Prisoners to move into residential areas
Dozens of residential homes being turned into privately run bail hostels
without consultation with neighbours will soon be taking in criminals
released early from overcrowded jails.
Local authorities are angry that Clearsprings, the private company contracted
by the Government to run the 150 hostels in England and Wales, has been able
to bypass planning procedures. MPs have also only just been informed if they
have a hostel in their constituency. The list of locations was obtained by
Channel 4 News.
Clearsprings said that occupants would be “low risk”, but while state-run
hostels are supervised around the clock, Clearsprings’ hostels will not be.
Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “It’s wrong to house
prisoners in residential areas simply because the Government has failed to
provide enough jail spaces.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “Clearsprings is under a contractual obligation
to consult in areas where they are to open bail accommodation. Any reports
that it has failed to do so will be investigated.”
School stripper
A drama teacher who allowed a stripper to parade in her class has avoided
suspension. The mother of a pupil at Arnold Hill School and Technology
College, Nottingham, had booked a gorilla-suited man to surprise her son on
his 16th birthday. Instead the stripper, dressed as a policewoman, turned
up.
Tindall drink charge
Mike Tindall, the England rugby player, has been charged with drink-driving.
Tindall, 29, was stopped by police on the M4 in March, the day after
attending a party at the Cheltenham Racing Festival with his girlfriend,
Zara Phillips. He has been bailed to appear at Reading Magistrates’ Court on
May 14.
BA’s losing streak
British Airways lost a higher proportion of bags and operated more delayed
flights than any other European airline in the first three months of this
year, according to the Association of European Airlines. The airline lost 29
bags per 1,000 passengers, or an average of 10 per jumbo jet flight.
Hepatitis tests for cruise passengers
Hundreds of passengers who spent the first three months of the year on a round
the world cruise are being tested for hepatitis. Seven people who were on
the P&O liner Aurora have been diagnosed with hepatitis E, which is
endemic in many tropical countries. The victims, who are all in their
fifties and sixties, turned yellow and suffered sickness and diarrhoea.
Most of the 1,800 passengers were unaware of the outbreak until they received
letters after returning home. They were advised to have blood tests and
questioned about what they ate and drank on the ship to try to trace the
source of the outbreak.
Exam papers to be pulped after theft
Thousands of GCSE and A-level examination papers due to be taken this month
are to be pulped after copies were stolen from a van (Alexandra Frean
writes).
Britain's biggest exam board, the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA)
admitted that 40 papers, covering subjects including biology, French and
media studies, went missing after a Parcelforce van was stolen during a raid
two weeks ago.
The van was taking the papers to an exam centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
AQA said that the board had decided to issue new papers with different
questions, in case any of the missing ones had got into the hands of
candidates. Schools and examination centres that had received the papers
safely had been asked to return them.
China criticised as Christian faces jail
A British company fearing for the life of an employee detained in China for
illegal religious activities has accused the Beijing authorities of “rampant
hypocrisy” as they prepare to stage the Olympic Games (Ashling O'Connor
writes).
Jirehouse Capital, a London-based finance house, is trying to secure the
release of Alimujiang Yimiti, a Chinese national and Uyghur Christian, who
was arrested in January.
The married father of two, who has been denied legal counsel, is to be
sentenced imminently in the western region of Xinjiang. The charge, invoked
to cover a multitude of crimes, carries a maximum punishment of death.
Inquest backlog falls
The backlog of inquests into Service personnel killed overseas is 91, down
from 114 in January. Bridget Prentice, Justice Minister, said there were 37
outstanding inquests into deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan where bodies were
repatriated before March 2007 and a further 49 involving repatriation after
April 1, 2007.
Flu therapy hope
A new flu therapy has been developed in the US that could form part of a rapid
pandemic response. Researchers made antibodies that neutralise the virus by
turning volunteers into human factories with a simple vaccination. This
takes a month, compared with the standard three months, Nature reported.
Ambulance robbery
An ambulance driver has been attacked and robbed while driving through Greater
Manchester. The 39-year-old man had pulled up in Withington, south of the
city, on Friday afternoon, after hearing a bang on the side of his vehicle.
On leaving the ambulance, he was struck on the back of the neck and fell to
the ground, before the attacker rifled his pockets and stole cash.
Jersey rape charge
A man appeared in court in Jersey charged with raping and sexually assaulting
a 12-year-old girl. Claude Donnelly, 68, of St Brelade, who was charged with
assaulting her between 1971 and 1974, was granted conditional bail. The
charges were made by police investigating alleged abuse at the Haut de la
Garenne children's home, but officers said that the allegations did not
relate directly to the home.
Cold War replay
RAF fighters have been scrambled at least 21 times in the last year to
intercept Russian military planes, after Vladimir Putin's return to Cold
War-style long-range patrols by Russian bombers. In a Commons written answer
yesterday, Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces Minister, said that although none
of the aircraft penetrated British national airspace, the planes either
entered or approached the Nato surveillance area, for which Britain is
responsible.
CSA cash tops £1bn
Child maintenance payments collected or arranged by the Child Support Agency
(CSA) topped £1 billion for the first time over the past 12 months,
according to figures issued by the Office for National Statistics. The
money, which was collected or arranged in the 12 months to March, benefited
749,300 children according to the figures, which were hailed as “really good
news” by James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary.
Phillips case dropped
Captain Mark Phillips, the Princess Royal's former husband, attended Bristol
Crown Court to hear a judge rule in his favour and halt a prosecution
against his eventing company. Equiland and two of its directors - Timothy
Clayton and Timothy Henson - were previously charged with failing to
discharge a duty. The charge, which they denied, related to the staff
training policy for quadbikes.
Migrants are leaving
One million Eastern European immigrants have come to Britain since 2004 - but
half have now left. The left-of-centre think-tank, the Institute for Public
Policy Research, said that the figures highlighted the gulf between
government predictions, that EU expansion would only lead to tens of
thousands coming to Britain, and the reality. However, it also stressed that
numbers were tailing off — and that many of the migrants planned to go home.
War bomb blown up
A huge Second World War bomb has finally been safely blown up at sea, a week
after the Royal Navy admitted that it had “misplaced” it. The 1,100lb German
device, dating back to 1942, washed up on a beach in Felixstowe, Suffolk,
last Monday. Navy experts towed it two miles offshore but it went missing
after a marker buoy broke free. It was found after a five-day search by an
unmanned robot submarine.
Poor hygiene is key
Computer users are warned today that dirty keyboards can endanger their
health. Which? magazine swabbed 33 computer keyboards at its London office.
One keyboard had 150 times the pass limit of bacteria and was five times
dirtier than a toilet seat. Which? said that the main cause is eating lunch
at desks.
A bride at 94
A 94-year-old woman has remarried in the same church where she married her
first husband almost 70 years ago. Bess Atkins, believed to be Britain's
oldest bride, married Winston Barraclough, 86, a retired police chief
inspector, at St Nicholas Church in Hornsea, East Yorkshire. The couple met
three years ago. Bess married her first husband, Charles, at the same church
ten days before the outbreak of the Second World War. He died in 1968.
