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The following are summaries of recent news items culled from the media

Paedophiles exploit gap in law CONVICTED sex offenders are going to ground and evading police checks on their whereabouts because of a legal loophole, the Daily Express reveals. Police officers from child protection units across England and Wales warn that the gap in the law means potentially dangerous offenders can slip through the net designed to safeguard the public. A call for the Government to act urgently to close the loophole will be made tomorrow at the Police Federation conference in Brighton. Under the Sex Offenders Act all those convicted or cautioned have to sign the sex offenders' register and have a duty to tell police where they are living. The precaution means that police have a record of known offenders which can be vital when children go missing. Serious offenders jailed for more than 30 months must register for life, while adults convicted of minor offences like kerb-crawling are put on for five years. But police have learned that in cases where the courts give relatively minor sex offenders a conditional or absolute discharge, they have no legal obligation to stay in contact with their local police. There are 10,000 sex offenders registered in England and Wales but sources indicate that around 300 who should be on the list have disappeared.A Home Office spokeswoman said the register was being evaluated to see if it was working properly. "The issue of conditional discharges is one we are looking at," she added. Express Newspapers, 16 May 2000

TEACHER WILL NOT BE PROSECUTED OVER SAILING LESSON DEATH A teacher who led a boat trip on which a nine-year-old drowned will not face criminal prosecution, it was announced today. A Hampshire Police spokeswoman said no action would be taken against teacher Paul Dove, on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service. Mr Dove, a science teacher at Boundary Oak school in Fareham, Hants, led a school sailing lesson in September last year in which Elizabeth Bee drowned. The youngster, from Waterlooville, died when a 14ft motor boat capsized in Portsmouth Harbour during a routine sailing lesson, plunging Elizabeth, her twin sister Victoria and eight other children into the water. The others were saved but Elizabeth died later in hospital, despite attempts to resuscitate her. Mr Dove, 64, was arrested four weeks later and questioned but released without charge on police bail. A Health and Safety Executive investigation into the tragedy is still being carried out and an inquest is expected to be held into the death, police said.Boundary Oak headteacher Roger Bliss said tonight: "We are very pleased for Mr Dove that the anguish that he has lived through all these months since last September can now been put behind him." He said the school had always believed the death had been "a tragic accident", but added: "Whatever happens now it doesn't bring Elizabeth back." Mr Bliss said Mr Dove was still at the private school and was due to retire in July, as previously planned. Press Association Wednesday, May 10, 2000

PARLIAMENT IN YOUTH JUSTICE PLEA Child welfare groups have urged the Scottish Parliament to overhaul the country's youth justice system by keeping young offenders out of prison. An influential think tank set up by COSLA and NCH Action for Children called for services tackling the causes for crime rather than concentrating on punishment as new figures revealed Scotland has the second highest rate in Europe for imprisoning young people. The report, Meeting Needs, Addressing Deeds, said 1613 young people were jailed in 1988 for petty offences. It also claimed that of 4586 teenagers aged between 16 and 18 sentenced to prison in 1997, 3905 were jailed for minor crimes at a cost of £40million. Alan Miller of the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration said: "It's a myth that prison is the tough option and community based rehabilitation is a soft option." Scottish Daily Mail.

Consultations about Standards for Early Years Day Provision The DfEE has been holding preliminary discussions, with a view to the circulation of documents for consultation about national standards for the inspection of day services for young children. Up to now, it has been for each local authority to determine its own standards, but the DfEE has decided that OFSTED will run the whole system throughout England. The Department's intention is to establish core standards which apply to all areas of service, and then to draw up detailed specification based on the core standards but adapted to each type of provision. It is anticipated that the consultation documents will be made available in a couple of months time.

COUPLE JAILED FOR NEGLECTING CHILDREN A couple from Brighton have been jailed for child cruelty in one of the worst cases of neglect police say they have ever come across. The pair were cleared of murdering three children last year. Lewes Crown Court heard the family had lived in squalor, and the children were filthy and underfed. The mother was jailed for two and a half years and her partner for two years. Neither can be named for legal reasons.

Residential Child Care Training in Scotland After many months of waiting - presumably delayed by the establishment of the Scottish Parliament - it has been decided that of the two competing consortia, the one including the University of Strathclyde and the Residential Child Care Centre should run the training system for residential childcare workers in Scotland. This is good news, as the Centre has done much to put Scottish residential child care on a sound footing. In particular, Meg Lindsay has given the type of enthusiastic lead which the service needs to maintain its sense of momentum and morale. Appointments are now being made so that the consortium can get off the ground in two months' time.

Paedophile Jailed : A New Act Used for the First Time (CRY News - click here)

 

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