Friday 13 February 2004

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Carr stays in jail as critics attack lynch mob
justice
The government has been accused of bowing to public opinion in its
refusal to allow Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of Soham
murderer Ian Huntley, early release from prison.
Martin Narey, chief executive of the new National  Offender
Management Service, said he had decided against Carr’s release
because of the risk to her safety.
May is the earliest Carr can now be released.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 13 February page 1
Former US marine who groomed 12-year-old admits abduction
and indecency charges
A 32-year-old man who travelled from America to England to meet up
with a 12-year-old girl he met on the internet admitted abduction
and incitement to gross indecency yesterday.
Toby Studabaker pleaded guilty to the charges at Manchester crown
court. He will be sentenced on 2 April.
After meeting at Manchester airport the couple fled to Paris and
then Germany before Studabaker was arrested.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 13 February page 5
Sympathy, but no promises for change from
Reid
The government failed to acknowledge the three recommendations made
by an inquiry into the death of David “Rocky” Bennett, which found
the NHS to be institutionally racist.
Health secretary John Reid told MPs he agreed that unacceptable
discrimination against black patients took place. But he failed to
make a promise called for the by the inquiry that “there should be
ministerial acknowledgement of the presence of institutional racism
in the mental health services”.
He also did not mention any plans relating to the recommendation to
appoint an ethnicity tsar to lead reform. He went on to defer a
decision on the recommendation for staff to be given a three-minute
time limit when restraining patients by pinning them on the
floor.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 13 February page 8
Disabled worker awarded £20,000 over Lego
model
A disabled worker has won £20,000 compensation after his
employers gave him a Lego model of himself with his arm in a
sling.
Rob Jenkins, a worker at Legoland, suffered flashbacks to the
motorcycle accident which caused him to lose part of his arm and
become very depressed after being given the model.
He  received it in front of family, friends and hundreds of staff
in a ceremony to celebrate three years of service.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 13 February page 5
More unsafe sex sends HIV cases soaring
New HIV infections have soared by 20 per cent in Britain between
2002 and 2003 due to an increase in unsafe sex, a government agency
said yesterday.
The Health Protection Agency figures follow the trend of a year on
year increase.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 13 February page 13
Beaten, starved and denied wages: Greeks rescue the victims of
Britain’s latest slave labour scandal
A group of Greek migrant workers have successfully fled back to
Greece after alleging that gangmasters made them work like slaves
in Cornwall.
The group was helped by a Romany rights organisation in Greece and
a Greek Orthodox Priest.
The migrants, who were in Britain legally, said they were made to
work 10-hour shifts picking flowers while being housed in tents and
an unheated shed.
Source:- The Independent Friday 13 February, page 1
Scottish newspapers
Children’s tsar slams policy on smacking
The new Scottish children’s commissioner has slammed the
Scottish executive for its decision not to support an outright ban
on smacking children.
Kathleen Marshall said that children should have the same rights as
adults over assault. While the law currently protects adults from
physical attack, parents can strike their children if it is deemed
to be “reasonable chastisement”.
Campaigners believe this defence can protect parents who assault
their children, and sends the wrong signal to society.
Marshall said she supported a complete ban on smacking.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 13 February
East Lothian acts on homeless after critical
report
The Scottish executive’s scathing criticism of East Lothian
Council’s strategy for the homeless has prompted the council
to prepare an action plan.
The executive’s housing and regeneration agency Communities
Scotland gave the council a D rating for its homelessness service
in a report on the local authority’s local housing
strategy.
The council has struck back at criticisms, claiming inspectors had
failed to consider the council’s efforts to improve services
or take account of the scale of the problem in East Lothian.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 13 February
Welsh newspapers
Teacher escapes suspension
The teacher who taped up the mouth of a boy with special needs, to
stop him talking, has escaped suspension.
Cardiff Council, which is investigating the incident at Llanrumney
High School in Cardiff, said that a member of staff would only be
suspended if they were deemed a risk to children.
But Ben Deacy, aged 11 is to remain away from school until an
investigation into the incident is completed, and his mother Kay
Morgan said she is disappointed that the teacher had not been
suspended.
Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 12 February page 4
Young people’s hostel gets
‘OK’
Plans for a hostel for homeless people in Chepstow have been given
the go-ahead in spite of opposition from local residents.
Charter housing want to convert a property in the town to what they
describe as a ‘dispersed foyer for young people’.
Monmouthshire Council has now approved the plan that includes
training and accommodation for nine young people under 25.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 12 February page 18
School bus boy stabs fellow pupils with
needle
A leading teacher’s union has condemned a spate of violence
in Welsh schools as a schoolboy in an incident on a bus, stabbed up
to 20 young people with a needle.
A 15-year-old boy from West Monmouth School, Pontypridd, now faces
being expelled after allegedly jabbing fellow pupils with a
three-inch sewing needle.
Geraint Davies of the National Association of Schoolmasters and
Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Cymru said that the union was
concerned at the growing level of violence within schools.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 13 February page 1