Tuesday 10 February 2004

By Natasha Salari, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

‘Superintendents’ are latest
arrests
A father and son have been arrested by police trying to track down
the gangmasters behind the deaths of 19 Chinese cocklers.
David Eden, said to be the cockling operation’s
‘superintendent’, travelled from Merseyside with his
son, also David, to give themselves up to Lancashire police. They
were being interviewed at Lancaster police station.
In the next few weeks, Lancashire detectives will fly to the Fujian
province of China, from where many of the dead are believed to have
come. They will carry boxes crammed with scientific and physical
facts to try and identify those who drowned.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 10 February page 9
Blunkett backs new crackdown after Morecambe Bay
disaster
Tough new laws to drive unscrupulous “gangmasters” out
of business were promised by the government yesterday in the wake
of the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy.
Home secretary David Blunkett said he hoped a registration scheme
for those who control the trade in casual seasonal labour could be
put in place “very quickly”.
Jim Sheridan, the MP for Renfrewshire West, has championed a House
of Commons bill that requires all gangmasters to be registered.
Blunkett said that the government will want to back the bill.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 10 February page 2
Population ‘time bomb’ disputed
Age Concern said recent research has debunked the myth that the
ageing of Britain’s population is a “demographic time
bomb” that could wreck the economy.
Ministers are worried that with the number of people aged 16 to 49
expected to fall and the number aged 50 to 69 expected to rise,
there will not be enough workers to support older people.
But the charity said the problem could be solved by removing
barriers to older people working if they want to.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 10 February page 8
New deal for special schools
The government will underline a continuing role for special schools
educating children with special educational needs (SEN)
tomorrow.
Education secretary Charles Clarke, will announce the strategy for
SEN, setting out the most sweeping changes to the sector for
decades.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 10 February page 8
Livingstone to raise new homes target to
30,000
Ken Livingstone will today raise the target for homes to be built
in London by 30 per cent to 30,000 to cope with a sharply rising
population.
The mayor’s London Plan has been revised after Census
estimates suggested the population was expected to rise by 800,000
by 2016.
He has accepted a recommendation made by an inspector’s panel
to change his annual new homes target, saying that he will
“seek to achieve” 30,000.
Source:- Financial Times Tuesday 10 February page 2
The children being sold for sex on the
internet
Children are being sold for sex on the web and then rated out of 10
by paedophiles, according to a report from the children’s
charity Barnardo’s.
Some have been put up for sale by relatives and friends who
advertise them online with indecent photographs taken in their own
homes.
In a survey of children it has already dealt with, Barnardo’s
identified 83 who were sexually abused through the net and mobile
phones. Of those, seven were sold online to paedophiles and one was
abused live on the web.
Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 10 February page 31
Scottish newspapers
Man, 44, gets four years for sex with 13-year-old
girl
A man who groomed a 13-year-old girl on the internet to have
unlawful sex with her was jailed for four years yesterday. The high
court in Glasgow heard how the girl logged on to the internet chat
line from her mobile phone after seeing an advert. She sent
messages and received several replies including one from John
Gibson.
Gibson admitted a charge that between 3 and 5 May last year he had
unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl on several
occasions.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 10 February
Council appeals £48,000 race case pay
out
Glasgow Council has lodged an appeal against an employment tribunal
ruling that the local authority had been guilty of racial
discrimination.
Clarence Bvunzai won his claim and £48,000 in compensation
after he failed to get a job as a unit manager at a residential
home for older people. He was the only black candidate to be
interviewed.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 10 February
Welcome for agency to fight ‘untouchables’
Scottish police yesterday welcomed the announcement that an
FBI-style force will tackle organised gangs that control the trade
in drugs and illegal immigrants across the UK. More than 5,500
staff from four government bodies will merge to create the Serious
Organised Crime Agency, which will have cross-border powers. The
Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency will also take a greater role in
tackling high level crime.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 10 February