Demand for public inquiry into death of Brandon Muir

Demand for public inquiry into death of Brandon Muir

Child protection workers in Dundee took three weeks to hold an “urgent case conference” into the case of Brandon Muir, the toddler killed by his mother’s drug addict partner, a report on the events surrounding the tragedy said yesterday. By that time, the 23 month-old child was dead.

Last night, a public inquiry into Scotland’s child protection system was demanded as it emerged that the three week delay was not considered unusual.
Read more on this story in The Times

Brandon Muir: Social workers knew of mother’s chaotic life

The 67-page report into the short life of Brandon Muir details a series of shortcomings in the system that was there to protect him.

He died only two days before police, social workers and health workers in Dundee were to discuss his case and possibly decide whether he should be removed from the home where he stayed with his mother, Heather Boyd, and her violent partner, Robert Cunningham.

Read more on this story in The Times

NHS care home refunds are the tip of the iceberg

It comes in the wake of the cases of three families who won long battles to reclaim the nursing care fees that they were incorrectly charged by NHS trusts.

Lisa Morgan, a medical lawyer who acted for one of the families, warned that the three cases were just the “tip of the iceberg”.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph

Liver cancer rising due to alcohol and obesity

Rising rates of obesity and alcohol abuse have fuelled an increase in cases of liver cancer, according to figures published today.

Cases of the disease more than tripled from 865 cases in 1975 to more than 3,100 in 2006, the Cancer Research UK data shows.

Read more on this story in The Times

Probation boss Phil Wheatley wants fewer community sentences

Community sentences should be replaced by fines for thousands of offenders, the head of the Probation Service says.

Phil Wheatley told The Times that his service was at risk of being overwhelmed because the courts were sentencing too many offenders to community service.

Read more on this story in The Times

Baby P stepdad Steven Barker to appeal sentence

Baby P’s torturing stepdad has launched a sickening legal bid to have his jail term for the rape of a tot slashed.
Steven Barker, 33, says evidence the youngster gave was flawed and his life sentence – set at a minimum of ten years – should be overturned.

Read more on this story in The Sun

Tories to hike alcohol taxes

The Tories have unveiled radical plans to crack down on the binge-drinking culture.
They would treble taxes on alcopops and strong lagers and ciders, outlaw ‘loss leader’ sales in supermarkets and strip takeaways and food stores of late-night licences.
Such tax changes would mean a four-pack of extra-strong lager such as Carlsberg Special Brew costing an extra £1.30, a bottle of powerful cider an extra £1.25 and a bottle of alcopop an extra 50p. But duty on low alcohol products would be slashed.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail