Tuesday 5 July 2005

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed and Amy Taylor

The Independent

Judge in self-harm case calls for reform

A woman diagnosed as having an untreatable personality disorder has
been sent to prison for possession of a knife that she was
preparing to cut herself with.

Judge Jacobs, sitting at Norwich Crown Court was forced to jail the
30-year-old for a year because she did not fall within the group of
defendants who could be placed under the care of the mental health
system.

“There are people in our prisons who should not be
there,” Judge Jacobs said.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 11

Daily Telegraph

Boy, 11, stabbed baby whose crying spoiled his Playstation
game

An 11-year-old boy stabbed his baby nephew in the stomach after the
infant’s crying disrupted his PlayStation game, a court has
heard.

The boy told the police the crying made him feel like “an
erupting volcano”. He denied attempted murder, wounding with
intent and wounding on December 15 last year.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 5 July 2005 page
6

Daily Mail

In a week, just 199 failed migrants go

Only 199 failed asylum seekers were removed in the past seven days,
the lowest number in two years.

If deportation continues at the same rate it will take the
government 21 years to complete the task.

Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 2

The Times

Jail suicide toll

In the past 10 years, 804 men and women prisoners, including 17
children, killed themselves in jail in England and Wales.

Manchester topped the prison suicide toll with 27 deaths, followed
by Leeds 25, and 23 each in Winchester, Durham, Norwich and
Nottingham. More than half were only on remand.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 2

Proof of deportees’ torture puts Clarke under
pressure

Charles Clarke is under growing pressure to explain why he assured
the Commons that deported asylum-seekers would come to no harm,
when there is mounting evidence that some have been tortured.

MPs from all sides demanded yesterday that the Home Secretary face
them before the start of the G8 summit and spell out whether
Britain can provide any help to these victims.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 4

ASBO breaches

A man banned from every church in his area deliberately breached an
antisocial behaviour order so that he would be sent to jail,
Blackpool magistrates have heard.

Simon Frodsham, 35, of no fixed address, admitted his seventeenth
ASBO breach and was sent to custody awaiting sentencing at a crown
court.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 4

Fatal beating

A schoolboy was remanded in custody charged with the murder of a
man who was beaten to death in the street.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused
of killing Alan Fessey, 31, who died on Froday in Nuneaton,
Warwickshire.

Warwick Crown Court will hear the case on July 15.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 4

‘Irritation killing’

A teenage father who became irritable if interrupted while playing
his computer games killed on of his four-month-old twin sons,
Tyrese, and badly injured the other, Byron, it was alleged at
Norwich Crown Court.

James Tuffs, now 21, denies manslaughter and cruelty. The hearing
continues today.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 6

‘Life’ for raping teacher could mean four
years

A schoolboy who raped a teacher in a frenzied attack could be freed
within four years despite being sentenced yesterday to life
imprisonment.

Two psychiatrists who examined the teenager, who was 15 at the time
of the attack, concluded that he urgently needed treatment as a sex
offender. The teacher is considering suing Westminster City School
because she was not informed that before the attack, the boy was on
bail for possessing a knife, was a suspect in another sex attack
investigation and had been questioned over a threat to a young
girl.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 7

Cot-death expert says sorry on odds

Sir Roy Meadow, whose evidence helped to wrongly convict Sally
Clarke of murdering her two babies, apologised to her yesterday for
his “insensitive” use of a betting analogy in assessing
her alleged guilt.

At Clarke’s trial in 1999, Meadow said the odds against her
sons suffering from cot deaths could be compared to winning the
Grand National in successive years at 80-1.

Meadow is accused of serious professional misconduct over the
expert evidence he gave at Clarke’s trial. He continues to
defend his evidence.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 7

Legal aid cuts deny protection to victims of Mugabe

Asylum-seekers are finding it impossible to get legal
representation

Source:- The Times Law Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 3

The Guardian

Revealed: how drugs war failed

A prime minister’s strategy unit report on drugs reveals that
only 20 per cent of the 280,000 high harm drug users are receiving
treatment or are in prison at any one time.

It also says that there are 674 hospital admissions on mental
health grounds resulting from cannabis use, compared with 3,480 for
heroin users.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 2

Boy, 7, found hanged

A seven-year-old boy was found hanged at home in Brighton, possibly
due to a “tragic accident,” police said.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 6

Police target young in fight against guns

Police are talking to children as young as seven to try to turn the
next generation away from gun crime, a senior officer revealed
yesterday as Scotland Yard launched a provocative campaign to
combat shootings in London’s black communities.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 9

Warning over ‘dumped’ children

A report by the Kent child protection committee reveals
that too many foster children are placed in deprived areas far from
home

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 5 July 2005 page 10

Welsh news

Cambodian adoption hopes are dashed

A Welsh couple were among six people to lose their fight against a
government ban on adopting children from Cambodia yesterday at the
High Court.

Margaret Hodge, the then children’s minister, suspended all
such adoptions a year ago due to increasing corruption and child
trafficking in Cambodia. At that time Hodge had been accused of
acting beyond her powers but yesterday, the judge, Mr Justice
Munby, ruled that the government’s action was “both
appropriate and proportionate”.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 5 July