Wednesday 17 March 2004

By Natasha Salari, Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Careless GP is found guilty over patient’s fatal
overdose
A family doctor who killed a patient with an overdose of morphine
is facing a prison sentence.
Dr Narendra Sinha gave Maureen Lyth four times the safe level of
the drug after being called out to treat her arthritis.
A jury at Chester crown court took less than an hour to convict the
“careless and grossly negligent” GP of her
manslaughter.
Sinha, from Liverpool, will return to the court for sentencing next
month.
Source:- The Daily Mail Wednesday 17 March page 7
Surrogacy deal mother ‘sold the same baby to two
couples’
A surrogate mother tricked two couples into paying for her baby, a
court has heard.
Moira Greenslade is said to have made £2,500 from the alleged
internet deal. If convicted of the offences she faces a maximum
prison sentence of 10 years.
Greenslade, who was arrested after giving birth to a baby girl in
December last year, is charged with three offences of obtaining
property by deception and three further offences of breaking
adoption rules.
The single mother, from Keighley in West Yorkshire, is alleged to
have falsely represented that she was continuing with a surrogacy
agreement  that she had made with two couples.
Source:- The Daily Mail Wednesday 17 March page 18
Care home ‘drug blunders’
Almost one in eight care homes is putting vulnerable old people in
danger by mishandling drugs, according to the National Care
Standards Commission.
The low standards in care homes and children’s homes is even
putting lives at risk. The commission said that tight regulation is
required to ensure residents receive the right medicines.
Its report, based on the results of 16,700 inspections of care
homes, said 1,500 homes for older people and 900 for teenagers,
failed to meet adequate standards in their handling of
medicines.
Source:- The Daily Mail Wednesday 17 March page 29
£1,000 fine for disabled badge misuse
The government is to bring an end to the legal loophole which has
allowed up to 700,000 drivers to use disabled badges illegally to
avoid parking charges.
The badges change hands on the black market for up to £1,000
each. But the government has announced plans to tighten the law so
that police officers and wardens can insist on motorists handing
over their badges for inspection. Motorists caught misusing the
badge will be fined £1,000.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 4
Race against time
Trevor Phillips wants a radical new approach to tackling racial
inequality: without it, he says, Britain’s public services
will fail.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 2
Rock of ages
Rodney Bickerstaffe has been championing underdogs for four
decades. Now the pensioner’s leader, he has lost none of his
zeal or loyalty.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 6
Bouncing back
A scheme in Teeside is having remarkable results in getting kids
off the streets and on to court.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 7
Out of sight, out of mind
Older prisoners are the fastest growing age group in
Britain’s jails, and face specific health and social care
needs after release. So why aren’t they offered more tailored
support?
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 8
From working girl to job seeker
A white paper on the reform of prostitution laws is due next month.
It could learn a lot from Streetreach, an employment project
helping to break the vicious circle of drugs and punters.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 10
Picky punters
Giving service users a choice has become New
Labour’s mantra – but what if that brings greater
unfairness and less democracy?
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 17 March page 14
The gangmasters who made millions exploiting illegal
immigrants
The home secretary David Blunket signalled that the penalties for
employers who hire illegal workers would be increased in a
crackdown on gangmasters.
Employers will also be required to carry out rigorous checks on
workers to ensure that they are in the country legally.
Three men set up a bogus recruitment company that earned them over
£4 million in three years providing Eastern European workers
to 30 farms and factories it was recently revealed in court.
David Mutch, John Carter and Ruslan Kulish, a Ukrainian asylum
seeker, were found guilty of laundering millions of pounds at Kings
Lynn crown court.
The immigrants they employed were tricked into believing that their
immigration papers were legitimate and worked for up to 20 hours a
day.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 17 March, page 1
Paedophilia expert jailed for sex attacks
A paedophilia expert was jailed for seven years yesterday for
sexually abusing three girls aged nine to 13.
Stephen King’s job involved lecturing police and criminal
prosecutors on how to protect children.
King, of Herne Hill, South London, pleaded guilty to 21 counts,
including sex with a girl under 13 years old, 10 counts of indecent
assault, six charges of indecency with a child and four counts of
taking indecent photographs of a child.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 17 March, page 2
Hughes approved secret policy on immigration
Immigration minister Beverly Hughes approved a secret
policy to scale down checks on the passport applications of
thousands of foreigners, the Home Office has confirmed.
Hughes authorised the relaxation of checks on citizenship
applications in an attempt to cut a backlog of 29,000 claims.
The revelation has fuelled demands for Hughes resignation which
began after a civil servant exposed a secret scheme in Sheffield
fast-tracking applications from eastern European workers to move to
Britain. The minister has admitted that she did not know about the
policy.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 17 March, page 8
Scottish newspapers
Fresh outcry over plans to expand Dungavel
Campaigners and politicians have reacted angrily to confirmation
that the controversial Dungavel detention centre for asylum seekers
will be extended.
Capacity at the former prison in Lanarkshire will rise by 25 per
cent with the addition of a 43-bed unit for single males.
The move is part of a government plan to create a “more
efficient asylum system”.
Campaigners insist the complex should be closed.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 17 March
Fears for health of asylum seekers after three-week
fast
Fears were growing last night for the health of three Kurdish
asylum seekers who have been on hunger strike for more than three
weeks.
Fariborz Gravindi, Mokhtar Haydary and Faroq Haidari went on hunger
strike in their Glasgow bed-sit after the government refused their
applications for asylum.
The three from Iran claim they would rather die in Scotland than
travel back to their home country where they say they face torture
or death.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 17 March
Call for law to stop off-licence loitering
The Liberal Democrats are proposing that youths should be
banned form hanging around near off-licences.
A motion to the Scottish Lib Dem conference in Dundee next week
calls for a new offence of loitering outside licenced
premises.
Donald Gorrie, a leading backbencher, claims the move was prompted
by concerns about gangs congregating outside off-licences and
intimidating members of staff and the public.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 17 March
£4m Lotto aid in war on drugs
Drug projects are to receive nearly £4 million funding of
Lottery money.
The Next Steps Scotland project in Fife, which helps around 600
substance misusers, has received the biggest single allocation of
around £500,000.
The money is from the Lotto’s New Opportunities Fund.
Source:- Daily Record  Wednesday 17 March page 2
Hell mob are ‘let off’
Powers to tackle nuisance neighbours are not being used widely
enough it will be claimed tonight.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders were introduced almost four years ago
to tackle people acting in an antisocial manner.
Yet a probe by BBC Frontline Scotland, to be broadcast tonight, has
revealed that almost a quarter of Scottish councils have not issued
a single order.
Source:- Daily Record  Wednesday 17 March page 2
Rise in bids to give kids a home
There has been a rise in the number of Scots wanting to
adopt children.
Last year 373 potential parents asked to adopt a child, which was a
four per cent rise from 2002.
While ministers have welcomed the recent increase, the number of
applications is still well below the total 20 years ago. In 1983,
there were 1,081 adoption applications.
Source:- Daily Record Wednesday 17 March page 25
Welsh newspapers
Delivering for Wales
A half-page news analysis of the record of Labour in the Welsh
assembly over the last year. The story concludes that in spite of a
number of key election pledges in last year’s assembly
elections, Welsh Labour has failed to deliver on those
promises.
The controlling group in the assembly pledged to provide all
primary school children with free breakfasts, but so far only pilot
projects have been announced. Other pledges that have yet to be
realised are free prescriptions for all and free home care for
disabled people.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 17 March page 1
Fifty jailed for Wrexham riots
Fifty people have been jailed for their part in two days of riots
in Wrexham in north Wales.
The riots took place on the run down Cai Park Estate in Wrexham
last summer, and the rioters have been sentenced to a total of more
than 83 years in custody.
Stones and petrol bombs were thrown after trouble erupted following
tensions between Iraqi Kurds who had been housed on the estate, and
a group of local people.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 17 March page 2
Wrongly jailed man awaits ruling on demand for prison
rent
A man who was wrongly convicted of murder is at the centre of a
test case over a government bid to force the victims of
miscarriages of justice to pay for board and lodging while in
prison.
Michael O’Brien, from Cardiff, served 11 years behind bars
and was awarded around £650,000 for his time in prison. But
the Home Office have claimed £37,000 for the amount he would
have spent on food and rent had he not been in jail.
The case is now being heard by the court of appeal.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 17 March page 6