Monday 4 July

Youth in court over murder of father in street

A boy of 15 was charged last night with the murder of a
father-of-two who was beaten to death outside his parents’
home. Alan Fessey, 31, suffered a fractured skull when he was
attacked in Nuneaton on Friday night.
 
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 4 July 2005, page
2
 
Police use of Taser is cut

Taser stun guns are “too dangerous” to be handed out to
all patrolling police officers, a Home Office minister has said.
Hazel Blears said that Tasers were not appropriate for
“everyday use”.
 
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 4 July 2005, page
6

Fear drives one teenage boy in ten to carry a
gun

One in ten teenage schoolboys has carried some kind of gun in the
past year, according to an unpublished government-funded report by
the Metropolitan Police .

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 1
 
Prison death

A prisoner has died after being found hanging in his cell. Allan
Blake, from Slough, who would have been 19 today, was in Reading
prison awaiting sentencing after being convicted at Reading Crown
Court.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 2
 
Beaten and tortured, the asylum-seeker sent back to
Mugabe’s police by Britain

A report on an asylum seeker who was deported from Britain to
Zimbabwe eight weeks ago.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 3
 
Lessons in loving

Children should be taught more in the school curriculum about sex
and relationships, including how to say “no,” say
researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
and University College, London.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 5
 
Tories ‘are not here to defend
privilege’

The Tories must become the party of the poor, David Davis, the
shadow Home Secretary will say in his first major speech setting
out his vision.

Source:- The Times, Monday 4 July 2005, page 26
  
Zimbabwean deportation halted at last minute

Zimbabwean failed asylum seeker Patricia Mukandara, who has been on
hunger strike to stay in the UK, was allowed to stay after her
lawyer won a high court injunction stopping her removal.

Source:- The Guardian, Monday 4 July 2005, page 10
 
Tortured and dumped: the fate of those sent home to Mugabe
by UK

 Refugees sent back to Zimbabwe by the British government have been
tortured and beaten by Robert Mugabe’s secret police.
The revelations will fuel the row enveloping the Home Secretary
after he refused to halt the forcible returns of failed Zimbabwean
asylum seekers.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
12
 
New city the size of Leeds planned by Livingstone in east
London
 
Plans by Ken Livingstone to house 700,000 people in east London
undermine John Prescott’s ambition for massive housing growth
in the Thames Gateway area of Kent and Essex.
City East would concentrate development on parts of London with
existing transport and jobs.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
20
 
Blair humiliates Clarke for going soft in the fight against
crime

A secret Downing Street memo has revealed that the Prime Minister
has taken personal charge of the drive to stamp out antisocial
behaviour. Tony Blair has ordered Louise Casey, the national
director of the government’s antisocial behaviour unit, to
report directly to him.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
1
 
Advertisers target children’s play areas

Parents’ groups and watchdogs have criticised a marketing
company for offering advertising space on place mats, lunch boxes,
posters and cardboard cutouts all aimed at children as young as
three. Boomerang media says it has moved into 300 play areas across
England and promises to reach 1.2million children.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
13
 
Child porn suspects set to be cleared in evidence
“shambles”

Dozens of men accused of downloading child pornography from the
internet may have been wrongly prosecuted, according to expert
prosecution and defence witnesses. New evidence suggests Operation
Ore may have prosecuted innocent men on the basis of discredited
American policy testimony and questionable forensic methods.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
16
 
Clarke hits at “celeb” mandarins

The home secretary has mounted a campaign to silence
“celebrity” civil servants such as the head of the
antisocial behaviour unit Louise Casey.
Casey recently attacked “liberals” for criticising the
government’s antisocial behaviour orders.

 Source:- The Observer Sunday, 3 July 2005, page 11

Secret report says war on drugs has failed

A secret Downing Street report on crack and heroin has discovered
that the government’s war on drugs has failed.
Researchers found that stamping down on hard drugs through the
police and courts had little effect on production or the harm they
caused.

Source:- The Observer Sunday, 3 July 2005, page
12           
 
Doctor justifies his role in baby death
cases

The multiple injuries of Sally Clarke’s babies were detailed
to the General Medical Council yesterday as Professor Roy Meadow
defended his reputation against accusations that his evidence had
led to her wrongful conviction for double murder.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 6
 
Crackdown on Cornwall’s posh teens

Antisocial behaviour laws used to patrol beach beloved of
‘Knightsbridge-on-Sea’ set

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 12
 
Yob is banned from wearing a hood (unless it’s
raining)

A youth who terrorised his neighbours has been banned from wearing
a hood – except in the rain. The ban forms part of an antisocial
behaviour order imposed on a 14-year-old from Lancashire. But his
mother claims it will be impossible to enforce.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
15
 
Jail officer’s fight to wear shirt and tie
‘cost his job’

Steve Brooks, a prison officer at Huntercombe young offender
institution in Oxfordshire, claims he was forced out of his job
after staff were ordered to wear ‘politically correct’
clothing. Brooks believed his traditional shirt and tie uniform was
vital to convey an air of authority to the young and often violent
offenders, an employment tribunal in Reading heard. He was granted
leave to sue for unfair dismissal.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
25
 
This vile abuse of trust

Suffering dementia, and at her most vulnerable, Daphne was placed
by her family in a NHS hospital. What they say happened to her
there – beaten, robbed, raped – is almost beyond
belief.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
34-35
 
Care homes hit by spread of superbug

More and more elderly people living in care homes are falling
victim to MRSA.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
36
 
Father’s group film planned

The company behind the hit film Calendar Girls is planning a movie
about the pressure group Fathers 4 Justice.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
10
 
Victim attacks ‘Lancet’ editor

Sally Clark, the solicitor convicted and then cleared of murdering
her two babies, said she was “incensed” by remarks made
by Richard Horton, the editor of influential medical journal The
Lancet, in support of Sir Roy Meadow.

Source:- The Independent , Saturday 2 July 2005, page
19
 
Doubts on private sector role as prisons chief
quits

The future of the private sector’s involvement in the prison
service was in doubt following the resignation of Martin Narey as
head of the National Offender Management Service. Narey has been a
leading advocate in Whitehall of the use of competition from the
private sector to improve performance in the public sector –
notably in prisons.

Source:-The Financial Times, Saturday 2 July 2005, page
2
 
Father’s suicide

A father of three killed himself after he was left broke by
payments to the Child Support Agency, an inquest in Manchester was
told.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 2 July 2005, page 4

Welsh digest

Councillor jailed over child porn collection

A former Tory councillor has been jailed for possessing, making and
distributing pornographic images of children.
Dean Jenkins, who was a councillor in Newport, was sentenced to 14
months.

Source:- Wales on Sunday, 3 July

Council face up to £8m a year sickness
cost

Absence due to sickness is costing Cardiff Council £8.5m a
year according to a new report.
The average absence in 2002-2003 was 13 days for every employee at
the council. Almost two-thirds of absences were long-term.

Source:- Western Mail, July 2, Saturday

GCSE heroin dealer locked up

A 16-year-old has been locked up for after being found with more
than £2, 000 of heroin.
The boy was in the middle of his GCSEs. He has admitted that he
hoped to profit from selling the drug.

Source:- South Wales Echo, July 2, Saturday

Scottish digest

Prostitution tolerance zones for every local
council

Ministers are expected to announce plans for every local
authority to have the power to set up managed tolerance zones for
street prostitution. Causing alarm to a third party by kerb
crawling or soliciting would also be made an offence. The
proposals, which follow the recommendations of an expert working
group on prostitution earlier this year, are expected to face
widespread criticism.

The Herald, 4th July

Children in care miss out on share of £6m
windfall 

Many of Scotland’s looked after children have been denied
access to support worth #600 each because of a
“scandalous” bureaucratic blunder. The problem arose
because many social workers weren’t told about the scheme
– some councils say they weren’t told about the scheme
by Cosla, but it says the executive didn’t give councils
enough time. As a result, only 18 of Scotland’s 32 local
authorities applied for extra money to help children in their care
before the deadline for applications ran out.

Scotland on Sunday, 3rd July

Protesters criticise move to evacuate Dungavel during
G8

Dungavel immigration detention centre will be evacuated and
closed during this week’s G8 summit. The Home Office said the
move was being made amid concerns for the safety of staff and
detainees at the complex in South Lanarkshire. All 38 detainees
will be transferred to other centres by Tuesday, when a mass
demonstration by the G8 Alternatives group is planned outside the
site.

Sunday Herald, 3rd July.