Monday 31 March 2003

By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Charities criticise sexually explicit children’s
novel

A sexually explicit children’s novel that is accompanied
by the words “warning explicit content”, is causing controversy
before it has gone on sale.

Critics claim that positioning “Doing It” by Melvin Burgess in
the young adults section of bookshops and libraries is a marketing
ploy to attract a younger readership for whom sexually explicit
content may not be appropriate.

Sex education campaigners believe the book to be published in
May, could add peer pressure on younger teenagers to have sex, by
contributing to the myth that “everybody is doing it”.

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 17

Soham killings PC is jailed over child porn

A former police officer, who worked on the Soham murder case,
was jailed for six months yesterday on child pornography
charges.

Anthony Goodridge, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, had admitted
possessing 330 indecent images of young girls. He was investigated
after officers from Operation Ore tracked him down.

Goodridge worked as an exhibit officer during the investigation
into the deaths of Holy Wells and Jessica Chapman at Soham last
year. He was dismissed by Cambridge Constabulary earlier this
month.

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 18

EU backing for asylum centre plan

Home secretary David Blunkett claimed yesterday that he had won
“substantial support” for his proposals to set up asylum processing
centres outside of the EU.

The “transit processing centres” would hold all asylum seekers
to the EU while their claims are being processed.

Blunkett presented the ideas at an EU meeting in Veria, Greece,
after which he said they had agreed to “follow up urgently” the
ideas.

Source:- The Times Saturday 29 March page 18

10% of pupils regular smokers

Ten per cent of 11-15 year-olds are regular smokers, according
to a survey of 10,000 pupils by the department of health.

Eighteen per cent took drugs last year and 24 per cent had drunk
alcohol in the seven days prior to the poll being conducted.

The drinkers said they typically had 10.5 units a week, nearly
double the figure in 1990.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 29 March page 15

Adoptions from care rise

There has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of children
in care in England being adopted since 1999 to 3,400.

Health minister Jacqui Smith said the government’s drive
to promote adoptions was succeeding.

Other statistics showed the number of people being held under
the Mental Health Act fell to 26,300 in 2001-2002 from 26,600 in
2000-2001.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 29 March page 15

Clergyman gets 10 years for abusing two
boys

Canon Lawrence Davies was sentenced to 10 years in jail by
Cardiff crown court yesterday for sexually abusing two boys.

The vicar denied the charges, but was told his name must be on
the sex offenders register for life after his release from jail,
and he would never work with children again.

The court heard how his victims had become clergymen.

Source:- The
Independent Saturday 29 March
page 16

Sports centres ban taking of child photos

Parents may have to seek written permission before they can take
their child’s photographs at sporting events, under new
guidelines circulated by a leisure industry watchdog.

The Institute of Sport and Recreation management has advocated
the stringent new rules following increasing concern over child
abuse, and the spread of mobile phones acting as cameras.

In a paper sent to more than 10,000 local authority run leisure
centres, the ISRM urges a ban on photographs of partly clothed
children.

Source:- The Sunday Times 30 March page 11

One in 100 black adults now in jail

One in every 100 black adults in Britain is now in prison,
according to home office statistics.

Following a crackdown on guns, drugs and street crime there has
been an explosion in the number of prisoners from an African or
Caribbean background, who now account for one in six of all
inmates.

The figures have sparked fears of an American style penal system
where black men are 10 times more likely to go to prison than
whites, and one in twenty over the age of 18 is in jail.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 20

School exclusions cut

Exclusions in school have been reduced drastically following the
introduction of restorative justice schemes, the Secondary Heads
Association conference heard yesterday.

The schemes require children, who have abused or assaulted
classmates or teachers, to face their victims and explain their
behaviour.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 20

Tragedies spark action on fathers who kill

A string of killings by fathers has urged ministers to order a
major review of the safety of children caught up in bitter
divorces.

Ministers want to identify “flashpoints”, and trends that may
help to prevent further deaths. Court forms will also be altered to
enable any history of violent behaviour to be raised at the
earliest opportunity when ruling on visiting rights.

The move follows cases such as that of Keith Young, who last
week gassed himself and four children after his estranged wife
informed him she was pregnant by another man.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 March page 24

Young people ‘more stressed than
ever’

Record levels of stress have been recorded among teenagers,
according to an official study.

Nearly one in four 15-year-olds are now thought to suffer from
anxiety disorders, sleepless nights and forms of depression,
according to the Medical Research Council survey.

The figures rise from 24 per cent to 38 per cent for middle
class girls where the pressure to fit in and dress fashionably is
felt more acutely.

Source:- Independent on Sunday 30 March page 20

Asylum lawyers hit

Lawyers who spin out asylum appeals are to be targeted by new
government powers this week.

David Blunkett’s plans to crackdown under the Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Act will also prevent bogus asylum seekers
delaying their expulsion.

The crackdown means there will be no right of appeal in the UK
for asylum seekers who have made an earlier appeal elsewhere in
Europe.

From Tuesday, claimants will be removed to where they lodged
their initial appeal, and senior home office sources believe this
will reduce the number of asylum seekers entering Britain.

Soaring numbers of appeals have sent legal aid bills spiralling
to more than £150 million a year.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 30 March page 41

Man who killed sons is found hanged in
prison

A man who was convicted last week of murdering his two sons has
been found hanged in prison.

Steve Wilson, aged 44, was discovered by his cellmate hanging by
his shoelaces from the upturned end of his bed yesterday afternoon.
Prison officers and paramedics at Blakenhurst prison in
Worcestershire tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead an
hour and a half later.

Wilson died just five days after Birmingham crown court found
him guilty of stabbing his sons Brad, seven, and Brett, eight, with
a screwdriver. He was given a life sentence for the double
murder.

A Prison Service investigation into the circumstances of his
death has begun.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 march page 13

Care registers

Social workers in Britain are to be registered from this
week.

The profession is to be regulated by the General Social Care
Council (for England), the Care Council for Wales, the Northern
Ireland Social Care Council and the Scottish Social Services
Council.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 March page 15

Free condoms

The Green Party yesterday called for free contraceptives to be
provided in schools, and children to be able to access family
planning advice without parental consent.

It called for more sex education in schools to reduce levels of
under-age sexual activity and teenage pregnancies.

Source:- The Times Monday 31 March page 15

Intimidation and fear of violence driving pupils to join
street gangs

Children are joining street gangs to protect themselves from
violence in and around their schools, Lord Warner told a
headteachers conference.

The chairperson of the Youth Justice Board said many young
people were joining gangs to ensure that they were not preyed on
themselves.

“It’s a case of if you can’t beat them, join them,”
he told the Secondary Heads Association conference.

Source:- The
Independent Monday 31 March page
11

Scottish newspapers

Lawyer pleads for woman who killed babies to remain free
for treatment

A young mother who killed her two
newborn babies and kept their bodies for up to five years in bin
bags, could end up in a psychiatric hospital if she were sent to
jail, the high court in Glasgow was told on Friday.

Gordon Jackson QC, defending,
pleaded with the judge, Lord Bracadale, not to send Susan MacLeod
to jail but to allow her to receive psychiatric treatment while at
liberty.

Source:- The Herald
Saturday 29 March page 7

Drug dealers might lose
right to early prison release

Drug dealers could lose their right
to early prison release if Labour wins the May election.

Scottish Labour leader Jack
McConnell wants to scrap rules that allow dealers sentenced to four
years or more to be considered for parole after serving half their
sentence.

Source:- The Scotsman
Monday 31 March page 10

Welsh newspapers

Social workers’ register will weed out the
inept

All social workers in Wales will have to register from tomorrow
as the government moves to restore public confidence in the
profession.

The new register will put the profession on a similar footing as
medicine and teaching, and the aim is to drive up standards and
provide better public protection.

Social workers have argued for regulation and the new register
is seen as a landmark development. The Care Council for Wales will
be the body charged with registering the 70,000 workers in the
sector, within the principality.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 31 March page 8

Health teams ‘to react strongly’ over
£20m debts

The new local health boards poised to take control of Welsh
health from tomorrow face crippling debts of around £20
million from outgoing health authorities.

There is concern that the new agencies will have to pay off the
debts run up by health authorities from their already tight
budgets.

This could have a knock on effect on patient services and senior
sources within the new local health boards have said that the
situation is far from ideal.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 31 March page 8