Friday 20 May 2005

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Care in community patient convicted of killing policeman

A man with paranoid schizophrenia was convicted yesterday of
stabbing a police officer to death as the officer tried to arrest
him.

Glaister Earl Butler attacked DC Michael Swindells on a canal
towpath in Birmingham last year.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust who were caring for the
man at the time of the killing are to carry out an internal
inquiry.

An independent inquiry will also be carried out by the Birmingham
and Black Country Strategic Health Authority.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 20 May 2005 page 6

Girl knocked out in ‘happy slap’ craze

A woman whose teenage daughter was beaten unconscious in a
“happy slapping” attack has denounced the craze as
“sickening.”

Becky Smith, 16, lost consciousness and suffered temporary
paralysis when she was attacked by teenagers near her home in
Manchester 10 days ago in the new pattern of random assaults
recorded on mobile phone cameras.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 20 May 2005 page 12

Woman in court over dead baby

A woman charged with trying to conceal the birth of a child after a
baby’s body was found in a house in Merthyr Tydfil appeared
in court yesterday.

Ann Mahoney, 63, was released on conditional bail.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 20 May 2005 page 12

Happier without hoodies

Bluewater, the Kent shopping centre, claims a 22.6 per cent rise in
visitor numbers since it introduced its ban on hooded tops last
week.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 20 May 2005 page 12

Fake gun boys ‘risk being shot by police’

The increasing use of imitation firearms by teenagers has created
the risk that police will shoot a youngster “in the not too
distant future”, a police chief said yesterday.

Alan Green, the deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester, said
forces could not ignore the rising number of young people carrying
realistic-looking firearms.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 20 May 2005 page
7

Several leads on Piano Man

Social workers investigating several leads on the identity of the
Piano Man after several leads appeared to go cold in France and
Canada.

The National Missing Persons Helpline has received more than 700
calls from people suggesting possible names for him.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 9

Climbie rebukes

None of the police officers involved in the Victoria Climbie case
before she was murdered will lose their jobs, Scotland Yard
said.

Six officers who worked for the child protection teams at Brent and
Haringey received rebukes after tribunals for alleged neglect of
duty.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 9

Pupils weaned off junk food by bribe on an iPod

Schools in Glasgow are rewarding pupils who choose healthy school
dinners with iPods and Xbox game consoles.

The scheme works like a supermarket loyalty card with children
accumulating points for buying healthy food.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 11

Right-to-life hearing

Doctors should not be able to withhold treatment because the NHS
cannot afford it, the Disability Rights Commission told the Court
of Appeal yesterday.

The group put its views to judges hearing the Leslie Burke
right-to-treatment case on the day after the government warned of
“serious implications” for NHS resources if the patient
is allowed the right to decide.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 26

Teenager taped racist threats in police van

A police officer was secretly recorded by a Kurdish teenager
racially abusing and threatening him in the back of a police
van.

The constable was recorded telling the 16-year-old boy that he
would “smash his Arab face in”.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 32

Met chief is against drug review

The Metropolitan Police commissioner urged ministers not to toughen
the law on the possession of cannabis.

Sir Ian Blair said if the drug were moved from Class C back up to
Class B then possession should be enforced only with a
fixed-penalty notice.

Source:- The Times Friday 20 May 2005 page 34

Scottish news

Failed health board killed off at cost of £80m

NHS Argyll and Clyde health board is to be closed after racking up
nearly £80 million of debts.

Responsibility for health services in the area are to be divided
between neighbouring NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS Highland. The
executive is to write off the debts and foot the bill for staff
redundancies.

Source:- The Herald Friday 20 May

Highlands move to suspend council house sales


More than half of the council-house tenants in the Highlands might
have the right to buy their homes suspended to help tackle a
housing crisis.

The suspension, if granted by the executive, could last for five
years. The executive has yet to approve any such designation in
Scotland, although South Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire councils
have applied.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 20 May

Turn back the clock now in care for elderly


Health professionals and unions want to see the return of
Nightingale wards at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to prevent recent
cases where older patients have died because of alleged neglect.

Nurses have said they no longer have time to care for older
patients as they are now expected to carry out duties once the
responsibility of junior doctors. Their calls have come after NHS
Lothian announced plans for an independent inquiry into care at the
hospital following the deaths of three patients.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 20 May

Welsh news

Baby in the attic case: Mahoney appears in court via video
link


A woman was charged with trying to conceal the birth of her own
child for over fifty years in court yesterday via a video link.

Anne Mahoney, 63, from the Gurnos estate in Merthyr Tydfil was
arrested earlier this month in connection with the discovery of a
baby’s body in the attic of a house.

Another hearing was scheduled for June and Mahoney was released on
conditional bail.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 20 May

School children must be encouraged to complain urges
commissioner’s report


None of the 22 local education authorities in Wales have
arrangements to help children make complaints the children’s
commissioner for Wales Peter Clarke has warned.

His comments come in a new report in which he calls for education
bosses to try harder to listen to children’s
complaints.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 20 May