Friday 9 September 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Simeon Brody, Sally Gillen and Amy
Taylor

Third suicide at offenders’ centre

An inquiry is being carried out into the third teenage suicide at a
young offenders’ institution in less than three months.

Stuart Smith, 18, who had been serving a five year sentence for a
sex offence was found hanged at the institution in Reading.

Source:- The Independent Friday 9 September 2005 page
11        

“Cover-up” over rich and poor health gap

Doctors have accused the government of covering up the true scale
of the health gap between rich and poor in the UK.

Writing in the British Medical Journal they say the government
reformulated targets in its latest report on health
inequalities.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 9 September 2005 page
10

Knife killing marks rise in violence at Jobcentres

A catalogue of assaults, including a fatal stabbing, are revealed
in a confidential report sent to the Department for Work and
Pensions.

The report covers nearly 100 incidents including threats from
claimants carrying axes, knives, scissors and screwdrivers.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 9 September 2005 page
11

When she got to government she was a breath of fresh
air

Profile of director of anti social behaviour taskforce Louise
Casey.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 9 September 2005 page
12

Flop CSA faces axe

The Child Support Agency may have to be scrapped, the government
admitted yesterday. Social security minister Lord Hunt said
responsibility for collecting money from absent parents could be
handed to the Inland Revenue.

Source:- Daily Mirror Friday 9 September 2005 page
2    

My girl would be alive without suicide websites

A mother whose 17-year-old daughter hanged herself has blamed
websites which glorify suicide for her death.

Source:- Daily Mirror Friday 9 September 2005 page 10

Germaine Greer accuses actresses of mocking
aged

Germaine Greer made a stinging attack on some of Britain’s
leading actresses for taking parts in which they viciously
caricatured older people.

Source:- The Times Friday 9 September 2005 page 5

Family wins payout over disastrous care of
son

A council that detained a young man with Down’s syndrome
in a psychiatric unit for eight months after a series of errors has
been ordered to pay his family £35,000 in compensation.

An ombudsman’s report found that Jonathan Devlin’s
local authority, Southend-on-Sea council in Essex, had tried to
save money by forcing him to live in a home where carers could not
cope with his needs, despite opposition from his parents and social
workers.

Source:- The Times Friday 9 September 2005 page 20

Why teenagers start to act like Kevin – their
brains are being rewired

Changes in the brain at puberty can cause the breakdown of
relationships with parents, experiments have shown.

The Institute of Child Health in London found that, at puberty, the
ability to recognise the expressions on people’s faces
suddenly dips. In particular, sadness and anger – two
emotions commonly felt by parents of teenage children – often
go unnoticed.

Source:- The Times Friday 9 September 2005 page 35

‘Gang feud’ led to shooting of girl,
14

A gang feud in Nottingham led to the killing of an innocent
schoolgirl, Birmingham Crown Court heard yesterday.

Danielle Beccan, 14, from St Ann’s, was shot in the stomach
as she walked home from Nottingham’s annual Goose Fair with
friends in the early hours of October 9 last year.

Source:- The Times Friday 9 September 2005 page 36

Bully blitz battered

School bullying is getting worse despite a nationwide crackdown,
a charity said last night. Childline received 33,000 calls in the
last year – 2,000 up on the previous 12 months.

Source:- The Sun Friday 9 September 2005 page 2

‘Sex act’ on girl, 5

Two boys aged 12 and 13 have appeared in court charged with
forcing a girl of five to perform a sex act on them. The alleged
incident was listed in a police dossier objecting to the Moby Dick
in Dagenham, east London, being allowed to open longer.

Source:- The Sun Friday 9 September 2005 page 18

Race riot at school

Police were called at the old school of two of the July 7
bombers after a riot broke out between Asian and white pupils. An
18-year-old has been arrested after the incident at Matthew Murray
high school in west Yorkshire.

Source:- The Sun Friday 9 September 2005 page 18

Schoolteacher faces jail

A schoolteacher faces jail after admitting filming schoolgirls
undressing in PE lessons.

Roger Toll, who worked in Hereford, also had indecent pictures of
children off the internet at his home in Bishopstone, near
Hereford, Worcester Crown Court heard. Toll, 54, admitted making
indecent images. Judge Andrew Geddes said Toll would “almost
certainly” be sent to prison. Sentencing was adjourned for
reports.

Source:- The Sun Friday 9 September 2005 page 21

Scottish news

Rory’s murder linked to fight for Mark’s
Law

A mother said yesterday that Rory Blackhall’s death showed
almost nothing had changed in the year since the murder of her
eight-year-old son by a known paedophile.

Margaret Anne Cummings is lobbying the Scottish executive for
changes in the law, which would mean parents would informed if a
sex offender was living in their community.

She said Rory’s death was a “kick in the
teeth” to those who campaigned for reforms.

Her son Mark was killed by Stuart Leggate, an offender who lived
in the same Glasgow block.

Cummings said since Mark’s death in June 2004 nothing
significant has changed in the way agencies such as social
services, police and housing authorities dealt with offenders.

Source:- The Herald Friday 9 September

Police find tot’s mum

Police have traced the mother of a dead baby found in a pond.
The 16.year-old, who has a two-year-old, was examined and found to
be healthy. A woman has been arrested in connection with the
baby’s death.

Source:- Daily Record  Friday 9 September 2005

Welsh news

Not enough play for children today

Children spend so much time following the national curriculum they
don’t have time to play, according to new research.

The study, published by the Economic and Social Research Council,
says that children learn to make friends as well as use their
imagination through playing.

It also calls for more outdoor play spaces to be created in
schools.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 9 September

Many families now ‘non-traditional’

Family make up in Wales has changed dramatically over recent years,
new research has revealed.

The Marketing to Families report found that around five million
British parents now live in a non-traditional family set-up and
that more than one in three parents care for children who were not
their own.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 9 September