Monday 5 September 2005

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

Need a little respect? I’ll tell you where to go

Louise Casey, a senior government official who praised binge
drinking and described how she liked to get “hammered”,
is to head a new task force building respect in the
community.

Source:- The Times Saturday 3 September 2005 page 3

Murder arrest

A male babysitter aged 25 was arrested on suspicion of murdering a
six-year-old boy and then sectioned under the Mental Health
Act.

The body of James Brennan was found by his father when he returned
to the house in Chorlton, Greater Manchester. The boy had been
slashed to death in his bedroom.

Source:- The Times Saturday 3 September 2005 page 11

Judge shows mercy over husband who killed wife

Donald Mawlitt, 72, who admitted giving his wife Maureen, 70,
anti-depressants before suffocating her with a carrier bag walked
free from Bristol Crown Court yesterday after a judge decided that
his case was exceptional and a prison sentence would not be
appropriate.

Source:- The Times Saturday 3 September 2005 page 12

‘Happy slap’ victim is found hanged in his
wardrobe

Shaun Noonan, 14, a teenager who was found hanged with his school
tie had been the victim of a “happy slapping” attack
during a campaign of bullying, an inquest in Cheshire was told
yesterday.

Source:- The Times Saturday 3 September 2005 page 12

Jail threat for families who force marriage

Community elders could face prosecution for taking part in wedding
services under government proposals to curb force marriages.

Families who force young people into marriage against their wishes
will also risk being taken to court under proposals to be announced
by ministers next week.

Source:- The Times Saturday 3 September 2005 page 18

Prince’s Trust failing to make impact, says
study

A charitable programme set up by the Prince of Wales for
disadvantaged young people to start their own businesses has had
little impact in helping them, according to research to be
published later this month.

The Prince’s Trust “business start-up programme”
– is missing its target audience, the research shows.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 3 September 2005 page
15

Girls arrested after body found

Two girls aged 11 and 15 were arrested on suspicion of murder
following the discovery of a 33-year-old man’s body in
Todmorden, Halifax.

The girls were detained along with a 21-year-old woman, West
Yorkshire Police said.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 3 September 2005 page
24

Labour’s New Deal for young jobless to be scaled down
after budget cuts

Labour’s flagship New Deal programme is to be scaled down for
some new clients because of budget cuts.

Young people joining the programme in London are to be offered only
two training options, instead of the four that Gordon Brown
promoted when the scheme was unveiled in the 1990s.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 3 September 2005
page 2

Train suicide mother left a note ‘blaming family
pressures’

The woman who died with her two children in front of a 100mph train
left a suicide note, it emerged last night.

Navjeet Sidhu, 27, said family pressures had simply become too much
for her. Friends say she wrote the haunting message only hours
before she stepped off a platform at Southall Station in west
London with her five-year-old daughter and 23-month-old son.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 3 September 2005 page
17

I didn’t do it, says mother charged with son’s
murder

A young mother accused of murdering her baby broke down in court
yesterday and mouthed: “I didn’t do it” to the
boy’s father.

Danielle Waits, 21, appeared before magistrates after being charged
with killing four-month-old Alexander Gallon, who died in a fire at
her home.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 3 September 2005 page
39

Blair orders Clarke to fund “anti-yob”
czar

Tony Blair is forcing Charles Clarke and John Prescott to give up
money from their budgets to fund his “anti-yob”
adviser.

Unofficial disclosures have shown that Blair is frustrated with the
Home Secretary’s efforts to combat antisocial
behaviour.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 4 September 2005 page
1

Proposals for new law over forced marriages

Families who force their daughters into marriage could face an
appearance in court under new proposals to protect young British
Asians from abuse.

Community elders who encourage parents or connive in their
arrangements could also be prosecuted.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 4 September 2005 page 2

Wrongly jailed “cot death” mother secures
six-figure book deal

Angela Cannings, who was wrongly convicted of murdering her two
baby sons, is rumoured to have received a six-figure deal to write
a book about her ordeal.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 4 September 2005 page
10

“What we’ve got here are the most dangerous
teenagers in the country”

Report on Carlford Unit in Suffolk, the most radical prison for
young offenders in the country.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 4 September 2005 page
12

Scandal of children locked up in “adult”
jails

Hardline measures to curb anti-social behaviour are to blame for an
unprecedented rise in the number of young children being sent to
jail.

A leaked government memo reveals the number of teenagers in custody
has soared over the past three months. Ellie Roy, chief executive
of the Youth Justice Board says overcrowding has lead to large
numbers of juveniles ending up in prison-run institutions and warns
some 18-year-olds may even have to be sent to adult jails if the
situation continues.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 4 September 2005
page 2

Bullying despair of teenage girls

More than a quarter of teenage girls have felt suicidal because of
bullying, according to a survey for the NSPCC and teen magazine
Sugar.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 5 September 2005 page 7

Prison service accused on women inmates

The chief inspector of prisons has accused the Prison Service of
ignoring warnings of possible suicides by women held in
“isolated and alienating” conditions within a
men’s jail.

The women’s wing at Durham comes in for fierce criticism in a
report today of an inspection in June.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 5 September 2005 page 8

The woman who jumped in front of a train with her
children

Detectives are continuing to investigate what caused Navjeet Sidhu,
27, to step in front of a train with her five-year-old daughter and
23-month-old son on Wednesday, leading to the death of all
three.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 5 September 2005 page 21

The cot death bug

Up to half of cot deaths may be caused by bacteria which breeds in
babies’ mattresses, researchers claim.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 5 September 2005 page 34

Scottish news

Chlamydia spreading as youths spurn tests 

Young men’s embarrassment about dealing with their sexual health
has been blamed for fuelling the spread of chlamydia in the
Lothians.

Cases of the sexually transmitted disease have soared dramatically
among young men in the last year. New figures show that incidences
of chlamydia in men under 25 in the Lothians has risen by a third
compared to last year.

Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 3 September

‘Condoms for all’ policy sparks outcry 

Students at two of Scotland’s biggest universities have clashed
over a “compulsory condoms” campaign that will see freshers being
given contraceptives whether they want them or not.

In the Glasgow University scheme, undergraduates will receive free
condoms during this year’s Freshers’ Week. But the decision has
been branded “irresponsible” by a student leader at Edinburgh
University.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  4 September

Scot pensioners told to hand back cash in ‘free care’
row 

Hundreds of Scottish pensioners in residential homes are being
asked to hand back years of infirmity benefit by Whithall’s
Disability and Carers Service (DCS).

It wants to track down pensioners who it says are receiving up
to £60.60 a week in attendance allowance while being helped
under the Scottish executive’s “free care for the elderly”
scheme.

The DCS, run by the Department of Work and Pensions, decided in
2001 that attendance allowance – which is worth either £40.55
a week or £60.60 a week depending on the level of infirmity –
was not due to those who would receive free personal care in the
new Scottish system.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 5 September

Drugs death ‘hovers over tens of thousands of
young people’

Ministers will fail to meet their targets for cutting drug
deaths if they continue to rely on “harm reduction” and methadone
rather than abstinence, a leading expert on drug abuse has
warned.

Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research at Glasgow
University, said the breadth of the drugs problem meant death was
now “hovering on the shoulder of tens of thousands of young
people”. Based on current methadone prescribing practice, Professor
McKeganey says there is “simply no way” ministers will cut deaths
by a quarter.

Source:- The Herald Monday 5 September

Welsh news

Service and health workers power Wales

Employment patterns in Wales have changed dramatically over the
past 20 years with service industries becoming the biggest
employers.

The number of people working in healthcare jobs alone has increased
by 166, 000 since 1985. Traditional industries such as farming,
mining, building and manufacturing have lost 80, 000 jobs.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 3 September

Adoption register praised

The adoption register was described as a “real asset”
by children’s minister Jane Hutt yesterday.

The register identifies suitable adoptive families for children
across England and Wales.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 3 September

Police investigate hospital death

Police are investigating the sudden death of a 94-year-old man at a
cottage hospital in Tenby.

A Dyfed-Powys police spokesperson said officers were “keeping
an open mind” on the circumstances around his death.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 5 September