Monday 9 June 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Vicar faces jail for sex assaults
A vicar has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two young
girls.
The Rev Robin Everett defended himself against the allegations of
interfering with the girls between 1981 to 1985, at Leicester crown
court.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph June 7 Saturday page 7
Paedophile posed as teenager to trap girls
A paedophile who met two teenage girls in internet chat rooms and
groomed them for sex, received a three-year jail sentence
yesterday.
Michael Wheeler waited until the girls were 13 before having sex
with them in order to exploit a loophole in the law.
Under current legislation, the maximum sentence for unlawful sexual
intercourse with a girl aged between 13 and 16 is two years
compared to life if the girl is under 13.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph June 7 Saturday page 8
Case fails against man seen naked with
14-year-old
The case against a man who was discovered naked with a girl aged
14, collapsed on Friday due to problems with evidence.
Sephton Allen, aged 50, arranged to meet the girl through an
internet chatroom.
He was caught under a duvet with the girl in the back of his car in
a layby by her father.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph June 7 Saturday page 8
Peers’ debate points to long road for euthanasia bill
A bill calling for the legalisation of euthanasia for people with
incurable or terminal illness, won a token second reading in the
House of Lords on Friday night in the face of opposition which will
block it making further progress.
Over 50 peers debated the bill for seven hours.
Source:- The Guardian June 7 Saturday page 6
Disabled set to ‘stand tall’ in new
wheelchair
A new wheelchair that will allow users to talk to friends face to
face by allowing users to raise themselves higher will go on sale
in Britain this summer.
It will prevent disabled people from feeling isolated, and that
they are being talked over due to being sat at a different
height.
Source:- The Sunday Times June 8 page 11
The government backs down over mentally ill
The most controversial aspect of the government’s Mental Health
Bill, which allows compulsory detention of people with mental
health problems who have not committed a crime, will remain, but it
has been reworded in favour of mental health sufferers.
Previously the bill would have compelled psychiatrists to section
people with severe personality disorders, but now their powers have
been made merely discretionary.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday June 8 page 13
Girls are in half of crime gangs
Over half of all teenage criminal gangs have female members,
according to new research.
The findings come six months after the deaths of Charlene Ellis and
Letisha Shakespeare, who were shot after being caught in crossfire
between two gangs, the ‘Burger Bar Boys’ and the
‘Johnson Crew’.
A few days after the killings two women were charged with the
murder of a Burger Bar Boy member, Yohanne Martin.
The survey was carried out in conjunction with Channel 4’s
‘Dispatches’ programme.
Source:- The Observer Sunday June 8 page 9
Can I remember a time when Karl was not bullied? Only since
we buried him
The parents of the 16-year-old who killed himself rather than face
more bullying at school tell their son’s short, sad story.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph June 8 page 13
Blair donor in £3m fraud raid
A top Labour party donor’s offices were raided by police
investigating a £3 million fraud involving illegal immigrants
yesterday.
Alec Reed, who has given nearly £150,000 to Labour, is alleged
to have provided illegal immigrants to work for a poultry
manufacturer.
Reed stands accused of giving jobs that should have gone to the
unemployed to illegal immigrants under a £30 million
government funded scheme.
Source:- The Mail on Sunday June 8 page 1
Parents fear male nursery carers
One in eight adults believe men should not be employed at
childcare centres, and 10 per cent of parents would not leave their
children at a nursery with male workers, according to a Mori poll
commissioned by the Daycare Trust.
A report accompanying the survey found that the fears dissipated
when parents experienced male nursery workers, and it calls for a
national strategy to ensure better recruitment and support policies
for men.
Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 8 June
Sarah killer assault charge
A man who attacked Sarah Payne’s killer, Roy Whiting, has
been charged.
Whiting was allegedly slashed with a razor across his cheek by a
fellow inmate while in Wakefield prison in August 2002.
Ricky Chigasgis is due to appear in court to face charges of
assault following a long investigation by police and the crown
prosecution service.
Source:- Daily Record  Monday 9 June page 11
United Nations of asylum seekers
Is this the new Sangatte, a disused Calais railway siding where
these two Turks, five Kurds, five Yugoslavs, seven Iraqis, two
Russians, one Somailan, one Sudanese, three Iranians, one Chinese
and one Pakistani dream how ‘Mother England’ will make them all
rich.
Source:- Daily Mail Monday June 9 page 16
This man’s 72 claims for race discrimination have cost
£600,000. Can he be stopped?
A Nigerian-born man has launched 72 employment tribunal cases for
racial discrimination in five years costing taxpayers, businesses
and universities nearly £600,000.
Omorotu Ayovuare has lost all but two of the cases, but denies any
wrongdoing, blaming his action on an “institutionally racist
society”.
One of the firms facing his accusations yesterday accused claimants
such as Ayovuare of trying to ‘milk the compensation
culture’.
Source:- Daily Mail Monday June 9 page 16
Inquiry ‘to lift lid’ on crisis in long-term care of the
elderly
A public inquiry, which its supporters say, will ‘lift the lid’ on
the crisis in long-term care of older people, opens today.
The case involves the death of an 88-year-old woman five days after
she was forced to move from her care home because of a rise in
fees.
Violet Townsend died on 11 February, after being forced to move
because Gloucestershire social services refused to pay a
£12-a-day increase despite warnings from her GP.
Source:- The Independent Monday June 9 page 2
Refugees face identity papers law
People who tear up their passports or use a false identity will be
automatically refused entry to Britain, David Blunkett warned
yesterday.
Asylum seekers, who are unable to produce identity papers, will be
deported under a new law being prepared by the home
secretary.
The law is aimed at ending the practice by which asylum nseekers
dispose of papers to make it harder to return them to their own
country.
Source:- The Independent Monday June 9 page 4
Children caring for relatives for over 50 hours a
week
Thousands of children under 11 and some as young as five, are
working more than 50 hours per week caring for a sick or disabled
relative, new research shows.
A study by the Children’s Society and the YMCA shows that
13,000 children under 18 are spending much of their time looking
after a sick or disabled relative.
Jenny Franks, young carers co-ordinator for the Children’s
Society, said “It is staggering that children as young as
five are spending more time caring at home than they spend at
school.”
Source:- The Guardian Monday 9 June page 5
Scottish newspapers
Accused in abuse case ‘confessed to
neighbour’
A man accused of abusing children in a home run by monks, confessed
to his neighbour that he was guilty, a court heard yesterday.
Jimmy McKinstrey confessed to Janet Ellis shortly after he was
interviewed by the police, she told Edinburgh high court.
McKinstrey denies two charges of assault and three charges of lewd,
indecent and libidinous behaviour against a total of five boys at
St Ninian’s List D school at Gartmore estate in Stirlingshire
between 1 January 1967 and 23 December 1981.
The case will continue on Monday.
Source:- The Scotsman  Saturday 7 June
Youth crime justice ‘too slow’
The delays in the Scottish youth justice system are growing at an
alarming rate and jeopardising the chances of addressing offending
behaviour.
There are delays at all stages of the children’s hearing system,
resulting in youngsters who have committed a crime, waiting five
months to be dealt with, according to a report for the Scottish
executive.
Youngsters should wait no more than three months and last night
opposition MSPs said ministers should live up to its promise of
being tough on crime.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 8 June
Special needs pupil ‘count as six’
A Scottish teaching union has warned that one special educational
needs student should be counted as six ‘ordinary’ pupils when
calculating class sizes.
At the AGM of the Educational Institute of Scotland in Perth
yesterday, delegates warned that a lack of resources and trained
staff to cope with some special educational needs children is
leading to chaotic classrooms and increasing violence and
disruption from a number of pupils.
Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 8 June
Cameras focus on tackling vice trade
More than a dozen closed circuit cameras are to be installed in
Glasgow in a bid to crackdown on prostitution in one of
Scotland’s most notorious red light districts.
The council plans to install 16 pole-mounted cameras at various
locations across Glasgow Green. The £200,000 scheme is aimed
at improving “public safety” by having intercoms at the
poles where people can ask for help or directions.
Source:- Daily Record  Monday 9 June
Give addicts ‘shooting galleries’ says drugs
group
Dedicated rooms for Scotland’s drug users should be
introduced where they can safely inject illegal substances without
fear of the law, as this would reduce crime and benefit the wider
society, according to a leading drugs policy group.
The Scottish Drug Forum, SDF, believes such ‘shooting
galleries’ in Scottish cities could reduce drug related
crime, fatal overdoses and encourage drug users to seek
professional advice.
Source:- The Herald  Monday 9 June
Welsh newspapers
Costs mean NHS says no to patient’s request for
Viagra
Impotent men who know Viagra can solve their sexual problems are
being refused treatment because the NHS cannot afford it.
The current problems with the provision of Viagra have meant that
36-year-old John Davies, from south Wales who has been diagnosed
with erectile dysfunction, faces a bill of £70 a month for the
prescription he needs. Davies says that many men throughout Wales
are suffering and that the mental distress that impotence causes
can have implications for the whole family and for the wider
community.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 9 June page 2
Alarm at 38% hike in ‘bed
blocking’
The Welsh assembly is to debate the huge rise in ‘bed
blocking’ cases that is making it impossible to cut hospital
waiting lists.
The assembly had promised to reduce the number of bed blocking
cases across Wales by 25 per cent before March this year, but in
fact the number rose to more than 38 per cent.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 9 June page 5
Lung patients suffering as cash worries stunt
services
Patients with lung disease across Wales are missing out on vital
rehabilitation because of a desperate shortage of services.
The gaps in rehabilitation programmes revealed by a survey from the
British Lung Foundation (BLF) mean that many patients are suffering
in spite of evidence that shows that such programmes are highly
effective.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 9 June page 2