News round-up: Sexual abuse by women double in five years

ChildLine reports of sexual abuse by women double in five years

New figures show a 132 per cent rise in complaints of female sexual assaults to the helpline service in this period, compared with a 27 per cent increase in reports of abuse by men.

Some 2,142 children told ChildLine last year they had been sexually abused by a woman – nearly a quarter of all calls where the offender’s gender could be identified.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph

Rise in divorce actions puts extra strain on children, solicitors warn

The number of divorce and separation cases being fought in the courts that involve children has risen, with £151m of legal aid money being spent on litigation, according to figures released today.

The distress experienced by children whose parents are divorcing is cause for increasing concern, experts say, as the rising number of cases places a further burden on the struggling family court system.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Chief prosecutor demands curb on police cautions

The top prosecutor has demanded an end to the use of police cautions to deal with thousands of serious assaults every year amid concern that the justice system is failing to rein in violent offenders.

Keir Starmer, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, is seeking a review of so-called “instant justice”, with up to 40,000 assults each year now dealt with by on-the-spot cautions.

Read more on this story in The Times

Mother trailed by policeman and warned by council for telling off son at checkout

A mother fears she has been ‘criminalised’ for giving her children a ticking-off in a supermarket.

She was secretly followed home by an off-duty policeman who overheard her threatening to smack them unless they behaved.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

GPs told to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs and colds

The European Centre of Disease prevention and Control is to write to all GPs warning them of the dangers of routinely handing out the drugs.

Experts at the influential centre, based in Stockholm which is focused on controlling infectious diseases in Europe, say the prescription of the pills, which are not necessary in most cases, is fuelling the rise in the number of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph

Johnson: we need a debate on migration

In a candid interview with The Independent, Mr Johnson admitted that Labour’s failure to debate immigration had “probably” boosted the BNP’s appeal.

“People think we have shied away from a debate on it. They may well be right,” he said. “My post bag is bigger on immigration than any other issue. It is a major public concern. The public deserves a rational debate on this, rather than what they sometimes get, which is at the extreme end of the scale.”

Read more on this story in The Independent