Friday 25 April 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Briton faces sex charge after internet meeting
A Briton is facing a 10-year prison sentence in America after being charged with having sex with an underage girl he met on the internet.
Barry Beadle flew 4,000 miles to meet up with the 14-year-old girl.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 25 April page 5
Number of refugees staying ‘will rise by 50pc’
There is expected to be a 50 per cent rise in the number of asylum seekers who stay in Britain, government experts warned yesterday.
If the official prediction is correct, 30,000 refugees will be allowed to stay in Britain each year, up from 20,000.
The increase contradicts Tony Blair’s pledge to halve the number of refugees entering the country.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 25 April page 37
The little terror
A boy aged 11 has been banned from an entire district of Blackpool by magistrates after conducting a campaign of robbery, assault and abusive behaviour.
The ban is part of an anti-social behaviour order preventing Jak Spinks, of Blackpool, from entering the area unless accompanied by someone aged over 21.
The order is set to last two years and if Spinks breaks the conditions he could be detained in secure accommodation.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 25 April page 41
Refugees are ‘escaping persecution not poverty’
The majority of asylum seekers coming to Britain are fleeing civil war, persecution of minorities and brutal dictatorships, according to a report by a think-tank.
The study from the Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) has contradicted ministers arguments that most refugees leave due to poverty rather than to escape persecution.
Source:- The Independent Friday 25 April page 9
Scottish newspapers
Drug laws out of date by 32 years
The fight against crime will be lost unless drug laws are shaken up, police warned yesterday.
Scotland’s rank and file officers voted for a royal commission on the country’s main drug laws. They also demanded powers to concentrate on bigger dealers rather than those who sold drugs to fund their own habits.
Tayside police inspector Chris White said the Misuse of Drugs Law 1921 was a “lingering, dusty, cobwebbed legacy of prejudice and failure” at the annual Scottish Police Federation conference.
The act was based on prohibition and simply was not working, he added.
Source:- Daily Record  Friday 25 April page 2
I’ll beat street yobbos
In the last of his series of interviews with the leaders of Scotland’s four political parties, Paul Sinclair asks first minister Jack McConnell how he plans to beat street crime.
Source:- Daily Record  Friday 25 April page 8 and 9
Nurse made kiddie porn
A former nurse was remanded in custody yesterday after admitting taking indecent photographs of children.
Michael Paige, who used to work in Wick Hospital, made pornographic images of children at a house in Wick and elsewhere between January and April last year.
Paige from Falkirk will re-appear for sentencing at Wick sheriff court on 15 May.
Source:- Daily Record  Friday 25 April page 23
Trauma study based in Aberdeen
The first investigation into trauma suffered by members of the public who witness tragedies is to be undertaken by a team of researchers based at Aberdeen University.
Until now research has focused on combat veterans and the survivors of major disasters.
But the Aberdeen team will look at post traumatic stress in the community who witness tragedies such as industrial and road accidents.
Dr Susan Klein, who is leading the study said: “Trauma has major health and social implications for society, through the financial, employment, and mental and physical illness problems experienced by the individuals affected.”
Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 25 April
Workplace ‘A Hostile Environment for Disabled’
Over half the cases investigated by the Disability Rights Commission last year involved disability in the workplace, according to a report published today.
The DRC helped almost 1,000 employees in their claims against their employers who discriminated against them or refused to change their working practices.
Last year the organisation took 103 employers to employment tribunals, despite aiming to resolve most discrimination cases out of court.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 25 April
School lies empty as island row over drug haven rumbles on
Britain’s smallest school was empty yesterday after it became the victim of a bitter community feud over a hostel for recovering drug addicts.
The primary school on the Shetland Island of Papa Stour reopened earlier this week after a nine-month hunt for a teacher for its sole pupil.
However, the only pupil able to benefit from the school was allegedly kept away because on the ongoing row which has split the island’s population of 24.
It is believed the mother of the six year old removed her from school after learning that the new teacher, Jane Puckney, is friendly with a couple who want to open a hostel for recovering addicts
Councillors rejected the couple’s planning application to convert their bed and breakfast business into the hostel, a proposal which has split the community.
Source:- The Herald  Friday 25 April
Welsh newspapers
Crisis in our wards
More patients than ever are blocking hospital beds in Gwent in south Wales.
Despite millions of pounds of Welsh assembly investment across Wales to ease the problems of delayed discharge, the situation is growing more serious.
Last September there were 240 beds blocked in Gwent, but for the past six months an average of 257 a month was recorded. The Welsh average is 190 per health authority.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 24 April pages 1 and 4
‘People Pass Us By Like We Are Ghosts’
A two-page feature looking at the experience of homeless people in Cardiff.
Reporter Steve Tucker spends a day with rough sleepers finding out about their lives and how they cope with living on the streets of the Welsh capital.
Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 24 April pages 30-31