Monday 2 August 2004

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

Patient wins right to life ruling

A terminally ill man claimed a victory yesterday saying that a high
court verdict gave power in end-of-life decisions back to
patients.

Leslie Burke, who has a degenerative brain condition, challenged
General Medical Council guidelines on sustaining life by artificial
feeding as he is concerned that his wish to go on living until he
dies naturally could be overruled.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 July page 4

Soham officer ‘invented alibi’

The policeman, who was the liaison officer for one of the families
of the murdered Soham schoolgirls, was accused of inventing an
alibi to escape charges of accessing “questionable
images” at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Detective constable Brian Stevens and Louise Austin, a Crown
Prosecution Service case worker, both deny perverting the course of
justice.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 July page 8

10 pupils a day are expelled for violence

Around 10 pupils a day were expelled for violence during the summer
term, according to new government figures.

The figures show that 288 pupils were expelled for violence against
an adult and 336 were expelled for attacking another pupil.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 July page 8

Give addicts free drugs, says Tory group

Heroin and crack users should be prescribed on the National Health
Service, according to a leading Tory pressure group.

The Bow Group, whose former chair was Conservative leader Michael
Howard, argue that the move would stop addicts turning to crime to
feed their habit.

The free drugs would be on the condition that they had compulsory
medical treatment in rehabilitation centres.

Source:- The Times Saturday 31 July page 12

Ladylike title for Margaret Hodge

Children’s minister Margaret Hodge is to become a lady after
her husband was appointed as a High Court judge yesterday.

She will get the title in October when her husband, Henry, is sworn
in by Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice.

Source:- The Times Saturday 31 July page 13

Second woman kills herself in jail

A woman has been found hanged in her cell at New Hall prison, near
Wakefield. Marie Walsh was put on remand for theft two weeks ago.
The incident happened 36 hours after the apparent suicide of
Rebecca Turner at Low Newton prison, County Durham on
Wednesday.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 31 July page 10

Home Office failed to stop race bullying

The Home Office has been found guilty of racially discriminating
against a black employee by failing to investigate her allegations
of bullying.

An employment tribunal found in favour of Devaline McKenzie has who
said she was harassed in the directorate’s ministerial cases
unit which prepares answers to parliamentary questions sent to
ministers.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 31 July page 10

Compulsory lie tests for paedophiles

Home Office secretary David Blunkett is planning to introduce
controversial laws that will force paedophiles to undergo lie
detector tests to determine whether they are safe to remain in the
community.

The polygraph tests, which measure breathing, heart rate and sweat,
have proved 90 per cent accurate in the US.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 2 August page 1

Emergency childcare for working mothers

Working mothers could be offered emergency childcare through
state-registered agencies to stop them taking time off work or
calling in sick when their normal arrangements break down.

The new plans, being considered by Downing Street, could also help
mothers during school holidays.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 2 August  page 2

Youth hunted after seaside resort brawl leaves one
dead

Devon and Cornwall police are hunting a 17-year-old boy in
connection with the murder of Benjamin Crewes in Torquay last
night.

The police believe Sean McNamara was seriously injured in the
brawl, involving 40 people. They want to speak to him but are also
concerned about his welfare.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 2 August page 4

Row over abortion advice for girls under 16

New guidance for doctors and health workers has reignited a row
over whether parents should be automatically told their child is
considering an abortion.

The guidance says every effort should be made to find an adult to
provide support if a teenager consents to an abortion but does not
wish to tell their parents.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 2 August  page 7

Schools to get scanners to stop children with knives

Schools could be offered mobile scanning machines to detect
children carrying knives, according to new proposals from
Metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens.

The proposal follows the conviction of 16-year-old Alan Pennell for
the murder of Luke Walmsley, aged 14, in a school corridor.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 2 August page 1

Protests against asylum conditions

Protests are expected at asylum seeker detention centres following
apparent suicides
at Harmondsworth near Heathrow airport and Dungavel in
Lanarkshire.

Demonstrations are expected at Dungavel detention centre in
Lanarkshire and Forest Bank prison in Manchester.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 2 August page 2

Muslim GPs won’t treat sex diseases

Muslim doctors in Britain are refusing to treat patients with
sexual diseases such as AIDS saying they are a punishment from
God.

The hardline, adopted by a minority of Muslims, is becoming more
apparent within those who are training or recently qualified.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 2 August  page 1

Sacked immigration whistleblower to sue former
employers

Immigration whistleblower, Steve Moxon, is to take the government
to an employment tribunal after he was sacked for ‘breach of
contract.’

Moxon revealed hundreds of visa applications from Eastern European
migrants were approved without proper checks leading to the
resignation of Home Office minister Beverley Hughes.

Source:- The Independent Sunday 2 August page 2

Saudi claims immunity over child-sex allegations

A Saudi embassy official has claimed diplomatic immunity after
being arrested by police for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old
girl in London.

The alleged assault reportedly occurred during a party at the
diplomat’s home in Holland Park. The Foreign Office said it
was in contact with the Saudi embassy over whether the right to
diplomatic immunity can be waived.

Source:- The Independent Sunday 2 August page 5

Curfew for mother in ‘trainee tart’ row

A woman said Cheltenham magistrates had given her a tougher
sentence than burglars and car thieves after she was given a
10-week curfew order for assaulting her 13-year-old
daughter’s English teacher.

Joanne Sharp is required to stay at home between 9pm and 7pm each
day.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 2 August page 7

Children are taken away – but the system can’t
admit it’s wrong

Social workers who believe that parents have harmed their children
say they always act ‘in the best interests of the
child’. But what happens to those parents who protest –
and believe that they can prove their innocence? In a two-part
investigation into the closed world of child protection, Cassandra
Jardine hears from families who have suffered at the hands of a
system they say is unjust and biased – and uncovers
disturbing suggestions that, in one county at least, the
council’s efforts to meet government adoption targets may be
making a bad situation worse.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 2 August page 14

Missing baby’s father denies sex abuse claim

A suspected paedophile, who has been jailed for refusing
to reveal where his newborn baby is, says that social workers went
after him due to an unproven sexual allegation.

Andrew Milton’s Thai-born wife, Sekunna, disappeared from
their home in Wellington, Somerset, while she was due to give birth
after Somerset Council’s social services department began
proceedings to take their baby into care when it was born. She has
since emerged, but without their baby. It is believed that the baby
may be in Thailand being looked after by Sekunna’s relatives.
Sekunna has also been jailed for failing to reveal the baby’s
whereabouts.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 2 August page 9

Scottish newspapers

Baby boy shaken and then dumped in his cot

A baby almost died after being shaken then dumped in his cot, the
High Court in Edinburgh has heard.

Doctors treated the child for bleeding inside his skull  and feared
there was the possibility of fatal brain damage. The four-month-old
child went on to make a good recovery.

Liane Gordon first claimed she had fallen down the stairs with the
baby strapped to her chest in a carrier. But she later told social
workers she had been unable to cope with the baby crying in January
2002.

She admitted a charge of culpable and reckless conduct. The judge
called for background reports to be compiled before considering
sentence.

Source:- Evening News  Saturday 31 July

Convicts can queue for jail say governors

Prison overcrowding can be tackled by allowing convicted criminals
to stay at home until a cell is ready for them, governors have told
the Scottish executive.

The Prison Governors’ Association said in a written
submission to the executive that if minor offenders were placed on
a waiting list it would ease the pressure on a overcrowded
system.

The executive has asked for suggestions to tackle the problem as
the system currently deals with 7,000 prisoners yet has places for
just 6,185.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 1 August

Children to set trap for rogue game traders

Children will be used to trap traders who sell age restricted
products to youngsters under new powers for trading standards
officers in Scotland.

The move is designed to prevent shop owners selling tobacco,
alcohol and violent videos or computer programmes to minors.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 1 August

Party’s over for noisy neighbours

Noisy neighbours will be punished with on-the-spot fines of up to
£500 under new powers to crackdown on antisocial
behaviour.

Tayside has been chosen as the first area to use the powers which
will allow police to issue fines for people acting in an antisocial
fashion.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 1 August

Report reveals rise in teenage drinks shame

One of Britain’s biggest off-licences has refused almost 850
requests a week from teenagers trying to buy alcohol.

Staff in Thresher stores across the UK refused a total of 240,000
young customers last year and 18 per cent of them were in
Scotland.

Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 1 August

New self-harm database set to reduce suicide

A database of every Scot who self-harms is being planned in a bid
to reduce the number of suicides.

Psychiatrists and other health specialists across the country would
be able to access the list held centrally on a computer as a means
of assessing the risk that individuals pose to themselves.

Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 1 August

Axing Asian crime unit ‘paved way for huge
fraud’

An investigation into what is thought to be the biggest fraud in
Scottish history could have been prevented had a unit created to
tackle Asian gangs not been disbanded over fears that it could be
seen as persecuting ethnic minorities.

Strathclyde police are investigating a massive financial fraud
believed to involve tens of millions of pounds and at least three
major Asian crime gangs from the south side of Glasgow.

Strathclyde’s unit dedicated to Asian crime was disbanded
last October over fears among senior officers that the nature of
the investigation was not politically correct.

Source:- The Scotsman  Monday 2 August

More cash plea for fight against drug addiction in
North-east

Doctors have slammed the Scottish executive for failing to provide
enough money to fight the drugs crisis in a addict-ridden area of
Scotland.

Despite new money to combat drug misuse in Aberdeen, Fraserburgh
and Peterhead, local GPs have accused the executive of creating a
national divide by focussing on the central belt at the expense of
smaller communities in the north east where the impact of drugs is
often felt harder.

Source:- The Scotsman  Monday 2 August

Demonstrators call for closure of Dungavel

A protest against the “moral obscenity and fatal
policy” of detaining asylum seekers was held by campaigners
outside Dungavel detention centre yesterday.

Politicians, trade unionists and refugee action groups called for
the centre in Lanarkshire to be shut.

A one-minute silence was also held for a 22-year-old asylum seeker
who died recently at the centre.

Source:- The Scotsman  Monday 22 August

Reliance installs webcams

Reliance security firm have installed webcams at courts, it emerged
yesterday.

There have been 21 mistaken releases from Scottish courts in recent
months. Reliance accepts responsibility for seven out of 16 and the
remaining five are still under investigation.

It is hoped the webcams, which will take a digital photograph of
every prisoner as they enter the building, will help keep track of
prisoners.

Source:-  The Scotsman  Monday 22 August

Welsh newspapers

Charity tops grants record

Children in Need has broken the record for distributing grants to
help disadvantaged children and young people.

The charity said it would be awarding more than £1 million in
grants after a new round of applications, bringing the total for
2004 to £2,327,729.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 2 August page 7

Bridging the poverty gap

A feature looking at the gap between rich and poor in
Swansea.

A report from the charity, Save the Children, carried out less than
two years ago found that 81.2 per cent of children on the run-down
Townhill estate were living in poverty. But gradually the troubled
estate is beginning to show signs of regeneration.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 2 August page 10