales Echo Monday 27 January page 2