Friday 12 March 2004

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Carr accused of lying to get school job
Maxine Carr has been charged with lying about her qualifications in
her application to work at a primary school in Soham,
Cambridgeshire and benefit fraud.
Carr is being charged with seven offences of benefit fraud against
North Lincolnshire Council. She faces a further five charges
involving false information about her qualifications in a number of
job applications going back to 1996.
She is due to appear before Peterborough magistrates on 26
March.
Source:- The Financial Times Friday 12 March page 6
Town hall strikes nearer after pay talks
fail
The chance of a national council worker strike came nearer
yesterday when pay talks broke down.
Councils are under pressure to keep wages down to prevent high
council tax rises. Such rises were recently heavily criticised by
the government.
Over 1 million workers are considering industrial action after
rejecting an offer of 7 per cent over three years.
Source:- The Financial Times Friday 12 March page 6
Law Lords condemn ‘grim’ prison suicide
rates
The Law Lords ordered a fresh inquest into the death of a woman
prisoner that is likely to lead to an overhaul of the inquest
system.
The Lords condemned the “grim” suicide rates among prisoners after
Sheena Creamer, aged 22, was found dead at New Hall prison near
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, while on remand for an offence of
dishonesty.
The review would make it easier for juries to protest about
official failings allowing them to speak out if they feel neglect
contributed to deaths.
Source:- The Independent Friday 12 March, page 13
Call to halt rise in woman jailed for
shoplifting
Campaigners have called for women, who do not pose any public
danger, to avoid prison in the wake of new Home Office figures
showing that one in three women in prison are there for
shoplifting.
Smart Justice said that more community-based sentences should be
used as an alternative.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 12 March page 7
Keep Seroxat dose low, doctors told
Thousands of patients have been prescribed too high dose of
Seroxat, the anti-depressant drug that is alleged to cause a
minority of those who take it to become suicidal or violent,
according to the regulatory authority.
The Committee of the Safety of Medicines has told doctors not to
put patients on doses higher than 20mg. The risk of side effects is
increased by higher doses.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 12 March page 7
Research raises doubt on ‘shaken baby
evidence’
New research has raised doubts about the safety of shaken baby
syndrome convictions.
A study has found that babies’ brains can be injured during birth
far more easily than was previously thought.
Brain scans on 111 healthy newborn babies at Royal Hampshire
Hospital, Sheffield, found that eight per cent had undiagnosed
brain bleeding.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 12 March page 13
Fight trade in children, minister urges
Blair
Increasing evidence of high levels of child trafficking in children
from West Africa and Eastern Europe has lead to a leading
politician calling on the prime minister to make combating the
issue a high priority.
Harriet Harman QC, the solicitor general, is asking Tony Blair to
make a manifesto pledge to tackle the trade in children and women.
She has made the request after meeting thousands of homeless
children vulnerable to trafficking in Sierra Leone.
Source:- The Times Friday 12 March page 17
Scottish newspapers
Nursery nurses take pay demand to the parliament
Hundreds of Scottish nursery nurses striking in favour of better
pay took their demands to the Scottish parliament yesterday.
Around 300 women lobbied MSPs as they turned up for a Holyrood
debate on the issue.
Although nine councils have agreed local settlements, Unison wants
a national agreement to be struck.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 12 March
McConnell hits back after attack on crime bill
First minister Jack McConnell yesterday struck back at
criticism of the Antisocial Behaviour Bill by a senior police chief
in his own constituency.
Chief superintendent Tom Buchan said earlier in the week that
giving police powers to disperse groups of youths were
unnecessary.
Yesterday in the Scottish parliament, McConnell said Buchan’s
comments were regrettable and he thought he was wrong.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 12 March
Gipsy attacks councils ‘jobs
racism’
Perth and Kinross Council was taken to an employment tribunal
yesterday after a Scottish gypsy claimed she was racially
discriminated against when she failed to secure a job at the local
authority.
Roseanna McPhee claims she was passed over for a job as a Gaelic
development officer because of her “gypsy traveller”
origins.
The council claims her lack of a driving licence prevented her from
getting the job.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 12 March
Owners of home where 14 died hope to reopen in
summer
The owners of Rosepark Nursing Home in Lanarkshire where 14 older
people died after a fire, have said they hope to re-open the home
in the summer.
Forensic experts have now moved into the site after police
inquiries at the scene were concluded, and they will compile their
own report.
Tom and Anne Balmer have said once all their inquiries were
completed they hope to move residents back into the home for the
start of summer.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 12 March
Girl’s mother to sue council over attack in
school
A mother of a girl with special needs is to sue Lothian education
chiefs after her daughter was assaulted by a parent who walked into
the building unchecked.
Stephanie Galloway spent two nights in hospital after she was
attacked by Doreen Ramsay, who is believed to be the mother of
another pupil at St David’s High School in Dalkeith.
Ramsay pleaded guilty to two charges of assault to injury at
Edinburgh sheriff court and was sentenced to two years’
probation.
Source:- Evening News Thursday 11 March
Attack thugs get 7 years
Two teenagers who attacked a man to the extent that he will have to
spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair were each imprisoned for
seven years yesterday.
Christopher Nugent suffered permanent brain damage after being
severely beaten by the two attackers.
Only one of the attackers, Paul Currie, can be named as the other
is 15-years-old and as a juvenile cannot be identified.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 12 March page 36
Welsh newspapers
Hospital child safety concern
Wales’ largest hospital has been accused of putting young
people at risk after adults were treated in the same ward as
children.
Due to a shortage of beds at the University Hospital of Wales in
Cardiff, a small number of adults were treated on a designated
children’s ward.
An unnamed paediatric doctor said that having adults on the ward
poses a risk to children. He said that all staff working on the
children’s ward have been police checked, but adult patients
have not.
A spokesperson for the hospital said that the safety of young
people on the ward had not been compromised.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 March page 2
Stickers to encourage children to eat their five portions
of fruit and veg
Children are to be encouraged to eat healthily by giving them
stickers to record their fruit and vegetable intake.
The British Heart Foundation is launching a new ‘Peel and
Stick 5-a-Day Activity Sheet’, to help encourage parents and
teachers to promote healthy eating amongst children.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 March page 6
Roadshows will promote foster caring
Foster care is being promoted in a series of roadshows across south
west Wales this week.
Staff from Foster Care Alliance based in Swansea, are raising
awareness of issues surrounding foster care by taking information
in a special trailer to town centres across the area.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 12 March page 8