Friday 17 December 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Community banking initiative launched

An initiative was launched yesterday to help thousands of low
income consumers who are forced to rely on loan sharks because they
cannot borrow money from banks.

Stephen Timms, Treasury minister, introduced the Community Banking
Partnership, which brings together credit unions, the community
finance sector, banks and money advice agencies.

Source:-The Financial Times Friday 17 December 2004 page
2

Priests defrocked

The Pope has defrocked two Irish priests accused of sexually
abusing children.

They are the first to be laicised since the extent of the sexual
abuse of children emerged in a series of damaging church scandals.
The priests, who have not been named, worked in Ferns diocese, Co
Wexford.

Source:-The Times Friday 17 December 2004 page 4

Rights battle on farmer’s strays may be pig of a case
for jury

A farmer, who was given an antisocial behaviour order after his
pigs strayed, proclaimed his innocence yesterday and put his fate
in the hands of a jury.

Brian Hagan from Briston, Norfolk, pleaded not guilty to the charge
of breaching the order.

Source:-The Times Friday 17 December 2004 page 21

Watchdog attacks bungled care fee tests for the
elderly

Bungled means tests for long-term care fees were fiercely
criticised by the Health Service Ombudsman yesterday.

Many older people and infirm patients have been forced to pay for
care that should have been funded by the state because health
authorities failed to assess their cases properly.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph Friday 17 December 2004 page
10

The Tories unveil a £500 million package to fund
long-term care for the elderly

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said that
anyone paying their own care-home bills would get a guarantee that
after three years, a Tory government would pick up the bill up to a
maximum of £25,000 a year for each person.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph Friday 17 December 2004 page
10

Let children play with tinsel? No, they might be
strangled

Tinsel has been banned from a school Christmas party –
because the headmaster fears pupils might strangle themselves if
they drape it around their necks at Chipping Sodbury School,
Gloucestershire.

Source:-The Daily Mail Friday 17 December 2004 page
9

Foul-mouthed and violent, this is the real Vicky
Pollard

A 17-year-old girl, who has been compared to a character in BBC
comedy show Little Britain, has been served with a three-year
antisocial behaviour order. The council is printing more than 700
leaflets bearing her face so businesses and communities can report
her behaviour.

Source:-The Daily Mail Friday 17 December 2004 page
11

Scottish newspapers

Hopes for mentally ill

The Scottish Recovery Network has launched a new programme to try
and identify what prevents some long term sufferers of mental
health problems from getting better.

The group will work with people with mental health problems, their
families and friends.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 17 December.

Welsh newspapers

Indecent proposal millionaire jailed

A multi-millionaire was yesterday jailed at Cardiff Crown Court
for 12 months for trying to get a 16-year-old to have sex with
him.

After giving the girl lift home from a martial arts class,
property investor John Currell told her that she was pretty enough
to be a topless model and tried to take her top off.

Source:- Western Mail Friday December 17 2004

Owners of blaze-death home fined

The owners of a private care home that caught on fire leading to
the deaths of two residents admitted breaching safety rules
yesterday.

Keith Whittemore and his wife Rosemary admitted breaches
including failing to ensure that at least two people were on duty
at the home at night on more than one occasion.

They were fined £5,500 and ordered to pay costs of
£1, 500 at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court. They were also
given a six month conditional discharge.

Source:- Western Mail Friday December 17 2004

Drinking father left boy, 3, alone to
wander

A three-year-old boy was found on his own in a busy high street
while his father was out drinking in a local pub, Caerphilly
magistrates court heard yesterday.

The boy disappeared after his father left him at home when he
went out to buy milk.

The father returned home to find him gone, made a brief search
of the nearby area and then went to have a drink to help him decide
what to do next.

Source:- Western Mail Friday December 17 2004

 

 

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