Monday 26 September 2005

By Clare Jerrom, Simeon Brody, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Row over public sector pensions escalates as unions reject
offer

The row over the future of public sector pensions escalated
yesterday as trade unions rejected an offer from local government
employers to defer a rise in retirement age.

Public sector union Unison warned that strike action was “on
the cards”.

Source:- Financial Times  Saturday 24 September page
2

Drugs red tape is pushed aside

Any drug that could improve life expectancy will be assessed and
made available to patients within six months of being licensed
under plans announced by the National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 8

Huntley decision

A High Court judge will this week announce the minimum number of
years that Ian Huntley must stay in prison for his sentence for
killing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 8

NSPCC joins hunt for net crimes

The NSPCC has joined the police in a bid to hunt paedophiles and
track internet child abuse.

Social workers will work with Greater Manchester Police’s
abusive images unit under the E-spy project.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 15

Priest jailed for abusing ten boys

A priest has been jailed for sexually abusing 10 boys at a leading
Catholic public school, 18 years after his offending came to
light.

Gregory Carroll was sentenced to four years after admitting 14
offences of indecent assault against boys aged under-15 between
1980 and 1987.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 15

Mother, 67, confesses to killing her Down’s son

A 67-year-old woman has admitted to killing her son who had
Down’s syndrome.

Wendolyn Markcrow pleaded guilty to manslaughter of her 36-year-old
son Patrick at her home in March.

She denied murder and admitted manslaughter on the grounds of
diminished responsibility.

Markcow is expected to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court next
month.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 27

Deported mother leaves children

A Ugandan asylum seeker who was deported without her three children
after losing her appeal is fighting to be united with her
family.

Rose Nammi was put on an aircraft last week without seeing her
children.

It is the first case that has come to light of a mother being
removed without her children.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 28

Uproar at ‘kill disable children’ remark

A retired doctor has resigned from his position as deputy mayor
after allegedly suggesting that severely disabled children should
be killed to save NHS resources.

Dr Owen Lister is scheduled to appear before the standards
committee of Swindon Council next week to explain what he
said.

Source:- The Times  Saturday 24 September page 30

Third of all NHS trusts plan cuts, says BMA

A third of NHS trusts are planning to cut services, the British
Medical Association said yesterday.

Three out of four trusts in England predict budget shortfalls
totalling £2.4 billion this year.

Source:- Daily Telegraph  Saturday 24 September page 1

Prescott, the £3.5m terrace toppler

A street of three-storey Victorian homes in Liverpool, each
worth up to £145,000 and with residents still in them, are to
be bought for demolition as part of a John Prescott plan to replace
“redundant” housing with gleaming new estates.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 25 September 2005 page
7

Forced marriage deals blamed for Asian
ghettos

The number of British Asians bringing in spouses from the Indian
subcontinent has doubled over five years, fuelling segregation and
helping to perpetuate ghettos, according to a report by Migration
Watch UK.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 25 September 2005 page
10

Advisers consider U-turn on cannabis

Cannabis could be reclassified as dangerous and its possession
for personal use made an offence after the government’s drugs
advisory panel met yesterday after Charles Clarke asked for
guidance following renewed fears over its side effects.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 25 September 2005
page 2

NHS staff will go door to door to help the
unfit

Unfit and overweight Britons will get doorstep visits from NHS
staff to track those at risk of future illness and invite them for
a health “MOT” with their GP, according to Patricia
Hewitt. 

The government will also pledge to double spending on palliative
care in white paper to be published at the end of this year.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 25 September 2005 page
4

Youths charged with murder

A 15-year-old boy and two 17-year-olds have been charged with
murder following the death of a sixth-form student last Sunday
morning in Swansea.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 25 September 2005 page
5

The hoodies, the editor and the fear factor

Article by Piers Morgan, ahead of a documentary about hoodies,
which finds that beneath the scowls many were youngsters in need of
help.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 25 September 2005 page
10

Big rise in “at risk” juveniles in
prison

More than 40 per cent of under 18s in British prisons are
official classed as vulnerable and at risk of self harm or suicide,
according to the Youth Justice Board.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 25 September 2005 page
13

More children being locked up as politicians score
points on crime

The child prison population has risen by almost 10 per cent
since the last year, when the United Nations demanded an end to the
scandal of children in custody in Britain. Penal reformers will
launch a campaign today to shame ministers into action.

Source:- The Independent Monday 26 September 2005 page
6

Blunkett outlines new plans to help families
save

The Work and Pensions secretary said he would pour £36
million into credit unions and non-profit lenders to help fund
loans for needy families. Another £210 million will be
ploughed into the social fund.

Source:- The Independent Monday 26 September 2005 page
11

Boy, 17, accused of knife murder

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of Kashif
Mahmood, 16, in east London, who was stabbed during a fight last
Tuesday in an underpass in Ilford.

Source:- The Independent Monday 26 September 2005 page
14

Karate approved to restrain children

Young offenders being held in privately-run children’s
jails can be controlled by staff who have been authorised to use
three “distraction” techniques, which include a Karate
chop to the nose.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 26 September 2005 page
1

Prison Service admits young offenders serving on adult
wings

The Prison Service is holding young offenders in adult prisons
by reclassifying cells as young offenders institutions. The
practice emerged during the Mubarek inquiry.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 26 September 2005 page
5

 Pc attacks villagers over travellers’
row

A Surrey village policeman has accused members of the community
he serves of being bigoted in a quarrel over arrangements for a
travellers’ funeral attended by 600 mourners.

The efforts made to accommodate the funeral led to police being
accused of “running scared”.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 26 September 2005
page 7

Cannabis can give young users a stroke warn
doctors

Smoking cannabis can trigger heart attacks and strokes in young
people, according to a report in the International Journal of
Cardiology.

 Source:- Daily Mail Monday 26 September 2005 page
25

Scottish news

‘Granny farm’ fears as smaller care homes face funding
threat

Concerns have been raised at the prospect of Scotland’s care
homes becoming “granny farms” as economic pressures in the sector
squeeze out small businesses.

The Scottish executive’s latest care home census has shown that
while the number of care homes for the elderly has dropped by 80 to
980 in five years, the number of places available has risen by more
than 300 in the past three years to 38,327.

Age Concern Scotland said this reflected a trend towards larger
care units.

Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 24 September

An hour after these children last saw their father he
was taken to an asylum detention centre. Now they must grow up
without him …
 
An asylum seeker has been taken from his two young Scots-born
children, imprisoned at Dungavel detention centre and told he will
be deported to Nigeria just days after First Minister Jack
McConnell challenged inhumane immigration rules.

It has emerged that officials attempted to deport 30-year-old
Olusola Popoola to Africa on Friday. He became so distressed he
tried to hang himself in a bathroom.

Source:- The Sunday Herald Sunday 25 September

Executive to toughen laws on bail system

The Scottish executive is to reform the bail system in response to
growing public anger over the number of criminals re-offending
while at liberty.

Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, will unveil a number of
measures for a “tougher and tighter” regime for those awaiting
trial.

Ministers have come under increasing pressure to act since the main
suspect in the murder of Livingston schoolboy Rory Blackhall was
found to be on bail at the time.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 26 September

Welsh news

Grandmother thought of suicide after theft

A grandmother who admitted taking thousands of pounds from a fund
she set up to help ill babies has thought about committing suicide
twice a court has heard.

Angela Whitehead, of Llanon, Cardigan Bay, had previously pleaded
guilty to the theft from the Little Sunbeams Appeal and was due to
be sentenced yesterday at Carmarthen Crown Court but the judge
adjourned the sentence so a psychiatric report could be drawn
up.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 24 September

Is Wales in danger of race ghettos?

The chair of the Commission for Racial Equality’s comments
that Britain is at risk of “sleep-walking” into a
ghettoised society was criticised last night.

Welsh campaigners said that Trevor Phillip’s remarks failed
to take into account the different way race relations were
approached in Wales.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 24 September

Teens remanded over Ben murder

Three teenagers have been remanded in custody over the weekend
after being charged with the murder of a sixth former.

Ben Bellamy’s battered body was found on a beach in Swansea
around a week ago.

The teenagers, two aged 17 and one aged 15, were arrested last
Wednesday.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 26 September