Barnardo’s criticises judge over fine for sex offender

Barnardo’s criticises judge over fine for sex offender
A judge was slammed by a kids’ charity yesterday after a known paedophile who bought sex from a vulnerable 16-year-old walked free. Kevin Harrison was fined £500 after admitting he paid the girl for sexual favours.  The law outlaws sex with prostitutes under 18 — and the maximum sentence is seven years’ jail. Harrison’s offences against children date back to 1979.
Barnardo’s Wendy Shepherd said the girl had been abused and exploited all her life. She added:  “This was not a one-off offence. The judge has failed to see the danger that this man poses.”
Source:- The Sun, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 16

Britain’s first all-Asbo family
All six members of a family from Morecambe, Lancs, have been given antisocial behaviour orders. The McLoughlin family is thought to be the first in Britain to be dealt with in such a way. Under the orders they must abide by an 11pm-7am curfew, not congregate as a family outside their home and can swear only at each other.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 12

Slippers amnesty to cut falls
A slippers amnesty has been announced with old people urged to hand in worn-out and potentially dangerous footwear. In exchange, the charity Age Concern will be handing out 1,000 new pairs of slippers in a bid to cut down on accidents in the home.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 2

Tories pledge to help families in ‘broken’ Britain
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has declared that the recent spate of teenage murders shows that British society has “broken down” and that helping families must be the priority for government, over economic growth.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 4

Celebrity copycats falling into deep debt
Britain’s growing debt crisis has been dramatically highlighted by figures which show a 15 per cent rise last year in the numbers seeking help with financial problems.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 3

Ex-mayor called ‘heterosexist’ in housing row
A former mayor of Cambridge has been accused of a subconscious bias against homosexuals because he is urging that more homes be built for families.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 12

Kerb crawlers taught about realities of prostitution
The Change Course is used by police forces in Nottinghamshire, Dorset and Hampshire. Men arrested for picking up prostitutes are offered the chance of paying to attend a course on the realities of prostitution and escape a criminal conviction.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 17 February 2007, page 36

Council hands adoption cases to child charity
A local authority in London is to hand over its adoption services to a voluntary agency to cut lengthy delays in finding homes for children in care.
The agreement between Harrow borough council in north-west London and Coram Family, a leading children’s charity, is the first of its kind in the UK.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007, page 14

Warnock exposes special needs policy
Pupils with special needs forced to attend mainstream secondary schools faced a “horror” that could leave them suicidal, claims a peer who helped to bring in the policy. And parents were left “terrified and exhausted” in their efforts to get proper provision for their children, says Baroness Warnock, in the foreword to a new book, Included or Excluded?
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007, page 14

Outcry over ‘routine’ use of restraints on child prisoners
Hundreds of children are still subjected to physical restraints in prisons and young offenders’ institutions as a means of controlling their behaviour, according to figures obtained by Lord Carlile and the Howard League for Penal Reform. Carlile will tomorrow use a House of Lords debate to publicise the figures.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 18 February 2007, page 13

Britain’s 12-year-old alchoholics
Children as young as 12 are being diagnosed as alcoholics amid growing concerns about binge-drinking in Britain. Record numbers of pre-teens and teenagers now require hospital treatment for drink-related disorders, the exclusive nationwide survey shows.
Source:- Independent on Sunday, 18 February 2007, page 1

Cosseted children likely to go off rails
Children who are cooped up indoors and prevented from playing freely suffer from “cabin fever” and are more likely to go off the rails, according to a government adviser on children’s play.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007, page 14

Police failing over internet paedophiles
Police are failing to investigate thousands of people who are suspected of accessing paedophile websites because of lack of resources, say child protection experts. Last night, Britain’s most senior expert on online paedophiles admitted there was a need for greater resources to tackle the problem.
‘Are we under pressure with the volumes? Of course we are; I’m not going to lie,’ said Jim Gamble, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), a government-backed body set up to tackle the growing threat of online child abuse. The huge number of leads provided to the centre is placing severe pressures on manpower.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 18 February 2007, page 17

Sex trade moves modern-day slaves into suburbs
Criminal gangs are moving sex slaves out of brothels and into private houses in an attempt to take the trade “underground” and avoid discovery by the police.
Senior officers are finding an “alarming” number of young women, mostly east Europeans aged 18 to 25, held captive in privately owned flats and houses and forced to have sex with up to 30 “clients” a day. Graeme Maxwell, Yorkshire police’s deputy chief constable and programme director for the UK Human Trafficking Centre, said: “The traffickers and pimps are taking the girls to rented flats and houses in areas all over the UK where there is a transient population and neighbours don’t really notice when people move in and out.”
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007, page 6

Bounce-back deportation trick revealed
Failed asylum-seekers are taking advantage of a loop-hole in the immigration system to return to Britain within hours of being deported. Details of the loophole emerged following the trials of two failed asylum-seekers who were deported, but then flew back to Britain and allegedly went on to commit crimes here.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007, page 2

Family breakdown and gun culture
A spate of gang-related killings saw the execution of a 15-year-old in his home last week. The perpetrators are thought to be of the same age. A report on how family breakdown has allowed gun culture to corrupt children.
Source:- Sunday Times, 18 February 2007, page 13

Blair crisis summit on teen gangs
Tony Blair is to announce urgent measures to break up teenage gangs amid the continuing wave of gun violence in British cities. Downing Street announced an immediate review of legislation relating to the possession and use of firearms and pledged to rush through new powers for the police. No 10 also announced an emergency meeting of ministers, police and community leaders to discuss how to respond to the gang killings.
Source:- Sunday Times, 18 February 2007, page 1

Anger at respect tsar’s day of ‘insults’
One of Tony Blair’s most trusted and controversial advisers, the ‘respect tsar’ Louise Casey, has been accused of ‘behaviour not befitting a senior civil servant’ and insulting and offending an audience of experts when delivering a keynote speech at the Youth Justice Board’s annual conference.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 18 February 2007, page 12

Junk food ads banned on children’s net
Junk food companies will be banned from advertising in magazines aimed at the under-16s under new government rules to combat soaring childhood obesity.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 18 February 2007, page 6

‘Labour letting migrants take over cheap homes’
Labour has been accused of neglecting its core supporters by “racialising” housing policy and letting immigrants take over cheap homes.
The claim by Labour deputy leadership contender Jon Cruddas threatens to cause a major row in the party by reviving fears that a lack of affordable homes is playing into the hands of British National Party extremists.
Source:- Mail on Sunday, 18 February 2007, page 2

Big Issue founder says ‘lock up the homeless’
Big Issue founder John Bird argues that the present homeless policy is utterly useless and the only ‘cure’ for most is compulsory treatment in mental hospitals.
Source:- Mail on Sunday, 18 February 2007, page 31

Let hard-core addicts get heroin, says senior officer
Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, has called for heroin to be prescribed to long-term addicts to prevent them committing crime.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 19 February 2007, page 2

Cocoa reduces dementia risk
Scientists have discovered that a hot cup of cocoa before bedtime can improve learning and memory and reduce the risk of dementia.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 19 February 2007, page 2

‘Victoria is always there. She never goes away…’
When Victoria Climbié was murdered, her social worker Lisa Arthurworrey’s world ended. Seven years on, she still feels like she’s living in a prison cell.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 19 February 2007, G2, page 16

Social housing proposals met with anger
Housing charities have reacted angrily to proposals to remove social housing tenants’ right to stay in their homes for life, due out tomorrow.
Shelter chief Adam Sampson said tenants were often vulnerable and needed security and not the threat of homelessness, ahead of the government-commissioned report by Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics.
Source:- Daily Mirror, Monday 19 February 2007, page 11

Children of 12 in hospital for alcoholism
The number of children being treated for drink-related illnesses rose by 20 per cent in 2005, according to NHS figures described as the “tip of the iceberg” by a government health adviser on alcohol.
Professor Mark Bellis, of the Centre for Pulbic Health at Liverpool John Moores University, said many children were admitted for problems that were not recorded as alcohol-related, following figures showing hospitals treated over 5,700 under-16s in 2005.
Source:- Daily Mail, Monday 19 February 2007, page 4

Global study of 1,200 families links new genes to autism
The world’s largest search for genes linked to autism has uncovered new mutations believed to raise a child’s risk of developing the brain disorder.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 19 February 2007, page 11

Haemophilia campaigners win HIV inquiry
An independent public inquiry is to be held into the supply of contaminated NHS blood to haemophiliacs, it was announced today.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 19 February 2007, page 11

Scottish news

Women under threat of violence denied legal aid
Thousands of victims of domestic violence are living in fear for their lives because they cannot afford to pay for court protection orders.
Helen Hughes, head of the Scottish Family Law Association, says between a third and a half of women seeking a protection order are being offered only a partial contribution or nothing from the legal aid board towards the cost of the action.
Source:- The Scotsman,  Saturday 17 February 2007

Addicts clean after electric shock trial
Organisers of a controversial new heroin addiction scheme claimed addicts were now clean of drugs as the course ended.
Twelve long term addicts underwent a two-week course of neuro-electric therapy which is aimed at reducing cravings for drugs at a remote Lanarkshire farmhouse.
According to organisers, 10 out of the 12 are now drug free.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday, 18 February 2007

Details of sex offenders may be posted on internet
Justice minister Cathy Jamieson announced yesterday that details of high risk sex offenders may be posted on the internet in a bid to warn parents.
She warned that if offenders fail to co-operate with the police or abscond from the address they have given to authorities, their details and pictures could be published.
Source:- The Scotsman,  Monday 19 February 2007

Welsh news

NSPCC questionnaire blasted
An NSPCC training booklet designed to help Welsh sports coaches to identify child abuse has been labelled a “joke” by a trainee coach.
The coach said that some of the questions were ridiculous such as those which tested coaches on whether it is acceptable for parents to have sex with their children.
The questions are contained in the booklet: Protecting Children: A Guide for Sportspeople, produced with SportsCoach UK.
Source:- Wales on Sunday, 18 February 2007

Old folk can see out their days at care home
Older people will be able to stay living in a closure-threatened home if it is found that their lives would be at risk if they were moved.
Cardiff Council’s executive committee made the pledge at the same time that it agreed to the closure of the Iorwerth Jones home in Llanishen, Cardiff.
The committee said that to move people whose lives would be at risk from the move would breach article 2 of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees an absolute right to life.
Source:- South Wales Echo, Saturday 17 February 2007