Monday 15 August 2005

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

Caravan cruelty

A couple left a four-year-old girl locked up alone in their caravan
day after day while they worked at a factory, a court was
told.

The pair, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty before magistrates in
March, Cambridgeshire, to three charges of child cruelty. The case
was adjourned for sentencing until September 20.

Source:- The Times Saturday 13 August 2005 page 11

Sex attacker is sectioned

A sex attacker who made legal history by admitting to trying to
rape a woman who has never been traced was committed to a mental
health unit.

Farhan Osman, from south London, is believed to suffer from a form
of schizophrenia. Osman’s attack on the woman in a subway at
Elephant and Castle, south London, was spotted by security guards
but before they and the police could arrive, the victim and a
passer-by who rescued her had gone.

Source:- The Times Saturday 13 August 2005 page 34

Binge drinking is a bigger challenge than terror says police
chief

Binge drinking is a greater challenge to the police than terrorism,
a senior officer claimed yesterday.

Clive Wolfendale, deputy chief constable of north Wales, called for
alcohol prices to be tripled in an attempt to curb Britain’s
over-drinking.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 13  August 2005 page 6

Give ratings to warn of sex stories, says expert

Children’s books should carry age ratings on their covers to
protect vulnerable young readers from explicit content, Dr Rona
Dutt, a national officer and former president of the National
Association of Head Teachers said.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 13 August 2005 page 13

Fines not working

Nick Hawkins, a chief crown prosecutor, has said the fixed penalty
notice policy of £80 spot fines was no deterrent to
offending.

Hawkins also said they are not being used for offences for which
they are appropriate, such as football hooliganism.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 13 August 2005 page 29

Woman ends ‘right to die’ food protest

A 28-year-old terminally ill woman who went on hunger strike as an
act of voluntary euthanasia has ended her protest after 19 days
because of intense pain.

Kelly Taylor had waited nearly 10 years for a heart and lung
transplant, but was taken off the list two years ago after doctors
told her the risks were too high.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 13 August 2005 page 9

Lesbian’s marriage fight goes to court

A lesbian couple sought to make legal history yesterday by
challenging the government’s refusal to recognise same-sex
marriages.

Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, who went through a marriage
ceremony in August 2003 in British Colombia, Canada, say that a
failure to recognise the validity of their lawful marriage
constitutes a breach of their human rights.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 13 August 2005 page 9

More than half of jails in England are too full

More than half the prisons in England and Wales are dangerously
overcrowded and the conditions could be contributing to the number
of prisoner suicides, the Prison Reform Trust has warned.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 13 August 2005 page 2

Teenagers deny manslaughter

Four teenagers pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Aimee
Wellock, 15, who died after she was found unconscious near her home
in Allerton, Bradford.

They were bailed to appear at Leeds crown court.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 13 August 2005 page 9

Damilola witness gets life

A prosecution witness the Damilola Taylor trial was jailed for life
yesterday for the gangland killing of a teenager.

Pepe Brown, 21, was one of the inmates at Feltham Young Offender
Institution in west London who gave evidence against two brothers
accused of killing the 10-year-old boy. The brothers and two
juveniles were found not guilty of the murder after the trial
in
2002.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 13 August 2005 page 12

Dumped boy’s mother hunted

Police are looking for the mother of a newborn baby boy found
abandoned in woodland in Edinburgh on Friday.

It is believed he was abandoned within an hour of being born.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 14 August 2005 page 4

Drink-related deaths surge

The number of alcohol-related deaths has risen by 18 per cent in
the past five years according to government figures.

Deaths in which alcohol was the “primary cause” have
risen from 5,525 to 6,544 in 2004 in England and Wales.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 14 August 2005 page 2

Man who admitted paedophile fantasies is allowed to continue work
with children

The Care Standards Tribunal has overturned a government decision to
prevent a social worker who confessed to paedophilic thoughts from
working with children.

It said putting the man, who has been in social care for 30 years,
on the Protection of Children Act list amounted to “thought
policing”.

The Department for Education and Skills has lodged an appeal.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 14 August 2005 page 10

Storm over “easiest ever” A-levels as passes soar

Record numbers of pupils will this week receive the highest A-level
passes ever awarded, prompting a political row about the merits of
the examination.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 14 August 2005 page
1

“NHS patients must pay” says top doctor

Taxpayers should be forced to take out additional social insurance
to cover the cost of NHS treatment, according to a leading
doctor.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 14 August 2005 page
8

They weren’t clever enough…

A couple who had their two children taken away from them because
they were too “backward” to be parents fear the
youngsters now face spending their entire childhood in care.

Essex Council social services department decided the children would
be better off being adopted after learning their natural mother had
a slight learning difficulty.

Source:- Mail on Sunday Sunday 14 August 2005 page 23

“Safe” to go home

Failed asylum seekers are to be forced to return home to Iraq
despite continuing terror attacks there.

The Home Office has already had scores of Iraqis rounded up and
sent to detention centres ready for repatriation.

Source:- The Mirror Monday 15 August 2005 page 2

Parent sues school trying to expel his “less academic”
son

One of Britain’s most prestigious public schools will be
taken to the High Court by the father of a pupil the school is
trying to expel.

He will try to take an injunction against Marlborough College,
which said his son could not return because he had not worked hard
enough and had a poor disciplinary record.

Source:- The Independent Monday 15 August 2005 page 5

Lib Dem leader in Brussels calls for all hard drugs to be
legalised

Chris Davies, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European
Parliament has said all drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine,
should be made legal.

He said selling drugs under a regulated regime is the only way to
beat the traffickers.

Source:- The Independent Monday 15 August 2005 page 17

Move to change IVF treatment laws

Lesbians and single women may find it easier to have an IVF baby
after changes to fertility treatment laws are proposed this
week.

Clinics are required to consider the welfare of a child, including
its need for a father. While some will treat any women, provided
the child would have a male role model, others refuse. But Suzi
Leather, of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, has
called the rule a “nonsense”.

Source:- The Financial Times Monday 15 August 2005 page 4

Centre to explore and celebrate children’s books

Seven Stories, a £6.5 million centre for children’s
books near the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, is to open on Friday. It
is an archive of manuscripts and illustrations and a tool to
encourage children to explore creativity, to read and
imagine.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 15 August 2005 page 8

Disabled refugee family fights benefits withdrawal

Samina Altaf and her children are one of 116 families caught by new
legislation which removes benefits from families who do not leave
the UK voluntarily.

Section 9 of the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act could render
adults homeless and destitute, with children taken into care. Altaf
claims she fled Pakistan to escape ill-treatment from her husband
and his family who blamed her for giving birth to disabled
children.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 15 August 2005 page 10

Binge-drink thugs face at least three years in prison

Violent binge drinkers can expect three years in jail if convicted
after the Lord Chief Justice ruled that the courts should hand out
substantial sentences because of the need to protect the
public.

Even longer jail terms will be imposed on offenders who have a
criminal record.

Source:- The Times Monday 15 August 2005 page 14

Violent porn sites may be blocked

Viewing violent pornography on the internet could be made an
offence under measures being considered by the government.

The Home Office said that it is keen to strengthen the current
legislation, which allows only for the closing down of British
internet sites hosting obscene material, such as necrophilia and
strangulation.

Source:- The Times Monday 15 August 2005 page 15

Scottish news

Standards fall in ‘shabby’ mental health units

The standard of mental health accommodation in Scotland has
declined significantly in the last two years and would not be
acceptable elsewhere in the NHS according to a new Scottish
executive report.

It reveals that just 76 per cent of accommodation received a fair
or very good assessment of decor, floor coverings and furniture
compared to 84 per cent in 2002. Campaigners said the conditions
found in much of the country’s mental health accommodation
wouldn’t be tolerated in other health settings.

Source:- The Sunday Herald Sunday 14 August

Police to watch sex offenders 24 hours a day

More than 3000 registered and suspected sex offenders are to be
more closely monitored under a new data sharing scheme.

To be piloted in five police force areas, the scheme will allow all
information held on an individual by the police, their social work
sex offender team and the Scottish Prison Service to be shared
between the agencies and held in a new national intelligence
database.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 14th August

Needle exchange at police stations

Police are planning to offer free needle exchanges in police
stations to try to reduce drug related deaths in Scotland.

Though the number of overdoses appears to be dropping this year,
police and drug action teams believe offering clean needles to
addicts who have been held in police custody could help to further
reduce the problem.

Currently, those arrested by police have their dirty needles
confiscated, raising concerns this is likely to increase the spread
of HIV and hepatitis.

Source:- The Herald Monday 15 August

Revealed: 110,000 hidden jobs on the public payroll

Scotland has a hidden public-sector workforce of 110,000 who go
unacknowledged in the official government headcount because their
work is subcontracted.

Doctors, university staff and contract cleaners were omitted from
the Scottish executive’s national staff roll because they
technically work in the private sector, although their sole client
is the government.

When such people are included, 681,000 Scots now work for the
public sector – rather than the 572,000 claimed by the
executive.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 15 August

Rising worry of teenage drinking

Problem drinking by Scotland’s young people has increased by 50 per
cent in the past five years, according to new figures.

Last year, almost 2000 under-16s were referred to children’s panels
because of serious alcohol problems.

The head of the children’s hearing system said cases involving
drinking by young teenagers, which rose from 1,260 in 1999 to 1,969
last year, highlighted increasing concerns about parent’s
failure to give proper guidance.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 15 August

Doctors demand liability cover in MMR licence row 

GPs are at loggerheads with government officials over the use of
unlicensed MMR vaccinations.

The Department of Health has brought in 400,000 doses of the
vaccine from abroad to tackle a rise in mumps.

The vaccine is no different from the ordinary injection given in
the UK, but doctors are concerned about the legality of
administering a foreign drug if the patient falls ill.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 15 August

Welsh news

Carer filmed stealing cash

A pensioner installed a secret CCTV camera in her home when she
suspected a care worker was taking money from her wallet a court
heard yesterday.

Beryl Rowe became suspicious and pressed record on the camera every
time Karen Evans came round.
Evans received a 200-hour community punishment order.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 13 August

Anger at drugs unit proposal

Residents have launched a petition against plans for a dug unit and
needle exchange on their door steps.

The Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust is planning to move a section of the
Cardiff Addiction Unit (CAU) from the Royal Infirmary to an estate
in Ely, Cardiff.

The site is near a play area, four schools and a proposed community
centre.

Source:- South Wales Echo Saturday 13 August

Safe disposal of drug-related litter

People are risking catching life-threatening diseases by attempting
to clear away syringes without any training.

High numbers of syringes are found in open spaces in Wales.
Needle-stick injuries can put people at risk of HIV, Hepatitis B or
C.

In response to the problem St John Wales and PHS Waste Management
have developed a scheme to train people to safely manage drug
related litter.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 15 August