Monday 1 August 2005

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed and Derren Hayes

Jailed paedophile deported to UK

Paedophile, Robert Excell, 67, who has spent 37 years in jail in
Australia for a string of child-sex offences arrives in Britain a
free man, provoking outrage among victims’ groups.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 30 July 2005 page
17

PC who downloaded child porn is jailed

A police constable who downloaded hundreds of images of child
sexual abuse from the internet was jailed for eight months and
placed on the sex offenders register after claiming the offences
were committed out of “morbid curiosity”.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 30 July 2005 page 9

Costly prison ship to close

Britain’s only prison ship, which has 26 prisoners and is
berthed in Dorset, will close next month. The 400-capacity ship was
condemned as an “expensive container” by the chief
inspector of prisons.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 30 July 2005 page 12

Children’s Society wins VAT test case

The Children’s Society won a value-added tax appeal against
Revenue and Customs, with the High Court accepting charities should
be able to reclaim part of the VAT paid to suppliers in the
recruitment of donors.

Source:- Financial Times Saturday 30 July 2005 page
4

Rape filmed on mobile phone

A 13-year-old girl was raped by a teenage boy in Wembley, London,
while his friend took pictures of the attack on a mobile phone. The
attacker is believed to be about 16 and had distinctive scars on
his cheeks.

Source:- The Times Saturday 30 July 2005 page 11

Asylum-seekers deny riot

Hundreds of failed asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants ran riot
at the country’s largest deportation centre after an inmate
hanged himself, Croydon Crown Court was told.

The 430 detainees devastated the Harmondsworth Centre last July.
Seven inmates deny charges of riot.

Source:- The Times Saturday 30 July 2005 page 18

Store faces disability action

A wheelchair user is suing Debenhams for denying him access to a
section of its menswear department that can be reached only by
steps, in the first case under the Disability Discrimination
Act.

Source:- The Times Saturday 30 July 2005 page 36

Black teenager killed with axe in race attack

Anthony Walker, an 18-year-old A-level student was murdered with
an axe blow in what is believed to be a racist attack near his home
in Huyton, Liverpool, on Friday night.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 31 July 2005 page
2

NHS failed to stop psychiatrists raping scores of
women

Two NHS consultants sexually assaulted at least 77 of their
patients over a 20-year period while officials and doctors
repeatedly ignored complaints, a government inquiry has found.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 31 July 2005 page
1

Law failing rape victims, says QC

Rape victim’s past sex lives are still being raked over in
court too often, despite a change in the law designed to boost
conviction rates, a leading lawyer has warned.

Vera Baird QC, a Labour MP and leading criminal barrister, said a
‘depressingly large’ number of judges still considered
sexual history relevant.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 31 July 2005 page 2

Drug user numbers set to treble

Health and criminal justice systems may buckle under strain,
warns report by government think tank Foresight.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 31 July 2005 page 3

Helplines lose out to tsunamis

Britain’s best-known emergency helplines are facing a
financial crisis due to high-profile appeals for overseas
disasters.

Esther Rantzen, chair of Childline, said yesterday’s launch
of a campaign to help famine-striken Niger was the latest in a
succession that had cut donations for smaller, UK charities.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 31 July 2005 page 6

50,000 rapes each year but only 600 rapists sent to
jail

The statistics are shocking. In 1985 there was a 24 per cent
conviction rate in rape trials. In 2003 only 5 per cent of rape
allegations ended in a guilty verdict. The judicial system has to
change to protect women.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 31 July 2005 page
10-11

Thousands are skipping school

Thousands of pupils in England’s inner cities skip school
for up to two weeks every year, according to the National
Foundation for Educational Research.

Source:- The Times Monday 1 August 2005 page 2

Smokers ‘more likely’ to have antisocial
children

Women who smoke during pregnancy have nearly triple the risk of
having unruly and badly behaved children, according to
research.

Source:- The Times Monday 1 August 2005 page 20

Prescott refuses to divert cash to controversial
unit

John Prescott has blocked moves to expand Tony Blair’s
antisocial behaviour unit, according to a leaked memo.

No 10 wanted to divert £50 million of the £1.1 billion
“neighbourhood renewal” budget of Prescott’s
department to work carried out by Louise Casey

Source:- The Times Monday 1 August 2005 page 24

 Victims of hate

Anthony Walker, 18, was murdered in Liverpool in what police
describe as a racist attack in which his head was split open with
an axe.

Then murder carries chilling echoes of the death of Stephen
Lawrence.

Source:- The Independent Monday 1 August 2005 page 1

Family planning could save £1bn

About £1 billion could be saved over 15 years if the NHS in
England invested more in contraceptive services and improved access
to abortion, the Family Planning Association said.

Source:- The Independent Monday 1 August 2005 page
10

Number of illegal immigrants “300,000 more than
estimate”

The number of illegal immigrants in Britain could be 300,000 more
than the government’s estimate, according to right-wing think
tank Migrationwatch.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 1 August 2005 page
2

The date-rape risk for women who binge drink

Women who binge drink are being urged to cut down to reduce the
risk of becoming date rape victims after a survey found alcohol was
detected in half of date rape cases.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 1 August 2005 page 4

Scottish news

Kerr to appoint NHS ‘delivery tsar’ to oversee health boards

Health minister, Andy Kerr, is to appoint an NHS “delivery tsar”
with the power to intervene directly to order health boards to meet
Scottish executive targets.

Under the plans, a delivery group, led by the director, will bring
together into a single team the Executive’s National Waiting Times
Unit, the Centre for Change and Innovation and the Performance
Management Division.

The director of delivery, whose job will be advertised externally,
will be paid up to £100,000.

Source:- The Scotsman Saturday30 July

Study into self-harm finds that the urge to cut never goes
away

New research has revealed that some people who self-harm may never
be free of the “urge” to hurt themselves.

A study carried out at the University of Stirling found that, just
like people with addictions to drugs, alcohol or gambling,
sufferers can struggle to overcome the impulse even if they have
stopped self-harming for months or years.

Some of the participants in the research, who ranged in age from 29
to 40, even kept their “favourite” cutting tool stored
safely in case they needed it.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 31 July

Children aged 13 dealing heroin for their parents

Children as young as 13 are dealing in hard drugs, including heroin
and cocaine, police records have confirmed.

And police said the data – supplied by five of Scotland’s eight
forces under the Freedom of Information Act – indicated an increase
in the usage of drugs, particularly cannabis, by children in
Scotland.

In the Lothians, police caught 13 juveniles – classed as children
aged 15 and under – dealing drugs in the first six months of
2005.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 1 August

Battered wife jailed for killing husband

A Glasgow woman abused by her husband for 35 years has been jailed
for five years after stabbing him to death.

The Crown agreed to reduce the charge against the mother of three
to culpable homicide after accepting there was no ‘murderous
intent’ and that there had been a background of abuse over many
years.

Source:-Daily Record Monday 1 August

Welsh news

Bike for crusher in police clamp on yob nuisance

A motorbike confiscated by police in Gorseinon will be crushed if a
fine is not paid as police get tough in tackling anti-social
behaviour.

Residents had been reporting noise nuisance caused by the bike
being ridden in an anti-social manner.

Source:- www.thisissouthwales.co.uk
Saturday 30 July 2005

Woman, 17, in stabbing arrest

A woman was yesterday being questioned by police after a stabbing
in a Cardiff bus station on Sunday morning.

A 21-year-old man was attacked and suffered serious injuries.

Source:- www.icWales.co.uk
Monday 1 August 2005

Contraception “ignored”

As many as one in 10 sexually active 16 to 24-year-old women in
Cardiff have admitted they have risked becoming pregnant by not
using any contraception.

Source:- www.icWales.co.uk
Monday 1 August 2005