Ministers are powerless to raise sentence on paedophile

By Maria Ahmed, Gordon Carson, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Merger of police forces is scrapped
Plans for a £1 billion merger of police forces across England and Wales have collapsed.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 11 July 2006, page 1
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Sentence for paedophile to stay the same
Craig Sweeney, the paedophile jailed for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl, will not have his sentence made longer under an overhaul of the Criminal Justice Act.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 11 July 2006, page 2
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Conviction ruling
A boy of 17 who refused to leave a shopping centre when told to by police has had his conviction overturned.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 11 July 2006, page 4
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Resources directed at Muslims living in poor areas
Ruth Kelly, the communities and local government secretary, will take charge of the efforts to improve the lives of Muslims in poor areas, as part of a new counter-terrorist strategy.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 11 July 2006, page 22
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Inspector finds gangs and high level of violence in jail
Organised gangs are operating inside the 1,100-inmate Risley prison, near Manchester, according to a report by the chief inspector of prisons today.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 11 July 2006, page 11
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Stroke victims who don’t need to die
The lives of 10 stroke victims could be saved every week if the health service upgraded the condition to a medical emergency, according to Parliament’s public accounts committee.
Source: Daily Mail, page 2

Ministers are powerless to raise sentence on paedophile
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, yesterday admitted he was powerless to increase the prison sentence of paedophile Craig Sweeney, who will be eligible for parole after just over five years.
Source: Daily Mail, page 4; Daily Telegraph, page 1

Traffickers dump pregnant teenager
A pregnant 16-year-old from Kenya brought into Britain by people traffickers has been abandoned in Sheffield after suffering imprisonment, beatings and rape, probably in London.
Source: The Independent, page 11; Daily Telegraph, page 2

Ministers urged to offer migrants amnesty
The Prime Minister will be urged today to lift the threat of deportation from all illegal immigrants who have been in the UK for at least two years.
Source: The Independent, page 16

NHS organisations failed to heed early financial warnings
NHS bodies that have hit major financial trouble have almost always received early warnings but have failed to act, according to an Audit Commission report.
Source: Financial Times, page 2; Daily Telegraph, page 6

Cohabiting couples are ‘breaking up quicker’
Cohabitation is an “intense form of dating” because so many live-in couples split up quickly, new research from the US says.
Source: Daily Telegraph, page 7

Goldsmith attacks Meadow’s expert witness immunity
The Attorney general yesterday attacked a previous court ruling in the case of Professor Sir Roy Meadow that gave expert witnesses immunity from disciplinary action over remarks made in court.
Source: Daily Telegraph, page 8

Scottish digest

Blow to war on neds as serial crime rate rises 10%
The number of persistent young offenders jumped 10 per cent last year in what is a setback to the Scottish Executive’s “war on neds” campaign.
Now figures obtained by the Herald show numbers are rising faster than before the executive launched its attempt to bring down rates in 2003.
1388 young people aged between eight and 16 qualified as persistent young offenders in 2005-2006, according to leaked figures from the annual report of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.
Source: The Herald, Tuesday 11 June
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Anger at move to stop drug users having children
Labour leaders have prompted an angry reaction from drug workers over plans to prevent drug addicts from having children until they kick the habit.
The plans, which will be considered by the Scottish Labour Party for its Holyrood manifesto next year, were dismissed as “cynical expediency” and derided for showing “a depressing lack of vision” by drug experts.
The proposals, drawn up by Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, would require addicts to sign a “social contract”, under which they would only get benefits and methadone if they agreed not to have children while addicted to drugs. If addicts agree, but then breach the contract, they face having their children taken into care.
Source: The Scotsman, Tuesday 11 June
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Welsh news

Mum of Sweeny victim ‘sickened’ by decision
A mother whose child was abused by a paedophile has said that she was sickened by politicians’ decision not to refer his sentence to the court of appeal on the grounds that it was too lenient.
Craig Sweeny kidnapped the three-year-old girl from the Rumney area of Cardiff and sexually abused her. There was a public outcry after he was sentenced to life but can apply for parole after five years and 108 days.
Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday 11 July 2006
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Councils ‘to miss’ schools upgrade targets
Councils are set to miss an Assembly Government pledge to make all schools ‘fit for purpose’ within four years because of a lack of money, according to a new report.
The survey of Wales’ 22 councils, carried out by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, found that none of the schools would meet the target.
Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday 11 July 2006
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