Monday 19 April 2004

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Huntley jail move postponed again
Plans to move Ian Huntley to Wakefield prison have been delayed
after a spate of suicide attempts.
The Huntley move, which was due to take place in January, has been
put back after three inmates tried to hang themselves at the prison
in one weekend. Huntley is serving life for murdering Soham
schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 17 April page 12
‘Charity muggers’ face £10m VAT levy
The treasury is planning to tax charitable donations made to street
collectors, it has emerged.
The government’s policy on donations to ‘chuggers’ is estimated to
earn the tax man £10 million that previously went to
charities.
Source:- The Times Saturday 17 April page 2
Home Office admits 193 job seekers wrongly accused of
criminal records
Almost 200 people were incorrectly  accused of having a
criminal record by the Criminal Records Bureau, the Home Office has
admitted.
Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, said that 193 people had
been wrongly accused between 1 January  and the end of
February.
Source:- The Financial Times Saturday 17 April page 4
Cleft lip abortion to be investigated
Police are set to carry out a new inquiry into the late abortion of
a baby because it had a cleft lip and palate.
West Mercia police’s announcement comes after a judicial review of
the case called for by the Reverend Joanna Jepson who was born with
a facial deformity. Jepson said she planed to continue the judicial
review to allow the clarification of abortion law. She believes the
doctors involved in the abortion should be prosecuted.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 17 April page 7
Lack of special schools ‘putting pupils in
danger’
Pupils are being put in danger by the government’s “disastrous”
policy of keeping children with behavioural difficulties in
mainstream schools, teaching leaders have warned.
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers
said that more special schools were required to take such
pupils.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 17 April page 10
Brothel raid sees 58 arrested
Police raids on two massage parlours in Sheffield and Leeds have
resulted in the arrest of 47 women.
Many of the women, who are mostly eastern Europeans, were smuggled
to Britain to work in the sex industry by gangmasters.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 18 April page 3
Epidemic of attacks on elderly
Up to half a million Britons are being neglected or
subjected to cruelty often carried out by their relatives,
according to a new report from the House of Commons health select
committee.
The report is expected to also call for changes in the issuing of
death certificates. At present, a GP can sign a certificate
confirming death by natural causes without examining the body if it
is for an elderly person suffering from a life threatening disease.
Campaigners say that this could allow signs of abuse to be
missed.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 18 April page 5
All children need counselling at school, says
Hodge
Children’s minister Margaret Hodge has been criticised for calling
for children to be provided with counselling in schools.
Education experts said that the practice could force schools to
take on the role of “social workers”. Hodge made the comment in the
journal ‘Counselling in Education’. Frank Furedi,
professor of sociology at the University of Kent, said that her
wish would lead to schools being swamped with non-educational
issues.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 18 April page 9
Exposed: the language schools that give visas to bogus
students
An undercover reporter is told that as long as she pays £5,000
fees she doesn’t need to study at colleges
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 18 April page 6
Councils ignore our good work, says Church
The ‘huge contribution’ faith communities make to cultural life is
being ignored by the government, according to a new report from the
Church of England.
The study says that much of the voluntary work in British culture
would collapse without the contribution of Christians.
Source:- The Times Monday 19 April page 4
Laws to help disabled may shut heritage
sites
Hundreds of Britain’s heritage sites could be forced to close due
to new disabled access laws.
The implementation of the final part of the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 requires services provider to ensure that
their buildings are accessible to disabled people.
Source:- The Times Monday 19 April  page 6
Failing adoption register faces axe after two
years
An adoption initiative designed to cut the number of children in
care by putting them with families who waiting to adopt has only
managed to place 85 youngsters after two years.
The national adoption register was a central part of the
government’s pledge to increase the number of children being
adopted by 40 per cent.
It was created after concerns that 2,000 children who could not be
matched in their area were stuck in care despite over 1,000
approved adopters waiting elsewhere in the country.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 19 April page 1
Police question childminder after 18-month-old dies
A childminder has been arrested on suspicion of murdering
an 18-month-old who died whilst in her care.
Police and paramedics were called to the family home in Sabden,
Lancashire, at 3am on Saturday. They found Joshua Massey-Hodgkinson
dead.
Lancashire police will not disclose who raised the alarm.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 19 April page 7
Scottish newspapers
Teenager slashed his father to death with sword
A teenager who became a recluse in his bedroom killed his father
with a samurai sword after being told to move out, a court heard
yesterday.
Daniel Leather said he went “crazy” with his father,
John, and had snapped after he had been ordered to do chores around
the house. He told police that what happened next was “all a
blur”.
The 17-year-old was originally charged with murdering his father in
their home in November last year. Yesterday, however, he pleaded
guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of
diminished responsibility because he was suffering from a
depressive mental health problem.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 17 April
City’s social work crisis averted by recruitment
drive
A staffing crisis in Scotland’s largest social work
department has been averted with a recruitment drive turning around
a shortfall in qualified social workers.
At one stage last year services in Glasgow were threatened by a
shortfall in staff. But following a major advertising campaign and
recruitment drive, the council has made 345 social work
appointments in the first three months of the year, 100 of which
were qualified social workers.
A report to be presented to the council next week will show that
social work services now has a staff vacancy level of 14.6 per cent
compared with 32 per cent in September 2003.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 17 April
Jodi suspect brother, 22, is charged
The brother of the teenager charged with the murder of
Jodi Jones has been arrested and charged in connection with the
inquiry.
Police said the 22-year-old had been arrested on Wednesday and
charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. The man
will be the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal.
His 15-year-old brother was charged last week with murdering Jodi
in June last year.
Source:- Evening News Saturday 17 April
B&Bs for homeless face behaviour blitz
Bed and breakfast accommodation used to house homeless people is
set to introduce strict new rules to crackdown on antisocial
behaviour.
The move follows a series of complaints from neighbours about
homeless people living in B&Bs used by the council in Edinburgh
as emergency accommodation.
Their complaints include drug use, aggressive begging and verbal
harassment.
The new measures will allow the council to evict tenants
responsible for antisocial behaviour and move them to another
property.
Source:- Evening News Saturday 17 April
Truth behind booze-free teen clubs
A growth in under-18 clubs has resulted in dozens of children being
rushed to hospital every weekend to be treated for drink and drugs,
it has emerged.
Children as young as 11 are increasingly being seen in accident and
emergency wards following the events which are staged in nightclubs
early on Friday and Saturday nights and which are supposed to be
alcohol-free.
However, the problems have become so severe, that one police force
has set up a specialised squad of a dozen officers to monitor the
clubs and deal with youngsters taking drugs and using
alcohol.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 18 April
Nursery nurses offered pay rise
Nursery nurses in Edinburgh have been offered a 19 per cent pay
rise in a bid to end the dispute over pay.
Staff at council-run nurseries across Scotland have been striking
to try and establish a national agreement on pay.
But behind the scene talks have seen Edinburgh Council offer nurses
a deal worth £9.80 per hour for top grade staff.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 18 April
Children’s panels ‘under
threat’
A review of the children’s hearing system will fail to help
children criminalised by the Scottish executive’s Antisocial
Behaviour Bill, critics have claimed.
The wide-ranging review of the Scottish youth justice system will
be launched on Thursday, but critics claim the project undermines
the system’s approach of addressing needs rather than the
wrongdoing of children in trouble.
They believe the bill, currently passing through the Scottish
parliament, will result in more children passing through the courts
for relatively minor offences before the review can take real
effect.
Source:- Sunday Herald 18 April
Pressure on Jamieson over court security
Justice minister Cathy Jamieson came under pressure last night over
the state of security in Scottish courts as opposition politicians
called for a public inquiry.
Convicted murderer James McCormick, who was accidentally set free
by Reliance, a private security firm, is still on the run. It also
emerged that a second criminal, who headbutted a police officer was
unintentionally set free on Friday instead of being returned to
jail.
It is believed the error was made by the fiscal, and court clerk at
Greenock sheriff court rather than the security firm.
The SNP is now demanding a full investigation into court
security.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 19 April
Inmate found dead at Scotland’s female
prison
A fatal accident inquiry is to be held following the death of a
female inmate at Scotland’s only women’s prison.
Penelope Gore was found dead at Cornton Vale Prison near Stirling,
but the Scottish Prison Service has not released details of the
circumstances that led to her death.
She was almost half way through a 30-month sentence for a drug
offence, which was her first offence.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 19 April
Welsh newspapers
Scandal of the Welsh doctors being paid just £3.50 an
hour
Doctors are being paid less than the minimum in some parts of Wales
as they care for patients in the nation’s network of
community hospitals.
In some cases GPs are being paid nothing extra, to provide the
24-hour service and there are fears that community hospitals will
be left without medical cover as GPs opt out of such poorly paid
work.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 19 April page 1
82,000 pupils face losing free buses
More than 80,000 school children across Wales may have to walk or
catch a lift to school under government plans to scrap free school
transport.
New research from the Welsh Liberal Democrats shows that up to
82,000 children could lose their right to free school transport if
the proposals are rolled out across Wales.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 19 April page 7