Thursday 3 June 2004

By Amy Taylor, Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson

Youth crime on the rise

Mainstream schools are struggling to cope with a rise in crime and
antisocial behaviour, according to a report.

The research by Mori for the Youth Justice Board in 192 schools in
England and Wales shows 26 per cent of young people had committed a
criminal offence in the last 12 months.

Truancy, drinking and smoking were also on the rise, the report
found.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 3 June page 16

Met pays £500,000 for dropped race claim

A female constable is to receive a payout of £500,000 for
dropping a claim of racial and sexual discrimination against
Scotland Yard.

Joy Hendricks made two claims against Metropolitan Police four
years ago. It was due to be heard at an employment tribunal in the
autumn but will now not reach a public hearing.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 3 June page 16

Glaxo faces lawsuit for antidepressant drug

Drug firm GlaxoSmithKline is facing fraud charges in the USA for
allegedly withholding information that its anti-depressant drug
lead to suicidal behaviour among children and teenagers.

New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer claims the UK’s
largest drug company suppressed the results of at least four
clinical trials of the drug called Paxil in the US and Seroxat in
the UK.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 3 June page 1

BNP under fire for asylum leaflets

The British National Party is facing legal action for potentially
inciting race hatred during the election campaigns.

Northumbria police force is consulting the Crown Prosecution
Service over whether the distribution of leaflets against asylum
seekers is against the 1986 Public Order Act.

The leaflets were said to be packed with inaccuracies designed to
raise community tensions.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 3 June page 2

Prisoners went on run to get away from jail drugs

Two convicts who ran away from an open prison because it was
“rife with drugs” and turned themselves in to a closed
prison the next day, have had the charges against them
dropped.

Audie Carr and Benjamin Clarke fled from Leyhill open prison in
Gloucestershire and went to Gloucester prison claiming they wanted
to serve the rest of their sentences there as they “wanted a
stricter regime”.

Yesterday, charges of escaping from lawful custody were dropped
against the pair at Gloucester Crown Court after judge Jamie Tabor
agreed that it was not in the public interest to prosecute
them.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 3 June  page 3

Pianist jailed in internet sex ‘sting’

A man who attempted to meet a Sri Lanken boy so he could sexually
abuse him during an opera tour abroad became the first person to be
jailed under Britain’s “sex tourism” laws.

Concert pianist Brian Parnell put an advertisement on the internet
asking to meet a boy, but the Sri Lankan National Child Protection
Authority spotted the advert and replied posing as a boy.

Parnell arranged to meet the ‘boy’ in Colombo just
before a concert but the police turned up instead.

Source:- The Times Thursday 3 June page 5

Scottish newspapers

Tough controls of charities unveiled in bill

Scotland’s charities will face tougher controls, according to
measures outlined by the Scottish executive yesterday.

If the Charities and Trustee Investment Bill becomes law, bodies
seeking charitable status will have to demonstrate that they
provide a clear benefit to the public.

The aims of the bill were broadly welcomed yesterday, but concerns
were raised over the timing of the legislation and whether the new
law would target independent schools, which currently have
charitable status.

Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 3 June

Tirade could mean custody for ‘anti-social’
teenager

The teenager believed to have inspired Jack McConnell’s
antisocial behaviour laws was facing prison last night after being
found guilty of launching a tirade of abuse against a man whose
family he was said to have “terrorised”.

Edmond Eccles screamed expletives at David Young in the city centre
branch of McDonald’s shortly before Christmas. Stirling
Sheriff Court heard that the incident occurred the day before the
16-year-old was due to appear in court in Alloa to be sentenced on
an indictment listing 17 offences of assault, theft and
house-breaking in his former home town of Alva.

He was later ordered not to enter most of central Scotland by Alloa
court, but Eccles was found guilty of conducting himself in a
disorderly manner in the McDonald’s branch.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson deferred sentence on Eccles for social
inquiry reports to be produced.

Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 3 June

Cops in cowboy blast at Reliance

Reliance security firm was branded a cowboy outfit by police
yesterday after a further prisoner was mistakenly released.

The security firm insist a police officer gave the go-ahead for
Kevin McCarrison to leave Hamilton Sheriff Court.

But a Strathclyde police source said: “We are fed up
of wet-nursing them. Something has to be done about this cowboy
outfit.”

Source:- Daily Record  Thursday 3 June page 2

‘Child at risk’ calls soar in capital

The number of calls warning that children in the capital may be in
danger have soared following the damning report into the death of
Caleb Ness.

Social workers said the number of calls to child protection staff
has risen by 50 per cent following the inquiry into the
child’s death which was described as
“unavoidable”.

The rise is being attributed to a growing awareness of child
welfare issues and care workers taking a more cautious
approach.

But social workers are having to deal with the cases at a time when
staff levels are down by 15 per cent.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 2 June

Welsh newspapers

Church warned of lay reader earlier

A father has told of how he tried to alert Church in Wales
officials about lay reader, Darren Jenkins, two years before he was
prosecuted for a sex offence against a 16-year-old boy.

The man, who does not want to be named, told how his own
14-year-old son received text messages from Jenkins and how he
believed his son was being groomed by the cleric.

He said he told church officials about his concerns but that they
took no action. A review of Church in Wales child protection
procedures is now underway.

Source:- South Wales Argus Wednesday 2 June page 8

Police exhume body at dawn

The body of a 95-year-old man has been exhumed as part of a police
investigation into allegations of abuse at a north Wales nursing
home.

William Pettener died at Bodawen Nursing Home, Porthmadog, in
April. There have been allegations of abuse made by staff members
and a matron has been suspended from the 42-bed private home.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 3 June page 7