Wednesday 22 October 2003

By Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Comic faces £35,000 bill for walking out on
disabled
The comedian Jim Davidson faces the threat of legal action and a
bill of £35,000 after he refused to perform in a theatre where
the front row was filled by disabled people.
Davidson asked the disabled people to move their wheelchairs from
the front row to the sides of the auditorium, but they refused. He
said he could not perform his act with disabled people at the front
because he always takes the mickey out of people in the front row
and he feared he would look like he was targeting disabled
people.
He could now face costs of £35,000 after management agreed to
refund the cost of tickets.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 22 October page 6
Internet lured boy into world of porn
A mother has spoken out at her horror of how easily her son became
hooked on child porn and was convicted as a paedophile.
Rhona Legros and her husband Philippe were shocked that their son
William managed to download pictures of child sex without paying
for them.
The computer had been placed in the living room because the parents
were wary of the dangers posed by the internet.
But the boy, then 16, downloaded a program that enabled him to
trawl the internet for free pornography after the family went to
bed. He was arrested after police traced material to his
computer.
The parents then faced a social services inquiry, and feared their
three children would be taken into care.
William was sentenced to a 12-month rehabilitation order after he
admitted eight offences of taking, possessing or distributing
indecent images of children.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 22 October page 9
Former minister attacks failure to deport
‘illegals’
Just one of the 63 Chinese citizens found by police and immigration
officials to be illegally working in East Anglia has been deported
by the home office.
The employer using the labour at his agricultural business near
King’s Lynn has not been prosecuted, it emerged yesterday as
the home officer minister, Beverley Hughes, gave evidence to the
home affairs committee.
Former police minister, John Denham, who chairs the committee said
both failures undermine public confidence in government efforts to
deal with immigration.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 22 October page 10
Beating bogus social workers
Measures to protect the public from bogus social workers were
announced by the government yesterday.
It will be an offence to pose as a social worker and all social
workers must be registered.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 22 October page 9
Accents on trial in asylum seeker tests
Immigration minister Beverley Hughes announced yesterday
that language tests are to become a frequent part of the official
screening process for immigrants who claim asylum in Britain.
A pilot scheme of tests had been successful in proving that one in
five of those claiming to be fleeing from Somalia had in fact come
from another country.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 22 October page 15
Depressed jail worker awarded £400,000
A prison executive sacked while she was off work with
depression has won a record compensation of £400,000.
An employment tribunal awarded the payment to Jacqui Beart after
she had successfully brought a claim for unfair dismissal against
the Prison Service for failing to recognise her depression as a
disability.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Wednesday 22 October page 9
Immigrant father kills baby in bakery
A 10-month old baby was stabbed to death in a bakery yesterday by
his father.
Shajan Kabir, an illegal immigrant who was due to be deported
today, had been living with the baby’s mother Lorna Martin in
Carlisle, but the couple parted acrimoniously some months
ago.
Martin was wheeling her baby Hassan Dominick in a pushchair through
the city centre when the father came at them with a knife.
The woman was slashed across her wrist as she tried to protect her
baby but Kabir lunged at the child inflicting a single blow to his
neck. He was later certified dead at Cumberland Infirmary.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Wednesday 22 October page 10
School has taken 300 pupils from families granted asylum in
EU
Hundreds of refugees granted asylum in other European Union
countries are coming to Britain and enrolling their children in
schools.
An Ofsted report published yesterday described how one primary
school had taken in 300 pupils in two years from families who had
been granted asylum in another EU country.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Wednesday 22 October page 10
‘Typical’ child porn user is white IT
worker
The typical user of internet child pornography is a white
professional man who works in IT, according to police.
The Thames Valley force published a profile of the most likely
offenders as part of an investigation into the crime and its
perpetrators.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 22 October page 5
Pupils’ bad behaviour blamed on
parents
Parents and the influence of television have been blamed for the
increasingly bad behaviour of children in schools.
Research commissioned by the National Association of Schoolmasters
Union of Women Teachers said aggressive youngsters in the classroom
could only be tackled if their parents were taught to deal with
their behaviour at home.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 22 October page 6
Global trade keeps a billion children in poverty, says
Unicef
Globalised trade and cuts to aid budget are creating an ever
greater chasm between the richest and poorest countries, and means
international targets to reduce child poverty will be missed.
More than one billion young people in the developing world are now
living in conditions of severe deprivation, according to a report
for the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The study found that tens of millions of children in poor countries
still do not have access to food, water and sanitation.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 22 October page 8
Woman of 103 died after care home move
A woman aged 103 died less than a month after being forced to move
out of her under-funded nursing home.
Emily Aspinall was the second person to die after leaving the home,
which closed because of a financial crisis blamed on the local
authority. Blanche Turner died last month, just two weeks after
being moved from Seymour House, near Bolton.
Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday 22 October page 19
A tragedy of errors
It has been plagued by problems since its inception and last month
the death of Toni-Ann Byfield put it in the spotlight. Gideon
Burrows and John Carvel on the trouble with Cafcass.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 2 and 3
Catalogue of neglect
Census to reveal black and minority ethnic picture of mental
illness
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 4
Cunning shunts
Shadow over social services as Supporting People budget
balloons.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page  4
Conflicting views
There is a way to deal with nuisance neighbours without using
antisocial behaviour orders.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 7
Price of failure
Last week Buckinghamshire council admitted its shortcomings in the
case of abuse in residential homes. What will this mean for
regulators?
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 10
Peak conditioning
Public services are not short of black and minority ethnic staff,
but too many are failing to reach the highest levels.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 15
What else can I do?
Simon wants to change from his job as an adult mental
health social worker. Debbie Andalo offers advice on the options
– ranging from prison to university.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 October page 120
Scottish newspapers
Pensioners eyesight falls foul of postcode
prescribing
The SNP claimed yesterday that a pensioner was told he would have
to pay thousands of pounds to save his eye sight – even
though he would have been given free treatment elsewhere in
Scotland.
Robert Ritchie was told at an eye clinic at Aberdeenshire Royal
Infirmary that he would have to pay for injections at £850 a
time because there were no NHS resources available. He was told he
may need up to six of the injections.
However, if he lived in Dumfries and Galloway the treatment would
have been given free of charge and Stewart Stevenson, the MSP for
Banff and Buchan last night demanded an explanation from the
Scottish executive.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 22 October page 9
Report bullying
The Scottish executive has given Childline Scotland £66,000
worth of funding to ensure its bullying line can function seven
days a week.
The line 0800 441111 is open Monday to Friday 3.30 until 10pm and
between 2pm and 8pm at the weekends.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 22 October page 13
Increase in rough sleeping feared
Rough sleepers fear that a multi-million pound plan to tackle
homelessness in Glasgow will make their situation worse, according
to new research.
Scottish executive funding of £47 million will close
“outdated” city hostels and provide alternative
accommodation and support services.
But 11 out of 13 focus groups of homeless people thought the hostel
closure would cause an increase in rough sleeping.
Source:- The Herald Wednesday 22 October
Sheriff criticises choking death school
A young boy with special needs who choked to death on a
chicken nugget at school would have been saved with proper care, a
sheriff ruled yesterday.
Joe Ross died during lunch at a school in Motherwell. His parents
insisted that he required his food cut into small pieces, but staff
told an inquiry that he could cut up his own food.
Sheriff Thomas Welsh said that proper care procedures could have
prevented the “appalling tragedy”. He called for a
review of levels of supervision, staffing levels and safety
measures at Firpark Special Needs School where the 11-year-old
died.
Source:- The Herald Wednesday 22 October
Welsh newspapers
Runaway paedophile to the extradited
The high court in Dublin has granted an extradition order to return
a 58-year old runaway Welsh paedophile to Britain. Eric Peachey was
found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year old boy, and was
put on bail for a sentencing report. He failed to report to a
police station and the hunt for him began. 
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 22 October page 6
Ten Years in Troubled life of a teenage
delinquent
Half page feature looks at the problems of teenage delinquency. It
cites the case of one girl who was being filmed for a documentary
about delinquency and who stole the TV producer’s car during
filming. Childhood abuse is singled out as one of the main triggers
and it described the case of one girl who has cut out all the
pictures of her abuser from the family photo albums.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 22 October page 9
Parents’ Worries
Parents are being urged to make time to talk with their troubled
teenagers about sex and relationships, after it was revealed that
more than half of calls to a charity helpline for parents were
about people as young as 13. Almost six out of 10 calls made to
Parentline Plus were from teenagers aged 13 to 15. Calls
highlighted parental concerns about a range of issues, including
behaviour and underage sex.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 22 October page 9