Monday 18 August 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Four years for asylum seekers in riot chaos

Two asylum seekers have been sentenced for four years in prison for
their part in a riot at a £100 million Home Office detention
centre.
Henry Momodu, a Nigerian aged 39, and Behar Limani, an Albanian
aged 27, were found guilty of violent disorder during the uprising
that saw Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire gutted by fire in February of
last year.
Limani was overheard threatening to  kill one of the security
officers, but told police that he had not taken part in the
violence, instead helping others to escape the flames.
Momodu smashed one of the reinforced security windows and hurled
missiles at staff.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 16 August page 11
Hospital facing cash crisis from bill for illegal
immigrants

Health officials revealed the rising cost of treating asylum
seekers and immigrants is pushing some hospitals into financial
crisis yesterday.
It was claimed that services in Swansea were at breaking point due
to an influx of asylum seekers suffering from Aids.
More than a third of all new HIV cases in the city are asylum
seekers. It costs the NHS £15,000 a year to treat each
patient.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 16 August page 31
Disabled robber’s walking stick-ups
A disabled bank robber who walks with the aid of a stick and has
evaded the police for three years, appeared at Preston crown court
last week.
Alan Moore pleaded guilty to robbing four banks and building
societies, four attempted robberies and five offences of possessing
an imitation firearm.
He used to rest his walking stick against the wall outside and limp
into banks armed with the fake gun and steal thousands of
pounds.
On some occasions his brother Barry, his registered carer, is
alleged to have been outside waiting in Moore’s Motability car. He
was able to park it on double yellow lines right outside banks due
to Moore’s disabled parking privileges.
The exact nature of Moore’s disability was not disclosed. The pair
are due to be sentenced on Monday.
Source:- The Times Saturday 16 August page 1
NHS rehires doctor on sex offenders’ file
A gynaecologist placed on the sex offenders’ register
following child pornography allegations has been allowed to
continue working in an NHS post despite leaving his post at a
private hospital.
Charles Redman received a police caution after his credit card was
found to have been used to access a pornographic website.
Redman was suspended  from the University Hospital of North
Staffordshire Trust, Stoke-on-Trent, after being arrested in
December. He has now been reinstated, but faces an investigation by
the General Medical Council.
He previously left his post in private healthcare at a
Staffordshire Nuffield hospital by mutual consent.
Source:- The Sunday Times 17 August page 8
Church speaks out on child refugees
Senior church leaders from throughout the EU are due to call on the
Home Secretary to end the government’s policy of locking up asylum
seekers’ children in detention centres.
The call will come after strong criticism of the treatment of a
Kurdish family of four children and their mother held for over a
year in detention centres.
The leaders will meet in Brussels in October, where the Right Rev
John Mone, the Bishop of Paisley, who campaigned for the Ay
family’s release, will speak out against the government for
breaching European children’s rights laws.
Britain is the only country in Europe to put children in detention
centres.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 17 August page 2
Vatican told bishops to cover up sex abuse
The Vatican  instructed all Catholic Bishops to cover up
cases of sexual abuse or risk being thrown out of the church.
A 40-year-old confidential document written in Latin from the
secret Vatican archives outlining the policy was sent to every
bishop in the world.
Lawyers have called it a ‘blueprint for deception and
concealment’.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 17 August page 1
Lawyers blast jury bias in asylum trial
The lawyers for two asylum seekers convicted of ‘violent disorder’
for their part in a fire that destroyed Yarl’s Wood detention
centre last year will argue the their sentences should be ruled
invalid, after it was revealed that two jury members had expressed
hostile feelings towards asylum seekers.
A member of the jury during the trial passed a note to the judge
detailing how two jury members had questioned asylum seekers’
motives for coming to Britain.
One juror is alleged to have said they believe asylum seekers only
come to Britain for state benefits while another is alleged to have
said  that asylum seekers only come to take our jobs.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 17 August page 12
Destitute: asylum seekers pushed on to the street by an
official letter

Groups of asylum seekers from a range of countries have been
sleeping rough in south and central London and Croydon due to
letters from the government denying them support.
Refugee campaigners have hailed it as the beginning of what could
soon be hundreds of asylum seekers sleeping rough as the
government’s policy of denying state support, including food and
shelter to asylum seekers who it believes failed to claim refugee
status as soon as they arrived, takes effect.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 18 August page 7
Four flee from detention centre
Four male asylum seekers broke out of an immigration detention
centre in Gosport last night.
The men, all from Sri Lanka, scaled an external fence and are now
on the run.
A spokesperson for Hampshire police said the men were being held
under Home Office immigration orders pending appeal and
deportation.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 18 August page 7
Africa is the main source of new HIV cases in
Britain

An almost 50 per cent increase in the number of new cases of HIV
amongst homosexuals over the past year has been put down to
immigration from Africa, according to the Health Protection
Agency.
The figures are expected to fuel calls for the government to adopt
health tests for immigrants.
The number of new cases among heterosexuals was above that of
homosexuals for the first time. The figure for homosexuals
increased by just 6 per cent over the same period.
Source:- The Times  Monday 18 August page 4
Scottish newspapers
MP calls for new laws to boost rights for disabled

The government should strengthen the rights of disabled people and
mark the European Year of Disabled People by bringing forward new
legislation, according to a city MP.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, John Barrett, has
called for new legislation to be at the heart of the Queen’s
Speech in the autumn, in a letter to the minister for disabled
people Maria Eagle.
He said that despite the good intentions of the 1995 Disability
Bill many disabled people still face discrimination in their
everyday lives.
“The government must now respond to organisations like
Capability Scotland and commit themselves to bringing forward
comprehensive new legislation in the autumn which will help end
this discrimination, once and for all,” he added.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 16 August
Cannabis spray painkiller in use in months
Multiple sclerosis sufferers are set to receive
painkillers made with cannabis on the National Health Service by
the end of the year.
Tests on the oral spray Sativex have been completed and are being
reviewed by regulators. If the painkiller is approved the law will
be changed to allow the cannabis-based drug to be prescribed by
doctors.
Source:- The Scotland on Sunday 17 August
Kirk critical of executive’s ‘impotent’
stance over Dungavel
A top Church of Scotland minister has branded the Scottish
executive as “impotent” over the detention of children
at Dungavel asylum centre in Lanarkshire, and warned that public
trust in devolution has been damaged by the silence of the
executive on this issue.
The Reverend Alan McDonald spoke out after members of the executive
again refused to comment on the subject, despite concerns raised by
the chief inspector of prisons in England and Wales.
McDonald slated executive ministers for insisting they cannot
intervene, despite having responsibility for education and
children’s welfare.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 17 August
Anger at sexual-health policy delay
Over 34,000 Scottish teenagers have become pregnant since the
Scottish executive announced plans for its sexual health
strategy.
But despite the pledge made by former health minister Susan Deacon
in 1999, the executive still cannot give a specific date for when
the long awaited policy will be published.
Children’s groups and health charities have expressed both
“disappointment” and “frustration” at the
delay.
Source:- Sunday Herald 17 August
Drink law reforms will target binge culture
Major proposals to reform Scotland’s drinking laws will be
revealed this week in a bid to target Scotland’s
binge-drinking culture.
Sheriff principal Gordon Nicholson’s long awaited report is
expected to announce some liberalisation of the country’s
licensing laws, but in return for stronger measures to crack down
on those breaking the rules.
The Nicholson Committee will outline plans for tough measures to
target pubs and clubs ignoring the law, as well as off-licence
owners who continue to sell alcohol to youngsters.
Source:- The Herald Monday 18 August
Scandal of patients dumped in OAP homes
Hundreds of disabled people are trapped in hospital or
nursing homes because there are insufficient houses where they can
live.
For every disabled person to get a specially adapted house, at
least five more are left out in the cold.
Kevin Glencross has been left in an old person’s home because
the authorities cannot find him a suitable place to live, and
campaigners say his plight is evidence of a “chronic
shortage” of homes for disabled people.
Source:- Daily Record Monday 18 August
Tramp may have vital clues to Jodi murder
Police hunting the killer of Jodi Jones are searching for a vagrant
who was sleeping rough close to the murder scene.
They believe the tramp may have vital information about the murder
of the 14-year-old. When officers visited the cave where he had
been sleeping, they found evidence that someone had left in a
hurry.
Forensic and DNA tests are being carried out on items found in the
cave including a sleeping bag which had been set on fire.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 18 August
Mother of sex abuse case family agrees to attend
film

The mother of a family whose lives were torn apart when the father
and youngest son were imprisoned for charges of sexually molesting
young boys, will attend the screening of a controversial
documentary about the case during the Edinburgh International Film
Festival.
Elaine Friedman has agreed to champion the film and talk with
audiences about her recollection of events.
In 1988, Arnold Friedman and his youngest son Jesse pleaded guilty
to multiple counts of sexually molesting boys whose ages ranged
between eight and 11.
Arnold committed suicide in prison while Jesse served 13 years of
the 18-year sentence.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 18 August
Far east search for care workers
Scotland’s largest care home provider is to extend its search
for recruits to the Philippines because of the critical shortage of
care workers and nurses in the UK.
Highfield Care, which runs 33 homes north of the border, has hired
74 Filipino care workers and 28 Filipino nurses to fill vacancies
after failing to attract applicants at home.
Now another delegation is preparing to return to the Philippines to
secure another 40 staff.
Source:- The Herald Monday 18 August
Home office denies U-turn on children detained at
Dungavel
The home office has denied claims that David Blunkett had
engaged in a major policy U-turn over the detention of children of
asylum seekers at Dungavel detention centre.
A home office spokesperson insisted that the position was the same
as on Friday when the minister in charge of immigration, Hazel
Blears, responded to the critical reports of Dungavel. She said
that it was regrettable that some children had to be detained and
insisted it was not a decision they took lightly.
A newspaper yesterday claimed that the home secretary was drawing
up plans to keep children in “less penal” conditions
and allowing them to attend mainstream schooling.
Source:- The Herald Monday 18 August
Welsh newspapers
Work blamed for erosion of family life

The increasing demands of work and long hours spent in the office
are undermining the quality and quantity of family life in
Wales.
Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru Welsh assembly member (AM), for south
Wales central said that society must learn to value parenting as a
skilled job in the same way it values traditional employment. Her
views are echoed by Catriona Williams, chief executive of the
charity Children in Wales, who said that work-life balance is
fundamentally important to the quality of family life.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 18 August page 3
Poverty linked to heart surgery
complications

Poverty and social deprivation have been found to increase the
risks of patients suffering complications following heart by-pass
operations.
New research from a team at the Bristol Heart Institute at the
University of Bristol found that patients, who came from areas with
high levels of deprivation, had higher rates of heart attacks and
strokes within 30 days of surgery.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 18 August page 3

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