Friday 20 February 2004

By Natasha Salari, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Maxine’s mother is accused of threats to a
witness
Maxine Carr’s mother is to go to court accused of
intimidating a witness in the Soham murder trial.
Shirley Capp will go before a jury later this year after allegedly
intimidating a woman who was to give evidence at the trial of Carr
and Ian Huntley.
Marian Westerman, who lives in Grimsby, was a prosecution witness
at the trial that saw Huntley sentenced to life imprisonment for
the murder of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Westerman told the Old Bailey that she saw Carr crying after
looking into the boot of Huntley’s car when he came to
collect her at the time the schoolgirls were missing.
.Source:- The Daily Mail Friday 20 February page 21
Nasty neighbour caught on CCTV wins
£11,000
A woman accused of attacking her neighbour has won £11,000
damages after claiming her human rights were breached when the
council set up a secret video camera.
Janette Martin was put under surveillance after Nottingham Council
received complaints about her insulting, threatening and violent
behaviour.
Filming stopped in 2000 after Miss Martin gave an undertaking in
court not to assault or cause a nuisance to her
next-door-neighbours. Her lawyer then advised her that she could
bring a case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
complaining that her rights to ‘respect for family
life’ and privacy had been breached.
After the court ruled that Martin had a case, the government agreed
to pay her £4,000 in damages and £7,050 in an
out-of-court-settlement.
Source:- The Daily Mail Friday 20 February page 39
Neglected pensioner died weighing 3st 9lb
A coroner has demanded an inquiry into an older woman who died in a
private care home weighing only 3st 9lb.
He accused “unqualified staff” at the £300-a-week
home of neglecting 76-year-old Dorothy Lyons.
Lyons went to live at Laurel Bank care home in Hyde, near
Stockport, in 2000 after the death of her husband. The coroner
recorded a verdict of death by natural causes, but will be adding
that it was aggravated by neglect.
Source:- The Daily Mail Friday 20 February page 45
Minister ‘misled’ MP over cocklers
A minister has been accused of releasing “misleading
and inaccurate” information about the activities of
immigration officers in Morecambe Bay, where at least 20 Chinese
cockle pickers drowned this month.
Beverley Hughes, a home office minister, had tried to deny charges
of complacency over the problem of illegal employment in the area
by pointing to a raid by the Immigration Service in August in which
37 Chinese nationals were arrested. But Geraldine Smith, the Labour
MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said she had discovered that no
such operation had ever taken place, and demanded an inquiry into
Hughes’s claim.
Source:- The Independent Friday 20 February page 6
Poor person’s monthly pay spent by the rich in a
week
The richest tenth of the population spends six times more in a week
than the poorest, according to a study from the Office for National
Statistics.
Those in the lowest income group spent £135 a week,
£7,020 a year, while the wealthiest 10 per cent spent
£883 or almost £46,000 a year.
Source:- The Independent Friday 20 February page 9
How was suspect in cannibal case freed?
Health officials are investigating how a psychiatric patient
released from hospital came to be in a London flat in which a man
had been murdered and dismembered.
Home office officials opposed the 34-year-old man’s discharge
from Rampton Hospital two years ago. Managers at East London and
the City Mental Health Trust are now investigating how the patient
came to be discharged from one of its hospitals.
Last night they were trying to discover under what conditions he
was living on the ward at Newham General Hospital, what supervision
he was under and how he came to be discharged.
Source:- The Times Friday February 20 page 5
I’ll go to prison, says 83-year-old council tax
rebel
An 83-year-old woman has said that she would rather go to
prison than pay her full council tax.
Elizabeth Winkfield left Barnstaple magistrates court in Devon to
cheers from supporters. Winkfield is one of 820 members of the
Devon Pensioners’ Action Forum, which was created after the
county council increased its tax by 17.9 per cent last April. She
faced a bill of £787.81 for her band C bungalow in Westward
Ho! on the north Devon coast. She held back £98.80, deciding
that, in line with inflation, she was prepared to pay only 2.5 per
cent more than the previous year. She was ordered to pay the
council £99 and £10 court costs.
Source: The Daily Telegraph Friday 20 February page 11
Scottish newspapers
Verdict looms following inquiry into baby’s death
The outcome of an investigation into whether any social
work staff at Edinburgh Council should face disciplinary action
over the death of Caleb Ness is likely to be revealed next
week.
A report into an audit of the child protection register, which
found the department’s recording of risk assessment, planning
and general communication not up to scratch was being debated
yesterday at a full meeting of the local authority.
Director of corporate services Jim Inch told councillors that an
internal investigation had highlighted several “professional
practice” issues. He said he would seek clarification in
regard to those issues and report on an outcome within a
week.
Source:- The Herald Friday 20 February
Social workers set to vote for strike action
Edinburgh social workers may go out on strike in protest at the
council’s plans to restructure the department in the
aftermath of the Caleb Ness tragedy.
Public sector union Unison is to ask its members to back the
principle of industrial action in a vote next week.
The local authority is considering combining the city’s
education and social work departments into a single
children’s services unit. Some social work functions would
also be transferred to the council’s housing
department.
But union chiefs claim the report into the death of Caleb Ness,
which criticised the city’s child protection system, was
“flawed”, and should not be used as the basis for such
a major restructuring.
Source:- Evening News Thursday 19 February
Electrical fault started fire
The fire at a nursing home in Uddingston that killed 14
older people was caused by an electrical fault, a leading
investigator into the blaze confirmed yesterday.
Chief superintendent Tom Buchan said that although investigators
were convinced an electrical problem was to blame for the fire at
Rosepark Care Home, it was not yet clear how the fault
occurred.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 20 February
Strike plea for special pupils
The union at the centre of the pay dispute for nursery
nurses has been urged to ensure that vulnerable children are not
adversely affected by the planned industrial action.
The Scottish Conservative Party and local councils have warned
Unison that a blanket exemption should be given to children with
special educational needs in the event of an all out strike.
Unison’s Scottish organiser Joe Di Paola ruled out a blanket
exemption, but insisted that local arrangements could be made with
union officials and councils where vulnerable children were
identified.
Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 20 February
Wardens set to hit streets in yob crackdown
Community wardens are to take to the streets in the Lothians in a
bid to crackdown on antisocial behaviour.
West Lothian Council has been given £300,000 to introduce a
pilot community warden scheme in Blackburn, Boghall, Ladywell and
Knightsridge.
Seven community wardens are being appointed in Midlothian, and East
Lothian has been awarded £155,000 for three community wardens
and a police officer to patrol the streets.
Source:- Evening News  Thursday 19 February
Health boss back in welfare chair
David Campbell has been re-appointed as chairperson of the Mental
Welfare Commission for Scotland.
Campbell was a non-executive trustee of Lothian Primary Care NHS
Trust prior to his appointment as chairperson four years ago.
Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 19 February
Teen on the run is home
An eighteen-year-old girl with the mental age of 12 who ran away
with her uncle, was reunited with her mother last night.
Pamela Seath was found yesterday after being spotted by a resident
of a homeless shelter in Dundee.
The 18-year-old has yet to tell her mother exactly what happened,
but it is understood Seath and her uncle, James Seath, had been in
Scotland since leaving home last week. The pair went missing from
Fife after her family confronted the teenager over allegations that
she had been having a sexual relationship with her uncle.
Source:- Daily Record  Friday 20 February page 34
Welsh newspapers
‘Arts must be for all’
A Newport businessman is leading the way to ensure that facilities
for disabled people at a flagship arts centre are second to none.
Trevor Palmer, who has multiple sclerosis, wants the Wales
Millennium Centre that is due to open in November to be a welcoming
and accessible centre for disabled visitors and staff.
Palmer is also director of Disability Wales and is leading the
Disability Advisory Group that will look at providing facilities at
the new centre in Cardiff.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 19 February page 8
Travellers face eviction
Travellers who set up camp in Newport in south Wales are to be
evicted.
The council has served the group with an eviction notice, and they
now have 28 days to leave the site.
Although there have been complaints from local people, traveller
Suzie Janes and her nine children say they have used the site for
the last 12 years. A spokesperson for Newport Council said that the
site had not been designated for the use of travellers.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 19 February page 15
Toolkit to aid living in harmony
Neighbours from hell could be a thing of the past in Wales
if a new government sponsored Living in Harmony Toolkit proves a
success.
The Welsh assembly is funding the Toolkit, which was pioneered by
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and aims to help residents understand
their rights and responsibilities. It also seeks to ease relations
between landlords and tenants and provides guidance for housing
associations.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 20 February page 3