Thursday 11 August 2005

By Clare Jerrom, Mithran Samuel, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Half measures

The government is planning a hard-hitting advertising campaign to
curb binge drinking.

The move follows concerns from judges over ministers’ plans
to extend drinking hours.

Source:- Daily Mirror  Thursday 11 August page 4 and
5

Satellite tracking of sex offenders is blocked by
clouds

A system that tracks electronically tags sex offenders has
been hindered by problems including being blocked by clouds it was
revealed yesterday.

Trees and buildings were also found to have got in the way of the
signals. Those involved in the scheme include paedophiles.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 11 August

Baby ‘kicked across the room’

A man high on cocaine drop-kicked a baby across a room, Bournemouth
crown court heard yesterday.

Stephen Thomas then swung the baby girl by her ankles. The child
suffered five broken ribs and severe bruising to her head and
abdomen.

Thomas denies grievous bodily harm with intent. The trial
continues.

Source:- Daily Mirror  Thursday 11 August page 30

Fury at £70,000 loans to mentally ill man

Banks were slammed yesterday for giving a man a with mental health
problems more than £70,000.

The man, who cannot be named, suffered bi-polar disorder and
believed he was a millionaire. He travelled round the country
giving money to people.

The man has since been sectioned under the Mental Health Act
1983.

Source:- Daily Mirror  Thursday 11 August page 35

One in 25 ‘fathers’ raises another man’s
child

A study of DNA by researchers at John Moore’s University in
Liverpool has revealed that one in 25 fathers may be unknowingly
raising a child who is not his own.

Source:- Independent  Thursday 11 August page 5

Detailed research into hate crime launched

Victim Support will carry out an unprecedented study into hate
crime against ethnic minorities in the wake of the upsurge in
racially motivated violence since the London bombings.

The charity said the research would establish the true extent of
hate crime and develop guidelines.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 11 August 2005 page
2

Soldiers accused of lying over Deepcut private’s
death in a paddling pool

A coroner has accused soldiers of lying about their accounts of
the death of a private with learning difficulties at an army base
in Germany.

At the inquest of David Shipley, who was found dead in a
paddling pool, South Cumbria coroner said the soldiers’
evidence was “not reliable”.

Shipley had been bullied at the infamous Deepcut barracks, where
four soldiers have died over the past seven years in suspicious
circumstances.

Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 11 August 2005 page 9

Detective cleared of rape abused me as a child, says his
daughter

 A student has accused her father of sexually abusing her as a
child because he has tried to re-establish his police career after
a rape conviction was quashed.

Sarah Holden waived her right to anonymity to say father David
Potter, who was recently reinstated as a Merseyside Police
detective, abused her for six years as a child.

Potter served five years after being convicted of raping an
ex-partner but his conviction was quashed last year.

Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 11 August 2005 page 17

British teenagers ‘raped by guide on school
trip’

Three British teenagers have claimed they were raped by a tour
guide on a school trip to Belize in central America.

The alleged attacks is said to have took place in a room next
door to their chaperones, two former British Army soldiers. A
warrant has been issued for a man’s arrest in connection with
the allegations.

Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 11 August 2005 page 25

Shoppers educated in childcare

The government has launched a £900,000 parenting campaign
involving giving out leaflets, with tips on subjects including
childcare, to Asda shoppers.

The pamphlets were compiled by Fathers Direct, National Family
and Parenting Institute and Parentline Plus.

Source:- The Times Thursday 11 August 2005 page
24

Scottish news

Just four children tagged

Only four young people have been tagged five months into a
controversial scheme to tackle serious young offenders.

The pilot programme to introduce intensive support and electronic
tagging for persistent young offenders was expected to involve
between 90 and 200 young people.

The figures show councils are snubbing the Scottish
executive’s tougher policy on young offending, and has led to
a warning from justice minister Cathy Jamieson to that the funding
must be used for tagging alongside intensive support.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 11 August

WPC saves disabled woman

A wheelchair-bound woman who had fallen into a river was
pulled from the water by an off duty policewoman.

WPC Jenny Fraser was walking her dog along the River Peffery in
Dingwall, Ross-shire, when she saw Jane MacAllister’s feet and
wheelchair protruding from the river. She is now in a serious
condition in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness after her fall on
Tuesday.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 11 August

Welsh news

Police probe HIV man who infected girl, 15

Police are investigating the circumstances in which a man infected
a 15 year-old girl with HIV and made her pregnant.

Mark Dixon, 27, gave the girl the disease during the course of a
short relationship.

The girl didn’t know that she had been infected until she
went for a routine ante-natal test.

The baby, who was born at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, has so far
tested negative for the disease but doctors are unable to give it
the all clear until further tests have been carried out.

Source:- icWales Thursday 11 August