Monday 17 January 2005

 
By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

One in 20 children suffers attention disorder

Five per cent of children in England and Wales have been officially
diagnosed with the hyperactivity disorder ADHD, ministers said this
week, as new figures showed a dramatic increase in the prescription
of Ritalin.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 15 January 2005 page 2

Do children’s self-help books really help?

Children are being targeted by the self-help book industry, with
the latest DIY therapy aimed at young people rather than
angst-ridden adults.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 15 January 2005 page 18

Man admits racist killing of refugee who defied Saddam

Lee Mordecai, has admitted manslaughter of Kalan Kawa Karim, a
refugee, in Swansea. The case has been adjourned for sentencing
next month.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 15 January 2005 page 29

Teachers and social workers top league of stressful careers

Teaching and social workers have been ranked as most stressful
professions, according to new research. The occupations appeared in
the top three for both poor psychological wellbeing and physical
ill health caused by stress, researchers at the University of
Liverpool said.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 January 2005, page
8

Prostitutes in sheltered home

Two older men were served with antisocial behaviour orders
yesterday after regularly inviting prostitutes to their sheltered
accommodation.

Police were called to Edgwood Court in Edgbaston, Birmingham,
following complaints about Elmo Worrell, 67, and Derek Paris,
64.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 15 January 2005 page 10

Damilola case trio remanded

Three teenagers accused of the murder of Damilola Taylor were
remanded in custody when the appeared by video link at the Old
Bailey.

Hassan Jihad, 19, from Peckham, south London, and two brothers,
aged 16 and 17 who cannot be named for legal reasons, also from
south London, are charged with murdering Damilola, 10 on the north
Peckham estate in 2000.

Source:- The Times Saturday 15 January 2005 page 6

Parents demand gag on cot death doctor’s lectures

Professor Sir Roy Meadows, the paediatrician whose discredited
scientific evidence resulted in the wrongful jailing of
Angela
Cannings for murdering two of her children, is to promote his
controversial theories about child abuse to the medical community.
His lectures have sparked outrage among families wrongly accused of
killing their children on the strength of his evidence.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 16 January 2005 page 6

‘The system is designed to split up families like
ours’

This week, Henrietta Spink, mother of two disabled boys, will take
her case to the court of appeal to force to council to provide
support for their family.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 16 January 2005 page 15

Inside Britain’s toughest jail for women

Self-harm and suicide attempts are daily occurrence among inmates
disturbed by addiction, neglect and abuse at Holloway prison.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 16 January 2005 page
1

Migrants found

Seven immigrants were treated for hypothermia after police found
them in the back of a refrigerated lorry. Responding to a tip-off,
officers stopped the vehicle in Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone,
Kent.

Source:- The Times Monday 17 January 2005 page 12

Family’s life ruined by social work blunders

A woman lost her business and suffered “severe
distress” after social workers wrongly placed her and her
four children on an “at risk” register, a report
reveals today.

Stephanie Lawrence was shunned by neighbours after Pembrokeshire
social workers put her children on the register for 15 months in
what the local government ombudsman said was a case of
“repeated, prolonged and serious
maladministration.”

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 17 January 2005 page 8

Restraint of asylum young criticised

Anti-deportation campaigners yesterday strongly criticised a Home
Office document advising immigration officers on the use of
“control and restraint” techniques in deporting asylum
seeker children from the UK.

Officials are being told that forcible action can be taken if it
can be argued that the “safety of the child or others would
have been endangered had restraint not been used.”

Source:- The Guardian Monday 17 January 2005 page 7

Half of those who die in police custody have mental illness

An “appalling” number of mentally ill people are dying
in custody, with half of all the fatalities involving “care
in the community” cases, according Nick Hardwick, head of the
Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He said: “Whatever a police cell is, it is not a place of
safety for people with mental illness.”

Source:- The Independent Monday 17 January 2005 page 15

Scottish newspapers

Late picking up your child at nursery? The fine is one pound a
minute

Parents who pick their children up late from a day nursery are
being fined one pound for every minute they are late to cover the
spiralling cost of childcare.

The move has been criticised by the parents, who already pay the
Edinburgh nursery £30 a day in fees.

Source:- The Herald Monday 17 January

OAPs isolated

A new survey by Age Concern has found one in five older people aged
over 65 spends more than 12 hours alone daily. It has led some to
fear older people are living in isolation, putting them at risk of
depression and ill-health.

Source:- The Herald Monday 17 January

Welsh newspapers

Dad: I won’t give up baby to mum

The husband of a Welsh nurse who has taken their daughter into
hiding in New Zealand said that he will not give himself up last
night.

Diane Jelicich, has custody of her six-month old child with her
husband, but he took the baby and hid at the end of a family trip
to Auckland at Christmas.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 17 January

Rural council declared the best-run in Wales

Cardiff Council is the worst run in Wales according to an analysis
of detailed figures released by the Welsh Assembly government
today.

The specially compiled Western Mail league table also finds that
rural Pembrokeshire was the best-run council.

The study found that only 35 per cent of children on the child
protection register at Cardiff whose cases should have been
reviewed were reviewed.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 17 January

Tories to push for Gibbons’ reaction

New National Assembly Health minister Brian Gibbons will be asked
to give a response to a damning report on the NHS in Wales on
Tuesday.

The NHS has been nominated as the theme of a minority party debate
by the Welsh Conservatives.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 15 January

All child vaccines hit by backlash

The take-up rate of all child vaccinations in North Wales have gone
down due to concerns about a possible link between autism and the
MMR injection, according to the leading expert in the
country.

Dr Richard Roberts, the head of the immunisation programme in
Wales, said that the levels of take up in North Wales for diseases
such as diphtheria, tetanus and polio had all decreased due to the
backlash.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 15 January

Man, 26, admits drunken racist killing of Iraqi refugee

A man from Swansea yesterday pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of
Iraqi Kurdish refugee Kalan Kawa Karim.

Lee Mordecai, 26, had previously denied murdering the man. The
Crown Prosecution Service, which said that it has spoken to the
victim’s family about the change of plea, accepted
manslaughter. Mordecai carried out the attack last September.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 15 January