Monday 23 June 2003

By Amy Taylor, David Callaghan and Alex Dobson.
Blair plans to go ahead with asylum protection zones
The prime minister faced criticism on Friday night over his plans
to deport asylum seekers from Britain to protection zones in
Africa.
Home office documents show that the government is considering
whether people could be moved from Europe to protected areas to
have their asylum applications processed.
Blair said he would go ahead with pilot projects, enlisting the
help of any other willing EU nations despite European Union leaders
rejecting the plans on Thursday.
Source:- The Independent Saturday 21 June page 4
Eight children ‘destined for sex trade’ taken into
care
Newcastle council has taken eight African children into care after
believing they were going to be sent to work in the sex
industry.
Social workers launched an emergency child protection operation to
tackle what they described as “organised crime against
children”.
Northumbria police are investigating the case.
Source:- The Independent Saturday 21 June page 6
Care home evicts widow aged 102
A 102-year-old widow was evicted yesterday after her care homes
owners said that the council did not pay enough for her care.
Winifred Humphrey had paid her fees at Bradley House, near
Whitstable, Kent, until last year using money made from selling her
house and when this ran out, Kent council paid the fees.
Lifestyle Care Homes evicted Humphrey after claiming that the
amount paid by the council was too low.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 21 June page 9
Try telling a 14-year-old that lives behind razor wire that
her ‘home’ is not a prison
The IoS gains exclusive access to Dungavel Detention Centre where a
Kurdish family has been held for more than 11 months
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 22 June page 6
Buses ‘to be detention cells’
Buses equipped with detention cells to interrogate asylum seekers
are set to be developed under new home office plans.
The buses are to be used as mobile reporting centres, and will act
as an alternative to police stations in small towns.
The first such vehicle is to be tested in August in a three-month
pilot scheme.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 22 June page 6
Uproar over plan to seize drug homes
The home secretary is currently in a dispute with other ministers
over his proposals to allow police to seize the homes of cannabis
users if they are seen to be a “serious nuisance”.
The proposal is revealed in leaked cabinet papers outlining
Blunkett’s plans to amend the Anti-social Behaviour Bill to enable
police to shut premises seen to be linked to soft drugs for a
maximum of three months.
Source:- The Sunday Times 22 June page 1
MPs seek ban on child smacking
The joint parliamentary committee on human rights is set to call on
the government to ban smacking.
The committee, made up from MPs and peers, will tell ministers that
they risk breaching European human rights legislation if smacking
remains legal.
At present parents are allowed to use physical force to discipline
their child if they can prove that the motive is “reasonable
chastisement”.
Source:- The Sunday Times 22 June page 4
We pay tax so give us equal treatment say Africans with
HIV
Last week NHS consultants claimed that hospitals were
overwhelmed by asylum seekers: now patients answer back
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 22 June page 10
War veterans face eviction as RAF charity cuts
losses
A group of older people who served in the Second World War are
being forced to leave their retirement home after the Royal Air
Forces Association said it could no longer afford to keep the
building open.
The five residents have to move out of Woodford House in Southport,
Merseyside, by 1 August.
The RAF Association said it could not afford to pay for the group
to take up residence at other homes after overspending their budget
by millions of pounds in recent years.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 22 June page 12
Bullied children hit back by taking schools to
court
Over 540 law suits are currently being prepared against schools
claiming that they failed to defend children against bullies which
could result in a multi-million pound compensation bill.
Education secretary Charles Clarke admitted that many schools fail
to get to grips with bullying this weekend.
New research by Kidscape, to be launched this week, has found that
up to half of bullied young people who go to its assertiveness
courses missed school in order to avoid bullies, and a quarter had
thought about committing suicide.
Source:- The Observer 22 June page 6
How abused children learn to trust adults
New research has found that by placing abused children with the
right family their expectations of the world can be raised.
The research by a team at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London
made the discovery by using a storytelling technique to explore the
way children’s minds work.
Source:- The Observer 22 June page 11
Scandal of self-harm in women’s jails
An emergency hit squad has been sent into a women’s prison
in Manchester after five women have committed suicide over the past
few months.
The team were sent into Styal prison, Cheshire, by women’s prisons
chief Niall Clifford, where four women have died since
August.
Source:- The Observer 22 June page 14
Immigration law firms ‘overcharging by
millions’
The soaring cost of legal aid bills for asylum seekers is partly
caused by lawyers overcharging the state by millions of pounds,
according to a parliamentary report.
Legal professionals are further criticised for putting some
vulnerable immigrants at risk in some of their work.
Legal aid bills for immigrants increased from £58 million in
2000-01 to £138 million in 2001-02 and are expected to further
increase this year.
Source:- The Independent Monday 23 June page 2
Sickly immigrants ‘are adding £1bn to costs of the
NHS’
The NHS has to foot an extra £1 billion bill each year for
treatment of asylum seekers, a new report warned yesterday.
The research by medical analysts found that taxpayers are likely to
be charged with an ever-increasing bill for treatment of asylum
seekers with infectious diseases such as Aids and TB.
It states that the spread of such diseases is increasing in many
countries from which immigrants come to Britain.
Source:- Daily Mail Monday 23 June page 25
Scottish newspapers
Murdered girl’s body dumped in canal by mother
A mother took her murdered daughter’s body in a
suitcase through Inverness town centre before dumping it in a
canal. Tracey Reid was helped by Christopher Gaytor, brother of Lee
Gaytor who admitted killing five-year-old Danielle Reid by hitting
her over the head and bundling her down a flight of stairs.
Reid admitted failing to notify the authorities and of dumping the
body in a canal.
Highland council is to conduct a review to see if Danielle’s
death could have been prevented.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 21 June page 1
Paedophile jailed for seven years
A man who abused a boy he babysat has been jailed for
seven years.
Gordon Sheppard, of Stirling, took pictures of the boy and
circulated them. They were spotted by researchers in Ireland who
alerted the police.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 21 June page 4

Homes to close
Up to 14 care homes run by the Church of Scotland may close by next
year. Four are definitely going to close and a further 10 may
follow. The remaining homes of the Kirk’s total of 31 are
safe it has been said.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 21 June page 1
Monk sex rap trio face jail
Three elderly men, who used to work at a school run by monks, face
prison sentences after being found guilty of abusing children in
their care.
Former pupils of St Ninian’s List D school in Stirlingshire
told of abuse including electric shocks.
Michael Murphy, aged 69, Charles McKenna, aged 83, and James
McKinstrey, aged 70, could now be jailed despite their ages.
Source:- Daily Record Saturday 21 June page 12
Revealed: Drug court scheme a failure
American-style courts for drugs offenders introduced in Scotland
are not working well. Six out of 10 offenders are not turning up at
the courts, which are also under-staffed.
Many offenders see the courts as a soft option compared with
appearing before a sheriff’s court. One clerk, who works for
the drug courts programme in Glasgow, said they take advantage of a
more tolerant system.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 23 June page 1
Police appeal for help to find mother of abandoned
baby
A new born baby girl was found in the doorway of a builder’s
house in Irvine. She is now in a critical condition at
Glasgow’s Hospital for Sick Children.
She weighed only 5lb 7oz and needed medical treatment to help her
breathe and keep her heart beating.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 23 June page 4
Daughter hopes to copy surrogate mother
The daughter of Britain’s most prolific surrogate
mother wants to become a surrogate mother herself. Jenny Riva, aged
19, daughter of Morag Riva who has been a surrogate mother for
seven babies, said she also wants to help infertile couples.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 23 June page 7
Child tagging plans defended
Draft proposals from the Scottish executive to tackle anti-social
behaviour will include tagging of children as young as 10.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 23 June page 9
Blind tot’s happiness sacrificed for few
quid
A five-year-old girl who has a rare disorder which has left her
blind and unable to walk, may be moved from Edinburgh’s Royal
Blind School because Edinburgh council can no longer afford to
finance her education there.
Anna Bartsch’s family have vowed to go to the European Court
of Human Rights to fight the plan.
Source:- Daily Record Monday 23 June page 27
Welsh newspapers
Prescription delay hitting chronic sick, say Lib-Dems
The needs of the long term sick are being ignored say
Welsh assembly Liberal Democrat members.
There are now growing fears that plans to scrap prescription
charges for the chronically ill could be delayed by up to four
years because Labour is concentrating on fulfilling its manifesto
pledges.
Labour has promised to end all prescription charges in Wales, but
months before the May election a decision had already been taken to
end a 30-year-old prescription exemption system that had seen the
majority of people with chronic illnesses paying for their
prescriptions.
Liberal Democrat assembly member Kirsty Williams said that Labour
was concentrating on headlines by abolishing all prescription
charges instead of taking immediate action to help the chronically
ill. She said that if free prescriptions were to be phased in
gradually then stage one should be to end charges for the long term
sick.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 23 June page 6