Friday 29 October 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Shirley Kumar, Amy Taylor and Clare
Jerrom

Repeat attacker, 18, is jailed for Rosie murder

An 18-year-old boy who suffers from a form of autism was jailed for
life yesterday for smothering a 10-year-old to death.

Nottingham Crown Court set a minimum term of 14 years for Paul
Smith who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 29 October 2004 page 5

Appeal court allows asylum centre

The appeal court has cleared the way for an accommodation centre
for asylum seekers to be built on Ministry of Defence land in
Bicester, Oxfordshire, despite resident opposition.

The centre will house 750 asylum seekers while their applications
are determined.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 29 October 2004 page 5

Private plan ‘may spoil NHS success’

A government initiative to help older people is in danger of
disintegrating as the NHS shifts resources into the private sector
scheme, warned Ian Philip, a senior Department of Health
official.

Philip said the £1.4 billion programme had reduced ‘bed
blocking’ but the achievement was at risk because resources
needed to support it were being sucked into alternative projects to
help older people avoid the need for hospital treatment.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 29 October 2004 page 10

Charity says a million children live in overcrowded
homes

Almost a million children are living in overcrowded homes because
the government is not providing enough social housing for low
income families.

In a study by homeless charity Shelter, the plight of an estimated
one in 10 children is set to grow causing more break up of
families.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 29 October 2004 page 12

MPs want free vote on smacking

The government came under pressure to allow a free vote on
proposals to ban smacking by giving children the same legal
protection against assaults as adults.

Around 24 Labour backbenchers signed an open letter to the leader
of the Commons Peter Hain asking why he planned to use the whip to
stop them voting freely on protecting children.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 29 October 2004 page 13

Priest does a jig after indecency acquittal

A former Roman Catholic priest did an Irish jig outside the Old
Bailey yesterday after he was cleared of indecently assaulting a
young girl.

Neil Horan of Nunhead, South London had been accused of letting the
girl touch his penis. He had denied the incident.

Source:- The Times Friday 29 October 2004 page 6

The Gipsy Ransom

Residents of Stembridge in Somerset have bought land from a farmer
to prevent gypsies from moving caravans in.

Source:-The Daily Mail Friday 29 October 2004 page 39

Choices for women help cut suicide rate to lowest in 50
years

Britain’s suicide rate has fallen to its lowest level since
the second world war and is now one of the lowest in the western
world, figures to be published today show.

Suicides among women aged 45 to 75 now stand at one-third of the
level in the 1960s, according to research published in The
Economist.

Source:-The Independent Friday 29 October 2004 page 15

Blair renews his anti-yob agenda

Prime minister Tony Blair is to extend the government’s
campaign to tackle unruly youths and nuisance neighbours.

A further 50 neighbourhoods in England and Wales have been
earmarked for special measures aimed at curbing low level
disorder.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 29 October 2004 page
12

Scottish newspapers

Schoolgirls ignore alert on smoking and alcohol

The Scottish executive’s attempts to stop teenagers smoking
and drinking are not reaching Scottish schoolgirls, according to
new research.

A quarter of 15-year-old girls were regular smokers compared to 14
per cent of boys, the latest Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle
and Substance Use Survey revealed.

It also emerged that 15-year-old girls were more likely than boys
to have drunk alcohol in the week before the survey was
taken.

Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 29 October

Warning over teen gang law

Police chiefs have said they will only use their powers to
crackdown on teenage gangs sparingly.

This week, police were given new powers to disperse groups of
youths in designated trouble spots as parts of the Antisocial
Behaviour Bill came into effect.

Scotland’s police chiefs warned against high expectations of
the impact the new powers would have, stressing that they would not
be used regularly.

Source:- Evening News  Thursday 28 October

Girls shun drugs warnings

Anti-drugs campaigns are not impacting on teenage girls, according
to research by academics at Edinburgh University.

The study found that while the number of adolescent boys taking
drugs has fallen over the last two years, there has been little
change in the teenage girls who are abusing substances.

Source:- Evening News  Thursday 28 October

NHS chiefs want to shut psychiatric unit

A hospital unit for patients with mental health problems was
earmarked for closure yesterday despite protests by GPs.

Managers at NHS Argyll and Clyde recommended shutting the Christie
ward at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire and send
patients to Glasgow instead.

However Dr Brian Calder, a GP in Helensburgh said medical staff in
the area unanimously opposed the plans and he said he was annoyed
by the “total disregard of the views of local
professionals”.

Source:- The Herald  Friday 29 October

Mother and baby mental health unit opens

The first mother and baby unit in Scotland will officially be
opened today.

The £1.3 million six-bed facility at Southern General Hospital
in Glasgow will allow mothers to stay with their babies while
having treatment for mental health problems.

Source:- The Herald  Friday 29 October

Welsh newspapers

Wales failing to meet truancy targets

The Welsh Assembly is failing to meet its target to cut the
number of classes missed through authorised and unauthorised
absences to 8 per cent.

This year 9.4 per cent of classes were missed, a drop from 9.5
per cent in 2002-2003.

Electronic registration is being introduced in schools to tackle
truancy.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 29 October