Tuesday 27 July 2004

By Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson

Schoolboy guilty of murder

A 16-year-old, who knifed 14-year-old Luke Walmsley to death at a
school in Lincolnshire, was facing a life sentence after being
found guilty of murder at Nottingham Crown Court.

Source:- Financial Times Tuesday 27 July page 1

Ministers’ 10-year vision offers councils more
power

Councils could be enlarged and given extra powers under
ministers’ 10-year plan.

Further details will be provided of the new ‘local area
agreements’ that include nine pilot projects intended to let
councils strike better deals with central government.

Source:- Financial Times Tuesday 27 July page 4

Parents arrested after death of sick son

The parents of a 10-year-old boy suffering from the terminal
illness, Hunter syndrome, were being held by police on suspicion of
murder.

Andy and Mary Wragg were arrested on Saturday night at their home
in Worthing, West Sussex, after their son Jacob was pronounced dead
on arrival at Worthing hospital.

Source:- The Times  Tuesday 27 July page 3

‘Mob victim’ denies sword attack

An Asian student whose family had been repeatedly victimised by a
drunken gang on a council estate allegedly attacked one of them
with a Samurai sword.

Shamraiz Ali allegedly attacked Shane Stringer following an assault
on his elderly father on the Clayton estate in Orton, Malborne,
Peterborough.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 3

Commuter thugs face jail terms

Five youths who terrorised commuters were convicted of conspiracy
to rob at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.

The teenagers were core members of a 60-strong gang.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 4

Court bans village gang

Eleven youths aged 13-years to 17-years were handed anti-social
behaviour orders for terrorising the village of Yarnfield,
Staffordshire.

The teenagers received between two and three-year banning
orders.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 4

PC’s sex crimes

Policeman Kevin Hicks of East Huntspill, near Highbridge, Somerset
pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a girl under the age of
16-years at Bristol Crown Court.

He had spent a long time as a youth worker in churches.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 4

Jailed child trafficker to help in torso case

A child trafficker who is believed to have brought hundreds of
youngsters and adults into the country to work as sex slaves was
jailed for four-and-a-half-years at Southwark Crown Court, South
London.

Kingsley Ojo may have smuggled a boy known as Adam, whose torso was
found in the river Thames in London.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 5

Suicidal woman failed by mental services

A suicidal woman was failed by a mental health team which led her
father to help her die, a damming report reveals.

Sarah Lawson, who suffered from manic depression and who had a long
history of self-harm and suicide attempts, was not given sufficient
supervision and management of her health problems at West Sussex
Health and Social Care NHS Trust.

Her father admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished
responsibility and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence
and two-years’ probation.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 7

Debt warning on NHS finances

A public spending watchdog said the NHS could be driven to
bankruptcy by the government’s key policy to improve health
service funding.

The Audit Commission report concluded the new payment by results
regime carries substantial risk if not managed properly.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 7

Rioting at race harmony festival

A festival intended to promote racial harmony ended in two nights
of rioting.

Fights involving 120 Pakistani and Iraqi Kurd youths is the latest
in a series of attacks in Peterborough since May.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 9

The hidden epidemic

More than 170,000 people a year most of them teenagers and young
adults seek hospital treatment for self harm, according to figures
collected by the government’s drug and treatment assessment
body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The figures, which have been collected for the first time,
highlight the rising number of young people who mutilate themselves
by cutting or burning themselves to relieve mental anguish.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 27 July page 1

Mental Health Crisis

Two-page special

Source:- The Times Tuesday 27 July page 8-9

How 11-year-olds can gamble online

Children can gamble online because of failures by Internet casino
sites to carry out proper age checks, according to research by the
NCH.

Most websites allowed under-18s to register their details using a
Solo debit card that are offered to customers aged 11-years and
over by NatWest Bank.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 27 July page
19

Scottish newspapers

A whistleblower, who claimed his colleagues were abusing
children at a Paisley care home, was facing a disciplinary hearing
prior to making the allegations to the Care Commission, it has
emerged.

Members of staff at Kimbles Residential Education and Care Centre
have been accused of abusing children in their care by two
colleagues. The allegations were passed on to the police.

But the centre’s chief executive Graham Bell has now claimed
that one of the staff members who made the allegation faced a
previous disciplinary hearing four years ago. In addition, he made
a series of allegations involving staff along similar lines to the
latest complaints.

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 27 July

Warning over city’s drink binge kids

A child will die on Edinburgh’s streets as a result of the
epidemic of binge drinking amongst young people, a top doctor at
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary has warned.

Growing numbers of drunk children as young as 11 are being rushed
to the accident and emergency department at the ERI after drinking
so much they pass out.

Around eight youngsters are hospitalised every weekend after binge
drinking, according to hospital chiefs. Martin McKechnie, a
consultant in emergency medicine, said it was inevitable a
youngster will die in the future following a heavy drinking
session.

Source:- Evening News  Monday 26 July

Doctors warn of threat to out-of-ours rural care

A group of nearly 30 GPs across Scotland have signed a letter
warning ministers that healthcare in rural areas outside office
hours will become inadequate unless urgent action is taken.

The doctors claim they feel aghast at the way emergency GP cover is
being cut around the country and are demanding an investigation
into how far patients can live from frontline medical care without
compromising their safety.

Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 27 July

Welsh newspapers

How to move the gypsy problem on

A two-page feature looking at the issues surrounding the way
that local authorities deal with gypsies and travellers camping on
authorised sites.

There are an estimated 250,000 travelling people in the UK and
councils spend up to £18 million on moving them from illegal
campsites each year.

Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 26 July pages 6-7

Back-up delay ‘hitting
hospitals’

Delayed transfers of care are having a major effect on hospital
services in Gwent, according to a new report.

An investigation by the Healthcare Commission has warned that the
reduction in the availability of nursing and residential care in
the county means that patients are spending more time in hospital
unnecessarily.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 27 July page 9