Friday 12 September 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Soham officer held again over alibi
A police officer  involved in the Soham murder case, who was
cleared of child pornography charges, was rearrested yesterday on
suspicion of lying about his alibi.
A clerk for the Crown Prosecution Service, who is believed to have
provided detective constable Brian Stevens with the alibi, was also
arrested.
The pair were being questioned by West Midlands police last night
on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
Source:- The Independent Friday 12 September page 7
‘Slavery’ of migrant building workers
Employment agencies advertise that “cheap labour” migrant workers
are on their books in a modern form of slavery, a union leader said
yesterday.
Speaking at the Trades Union Congress conference in Brighton,
George Brumwell described how some were paid half the wages of
British workers, and others had wages illegally deducted for
accommodation and safety equipment.
Brumwell, who is general secretary of the construction workers
union Ucatt, went on to describe illegal workers who are smuggled
in have their papers held by their gang-masters and become
“virtually trapped”.
Source:- The Financial Times Friday 12 September page 4
Warning on heroin prescribing
Prescribing heroin could make users dependent for longer, a new
study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned.
The study stated that while it welcomed the government’s
willingness to make prescription heroin more widely available,
there needed to be a commitment to research trials to evaluate its
effect compared to other treatments.
Source:- The Financial Times Friday 12 September page 4
Ministers voice ID card doubts
Some senior ministers have doubts over ID cards, the home secretary
admitted to the House of Commons home affairs select committee
yesterday.
Blunkett told MPs that cabinet members had expressed “perfectly
reasonable scepticism” over his plans.
He added that reports in the media naming certain members as being
against and in support of the measures, were incorrect.
Source:- The Times Friday 12 September page 7
Parents jailed for abduction
A couple who ran away to Spain after snatching their four
children from social services’ care, were each jailed for 12 months
yesterday.
Sharon Richards and Steven Hayward were given the jail sentences at
Shrewsbury crown court.
They children were put into the care of Shropshire Council because
of concerns about their lack of schooling. The couple said that
they were worried that the children would be put up for
adoption.
Source:- The Times Friday 12 September page 7
Mother who left children behind guilty of
cruelty
A mother who left four of her children home alone for a week while
she went on holiday with her boyfriend to the Canary Islands was
found guilty of child cruelty yesterday.
The woman from Ham, south west London, left one son, aged 11, in
the care of a childminder, but left her other four children aged
between five and 13 to fend for themselves.
Social services were alerted by the childminder, who took all five
children into her care. During her trial at Kingston crown court,
the woman said the other mother had agreed to take care of the
children for the week.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 12 September page 10
Scottish newspapers
Kirk care home rescued
One of three Church of Scotland homes for older people has been
rescued by Aberdeenshire Council.
Three Kirk care homes in Aberdeenshire are facing closure as a
result of financial difficulties.
But members of the council’s housing and social work
committee agreed yesterday to a package that would save at least
the Balmedie home from closure.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 12 September page 12
Labour refuses to back down over children of
Dungavel
The Scottish executive survived a cross-party bid to force
ministers to stop detaining children at Dungavel.
Labour MSPs ignored calls from the Scottish National Party to end
“Scotland’s national shame”, and successfully
backed a Liberal Democrat move on the immigration centre in
Lanarkshire.
It called on Westminster to act on two independent reports which
criticise the system of detaining the children of asylum
seekers.
Source:- The Herald Friday 12 September
Schools plan for Dungavel
Children being detained at Dungavel immigration centre could attend
local schools in future, it emerged yesterday.
The Scottish executive and home office are in talks about releasing
children who have been held at the centre for more than six
weeks.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 12 September page 2
Parents’ group attacks plan to tag
young
Plans to tackle antisocial behaviour in young people through
electronic tagging and imprisoning parents, has been condemned by
one of Scotland’s leading parent organisations.
The Scottish Parent Teacher Council said the proposals are
“demonising of young people”, and said giving police
the power to disperse groups as small as two was “a case of
society declaring war on all young people”.
Source:- The Herald Friday 12 September
HM Prison Scotland fit to bust
The number of people in Scotland’s crowded prisons hit record
levels last year, it emerged yesterday.
The prison population was around 6,404 on an average day, up from
6,137 in 2001.
Justice minister Cathy Jamieson admitted that too many released
prisoners were returning to jail despite efforts to rehabilitate
them.
The minister said the executive would form a single agency to
review sentencing and two new jails would be built.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 12 September page 6
Locals tested in Jodi hunt
Police investigating the murder of Jodi Jones have taken DNA
samples from joggers and dog walkers, who use the path where her
body was found.
Around eight local people who had been on the Roman Dyke path on
the evening Jodi was killed have volunteered to give samples.
Several people close to Jodi have already given samples, and
sources say this includes her boyfriend Luke Mitchell who along
with a relative, found her body.
A police insider said the DNA sampling was routine but vital to the
case.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 12 September page 25
Welsh newspapers
More funding to make care fair
Health boards in Gwent will get nearly £5 million from the
Welsh assembly to help reduce health inequalities across the
region.
Torfaen, Caerphilly, Newport and Blaenau Gwent will all get extra
cash for a range of projects that work with older people and
children, to specific schemes aimed at tackling mental health
issues and coronary heart disease.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday September 11 page 5
Baby made to smoke cannabis
A 19-year-old, who forced a baby to smoke cannabis, has been
sentenced to four-and-a-half years custody by Cardiff crown
court.
Michael Carter admitted putting a pipe that he used to smoke
cannabis in the baby’s mouth on a number of occasions. He
also admitted dropping the six-month-old baby girl, fracturing her
skull and breaking her ribs and punching her, and throwing her into
a cot.
Carter admitted two charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm and
one of failing to obtain medical assistance for the child.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 September page 1
Bullying cuts into lunchtimes
Fears for children’s safety has prompted headteachers to cut
time allotted for school lunch.
Instead of the usual hour-long break, some schools in Cardiff have
had to cut dinner- time down to just 30 minutes to try to reduce
bullying.
A headteacher from a senior school in the city said that bullying
could be dealt with on school premises, but where older children
were allowed out of school during the lunch period it was more
difficult to control.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 September page 3
Boy, 10, skipped school to protect mother
A 10-year-old boy failed to go to school after witnessing an
assault on his mother by her partner, a court heard
yesterday.
A warrant had previously been issued for the arrest of the
boy’s parents to answer a charge that they had failed to send
the boy to school regularly.
Only the boy’s mother appeared yesterday at the court in
Flintshire, and she told magistrates that her son wanted to remain
with her after witnessing the violence. The court also heard that
she was under great pressure because of serious ill health within
her family.
Magistrates adjourned the case for pre-sentencing reports and an
assessment to see if she could receive guidance under a parenting
order.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 September page 10