Monday 13 December 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Clare Jerrom, Amy Taylor and Derren
Hayes

Justice is tilted against us, says cleared teacher

A former teacher who was found not guilty of five charges of
indecent assault against a pupil has said that the justice system
is ‘tipped too far in favour of accusers’.

A boy claimed that Christopher Ifould, a former deputy head, had
abused him more than 10 years ago.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday December 11 page 47

Father killed baby, High Court rules

A man whose murder prosecution over the death of his baby was
thrown out by his judge for lack of evidence did cause the injuries
that killed the child, according to a high court family division
ruling.

Mrs Justice Hogg made the latter ruling after a local authority
applied for a care order over the family’s other children,
arguing that they were at serious risk of harm.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 11 December 2004 page
7

Dome finds a use

The Millenium Dome is to host the Crisis open Christmas shelter for
homeless people.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 December 2004 page 4

Court refuses to jail father

An attempt by Harriet Harman, the solicitor-general, to jail a
parent for using more than “reasonable chastisement” on
his children has failed.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal rejected her attempt to secure
a prison sentence for a father who subjected his children to
“humiliation, degrading and cruel” punishment when they
were naughty.

Source:- The Times Saturday 11 December 2004 page 5

Labour’s threat to charity that finds families for
our neediest children

Parents for Children, a charity that helps finds homes for troubled
children is facing ruin because of new government measures it says
condemn youngster to a lifetime in care.

Local councils are now being encouraged to expand their own
fostering and adoption schemes for youngsters with physical
disabilities or behavioural problems rather than refer them to the
voluntary sector.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 12 December 2004 page
39

Parents to sue Hodge over adoption U-turn

Seven childless couples are suing children’s minister
Margaret Hodge, claiming she has robbed them of the right to adopt
a baby.

The couples had all been approved in Britain as suitable for
adopting children from Cambodia when Hodge did a U-turn last June
and announced an indefinite suspension on adoptions from the
war-torn country.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 12 December 2004,page
39

Terror detainees sent to Broadmoor

Two more Belmarsh terror detainees have been moved to Broadmoor
hospital because deteriorating mental illness has led to a
“life-threatening condition”.

The transfer to hospital of the men, both North Africans in their
30s, mean that a third of all detainees held by Britain under
emergency anti-terror powers are now diagnosed as severely mentally
ill.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 12 December 2004
page 1

Homeless families rise

The number of homeless families in England is to hit 100,000
– up 135 per cent since Labour took power.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 12 December 2004
page 2

Knife ban for under-18s

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, wants to raise the age at which
youngsters can buy knives from 16 to 18.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 12 December 2004
page 2

Nine held as police break charity swindle

Police yesterday arrested nine men suspected being part of a
criminal gang that conspired to swindle scores of UK charities out
of hundreds of thousands of pounds in one of the most sophisticated
frauds in recent history.

The men are alleged to have created a complex scheme to defraud
charities such as Children in Need, Comic Relief and Barnardos as
well as the former National Lottery Community Fund, now renamed The
Big Lottery Fund.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 December 2004 page 7

Methadone budget hits £226m

More than half the government’s £500 million budget to
combat drug addiction is now being spent on methadone.

The heavy reliance on the heroin substitute, which many users end
up taking for years, has raised concerns that former addicts could
end up using methadone in into their fifties.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 December 2004 page
10

Teenage confidential

There was outrage last week when schools decided to use teen
magazines in sex lessons. Will the advice from the press really hit
home?

Source:- The Observer Sunday 12 December 2004 page
16

Sacked teacher gets his job back

A teacher who was sacked for allegedly throwing a bag at a pupil
has been reinstated. Richard Anderson, who has been at Boston
Grammar School, in Lincolnshire, for 33 years, denied trying to hit
the boy with the bag.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 12 December 2004 page
2

Blunkett: I could have saved cocklers

David Blunkett has revealed he wanted to bring in laws to protect
immigrant workers before the deaths of 21 cockle pickers in
Morecambe Bay – but he was blocked by Patricia Hewitt’s
officials at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 12 December 2004 page
2

Eight bailed in lottery investigation

Eight out of nine people arrested over an alleged multi million
pound swindle of the National Lottery and children’s
charities have been bailed, Scotland Yard said yesterday.

The scam allegedly used bogus grant applications to defraud the
charities and the Big Lottery Fund which distributes £600
million to good causes.

Source:- Financial Times  Monday 13 December page 4

Protect teachers

The Conservative Party has called for legislation to protect
teachers from claims of abuse from students.

Shadow education secretary Tim Collins said the majority of
teachers accused were subsequently cleared and untrue claims could
drive them to suicide.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 4

Euthanasia anger

Older people’s charity Age Concern has reacted angrily to
medical ethics expert Baroness Mary Warnock’s comments that
she would consider euthanasia.

The charity has slammed her comments that she did not see a problem
with “not wanting to be an increasing nuisance” as
outrageous.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 6

Traveller site threat to MPs

A property developer has threatened to set up sites similar to
gypsy camps close by to ministers’ homes – including
Tony Blair’s house.

Len Gridley, who is trying to force the government to close a
travellers’ camp close to his home, said he had earmarked
three pieces of land which he planned to sell to travellers in
order to give senior government ministers “a taste of what it
is like”.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 10

Court errors ‘free fathers to kill’

Twenty nine children have been killed in the past decade by fathers
who were involved in contact and residence disputes with their
former wives or partners, a report has found.

The study by Women’s Aid, calls on the government to ensure
judges, magistrates, expert witnesses, family court advisers and
others who make contact or residence decisions that subsequently
result in the death of a child are held responsible for their
actions and barred from taking part in future proceedings.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 20

£150m aid deal for homeless

A £150 million package to tackle homelessness will be revealed
by John Prescott today.

Latest figures are expected to show that the number of rough
sleepers has fallen to a new low and the number of people
registering as homeless has fallen year on year.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 20

Boy taken into care after raids

Police have raided addresses in Birmingham, London, Manchester and
Scotland in connection with the Gilbert Deya Ministries church
which is alleged to have been involved with child trafficking and a
boy has been taken into care.

The charity has been investigated after the leader
“Archbishop” Deya claimed he could make infertile women
pregnant by prayer.

Source:- The Times  Monday 13 December page 22

Work plan for failed asylum seekers

More than 600 rejected asylum seekers who cannot leave the country
immediately will have to do compulsory unpaid community work in
return for accommodation and benefits.

Local authorities and voluntary organisations have been invited to
bid for Home Office funds to provide community work programmes
using the failed asylum seekers.

Source:- The Guardian  Monday 13 December page 4

Under-18s face ban on buying knives and airport style
checks

Children would be banned from buying knives under plans to be
announced by the home secretary this week.

David Blunkett also favours allowing head-teachers to conduct
airport style checks on pupils thought to be carrying knives or
guns.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph  Monday 13 December page
4

Poverty and despair of Britain’s lost
generation

Almost three quarters of Britain’s poorest children are in
just four cities, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation.

The charity found that 70 per cent of the poorest children are
concentrated within London, Greater Manchester, Glasgow and
Merseyside.

Source:- Independent  Monday 13 December page 1

Children may be able to quit school at 14

A government shake up of the education system will allow children
to quit school for good at 14 and learn a trade.

Instead of participating at school, they will be able to study at
college full-time and take up a trade such as plumbing under a
“young apprenticeship scheme” for 14-16 year
olds.

Source:- Independent  Monday 13 December page 18

Obscene advice on sex acts given to pupils aged 13

Teachers are being given ‘obscene’ material to promote
sex acts to children as young as 13.

A booklet from the Brook Advisory Centre is aimed at encouraging
pupils to avoid sexually transmitted diseases by experimenting with
‘safer’ activities rather than intercourse.

However family campaigners have slammed the material which contains
an explicit list of 14 alternative acts.

Source:- Daily Mail  Monday 13 December page 6

Scottish newspapers

Scots casualty units revealed as UK’s worst.

Eight of the 10 worst accident and emergency units for delays are
in Scotland, new figures show.

The findings have caused health minister Andy Kerr to pledge to act
to tackle the problem.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 12 December

Runaway children spur action call

A new report has shown that 13 Scottish children are running away
from home every week.

Campaigners are calling for action to fearing some of those that
runaway are vulnerable to slipping into substance misuse problems
and prostitution.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 12 December

Private sector jobs ban for NHS doctors sparks
outrage

The Scottish executive is expected to announce this week that it is
to ban private health firms from employing NHS workers, including
doctors, in full time posts.

If firms flout the law they will have contracts terminated. But the
plan has been slammed by doctor’s groups as unworkable.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 12 December

Experts press ministers to legalise red light zones

Ministers have been urged by a Scottish executive expert group to
allow local authorities to set up tolerance zones for prostitutes
away from residential areas.

The plan would also include a new emphasis on offering
rehabilitation services to the estimated 5,000 prostitutes working
in Scotland.
The group also reject plans to make curb crawling an offence.

Source:- The Herald Monday 13 December

Too busy to have hols

Nearly a third of Scottish people didn’t get a holiday this
year because they were too busy to organise one, a survey has
found.

Long working hours and cramming in too much were the main reasons
people gave for being too busy.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 13 December

School police call

First minister Jack McConnell is to meet police chiefs early next
year to push for the introduction of a US-style scheme where
community police would be stationed in trouble schools
permanently.

He believes the scheme could help improve attendance, pupil’s
behaviour and exam result.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 13 December

Jail crisis warning

Sentencing should be changed to tackle the rising population levels
of Scotland’s jails, a new report suggests. The prison
population has grown by 1000 in the past 10 years despite failing
crime rates, and the report authors believe there is a need for
greater use of community sentences.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 13 December

Welsh newspapers

‘HIV’ man cleared of two rapes and assault

A man accused of deliberately trying to infect a woman with HIV by
raping her was acquitted of two charges of rape and one of indecent
assault yesterday.

Peter Ioannou was said to have committed the offences at a house in
Pembrokeshire but the jury at Swansea Crown Court found him not
guilty.

A woman, who cannot be identified, was convinced that Ioannou was
trying to give her HIV. Later when she had a test she was given the
all clear.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 11 December

Ex-police officer admits £1, 600 benefits fraud

An ex-police officer has admitted claiming more than £1, 600
of benefits that she wasn’t entitled to from Carmarthenshire
Council.

Kathryn Evans did not declare a change of circumstances after going
back to work in March 2003.

She pleaded guilty at Llanelli Magistrates Court.

Source:-Western Mail Monday 13 December

Rough heroin circulating mid Wales

There maybe rogue heroin circulating in Mid-Wales Aberystwyth
police have warned.

There have been several incidents where people have had abnormal
reactions to the drug.

A police spokesperson said that the drugs community had been
warned.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 13 December