Friday 10 December 2004

By Amy Taylor, Derren Hayes, Maria
Ahmed

Depressed youngsters should not be given happy pills,
says psychiatrist

Children are being prescribed ‘dangerous’ drugs for
depression when they are simply unhappy, a psychiatrist has
warned.

Psychiatrist Sami Timimi said it was time to abandon the idea
that children ‘get depressed’ like adults.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Friday 10 December 2004, page
31

Gipsy children ‘are swamping village
school’

Parents fear their children’s education will suffer after
youngsters from an illegal Romany camp were admitted to an
overcrowded village school in Somerset.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Friday 10 December 2004, page
31

Teacher jailed over lesbian affair with
pupil

A teacher who had a lesbian affair with a teenage pupil has been
jailed for 1 year.

Justine Rowe, 34, became involved with a 15-year-old girl,
Reading Crown Court heard.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Friday 10 December 2004, page
33

Police crackdown on underage drinkers

Police will have new powers to immediately close pubs and off
licences that sell alcohol to under 18 year olds, Tony Blair
announced yesterday.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Friday 10 December 2004, page
39

Liberal judge who won peace after Brixton riots
dies

Lord Scarman, the judge who won the hearts of an alienated black
community with his landmark inquiry into the Brixton riots, has
died aged 93.

Source:-The Times, Friday 10 December 2004, page 2

Drink and forget

Most people do not know the safe health limit for drinking
alcohol, found a survey.

Only 14 per cent of people polled were aware that the upper
recommended limit for men is four units or two pints of beer.

Source:-The Times, Friday 10 December 2004, page 7

Bishops call for jail reform

Roman Catholic bishops have said that Britain’s prisons
are a public disgrace and prison authorities should root out
“corrupted or jaundiced” staff.

Too many people were being jailed and overcrowding prevented
rehabilitation, said the bishops in a report.

Source:-The Times, Friday 10 December 2004, page 7

Authorities lose track of 10,000 expelled
students

Local education authorities are failing expelled school children
and losing track of up to 10,000 such children every year, said
education watchdog Ofsted.

It said too many authorities were adding to the disadvantages
faced by children.

Source:-The Times, Friday 10 December 2004, page 10

Law Lords say asylum checks against Romas were
racist

The UK immigration service has racially discriminated six Roma
people who were seeking entry into Britain, the Law Lords have
ruled.

The Roma Czechs case was taken up by civil rights group Liberty
and the European Roma Rights Centre, who said current immigration
rules penalised Roma people.

The Law Lords accused the Home Office of “inherent and
systematic” racism.

Source:-The Times Friday 10 December 2004, page 37

Labour MP against plan to tackle yobs

Britain is moving from the “politics of class to the
politics of behaviour” as members of a predominantly poor and
white group refuse to accept society’s rules and threaten the
majority, Labour MP Frank Field has said.

Source:-The Guardian, Friday 10 December 2004, page
15

Scottish newspapers

Minister orders review after schizophrenic patient
escapes

First minister Jack McConnell has announced a review of
procedures for unescorted leave for patients at Carstairs
hospital.

The decision comes after a paranoid schizophrenic patient went
on the run from the hospital for four days after being allowed to
go shopping.

Mr McConnell, who ordered an inquiry into the incident, has
hinted the rules on ministerial approval for granting leave periods
could be tightened.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 10 December 2004

Welsh newspapers

Twin sisters planned deaths, inquest told

Two elderly twin sisters committed suicide despite being
threatened with arrest to prevent them from going through with it,
an inquest has heard.

Widows Margaret Edwards and Anne Gardner, from Cowbridge, walked
into the sea after making a suicide pact.

Source:- Western Mail, Friday, 10 December 2004
 
Son lit fire that killed family

A mentally ill man started a fire that killed him and his father
and brothers, an inquest has heard.

John Latham, 29, started to behave strangely after a fall in
October 2003. He was later diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Neath and Port Talbot coroner, Dr David Osbourne, recorded a
verdict of unlawful killing for the deaths of Latham’s father
and brothers and an open verdict on Latham’s death, which ruled out
suicide because of his mental illness.

Source:- Western Mail, Friday, 10 December 2004