From left to right Janet Harrison, Jo Ashcroft, Jennifer O’Neil, Diane Moore, Sue Blackburn, Julie Skerry, Alison Gordon.

The girls did the 5K run at Shirdley Park on June 27th 2007 on behalf of cancer research ‘Race for Life’.

Below is the link to the site, it’s an all women race raising money for breast cancer!

To make a donation please visit: http://www.raceforlife.org/prepaypage.aspx

Dave Achilles Partner of the Practice who’s specialist area is Criminal Law took part in a cycle challenge on the 18th July 2010 from Liverpool – Chester – Liverpool return journey clocking up 54 miles via the Mersey Tunnel to raise money for the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital at Broad Green.

The picture was taken at more or less the halfway point, rain bucketing it down and still another 27 miles to go!

Well done Dave, still looking good!

The British Property Federation (BPF) has called the 1 million empty homes in the UK a ‘shameful waste’. According to the BPF there are over 4 million people on housing waiting lists in Britain and they believe reviving the current empty homes would provide a good-value solution. Their research has shown that bringing a house back into use can take as little as £10,000, a fraction of the £100,000 cost of building a new social home from scratch. Furthermore, the BPF claims the ‘social housing crunch’ has been exacerbated by a £450m cut in the Homes and Communities Agency’s budget that has caused it to scrap two of its Kickstart housing funding projects, while a drop off in section 106 contributions has also reduced new affordable housing.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said:

“It’s a shameful waste that so many homes are empty while millions of families living in poverty or without permanent housing. Renovating empty homes is an opportunity for the government to get people of housing waiting lists and into ‘good as new’ homes; it will also save them money and reduce the burden off of over-stretched councils at a time when housing benefit is also being slashed. Awarding renovation grants will remove eyesores from the local community and rectify lost incomes for the owner and surrounding landlords. It is a win-win situation for the owner of empty properties and the campaign to recycle existing housing stock. With the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review we can expect local authority funding to be cut further. But housing need will not go away and while there is no silver bullet solution, renovating empty homes is a cheap and useful contribution to a huge problem. It would also tackle some of the problems caused by empty homes, which can attract petty crime, squatters, fly tipping, vandalism and occasionally arson – forcing areas with high numbers of empty homes into a spiral of decline.”

Ossie James, a frail 74 year old man from South London, has been found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey. James was jailed for five years for stabbing his son through the heart because he returned home with a different takeaway than the one his father has asked for. The victim, Josie who was 44, had left their home to get a Chinese meal as they had agreed but returned with chicken and chips instead. James, who was described as a ‘rigid and controlling man’ by a court psychiatrist, had picked up a kitchen knife and plunged it into his son in anger.

When police arrived at the house they found him sitting in a chair. He had to be restrained when they tried to handcuff him. Judge Richard Hawkins said: “Josie returned with a takeaway and you were not happy with what was brought back and its condition. An argument followed with your son. It is right to say Josie was strong and you are somewhat frail.” The sentence was shorter than normal sue to the age of the defendant.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has revealed the extensive action that has been taken across the UK to tackle the huge problem of counterfeiting and piracy. The Annual IP Crime Report shows that millions of fake items were seized through operations into everything from market traders to internet auction sites. Her Majesty Revenue Customs seized over 2100 consignments containing four million items during 2009/10. The goods had an estimated value of £40 million, based on the price of the genuine item. Trading Standards, police, the UK Border Agency and the IPO’s Intelligence Hub have all collaborated on the project with raids uncovering thousands of items of counterfeit goods as well as 25 kilos of Class B controlled drugs being seized.

Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox said:

“Counterfeiting and piracy are a major threat to the British economy. They take sales from legitimate businesses and put jobs in danger. Fake goods often pose a real threat to the people buying them. We have seen cigarettes with dangerous levels of chemicals, electrical goods that are a fire risk and toys that are a danger to our children. I am pleased to see everyone coming together: police, trading standards, industry, the Intellectual Property Office, and others to tackle this menace. The real key to beating this threat is the public. People must refuse to buy anything they suspect is not genuine and report the seller to their trading standards or police.”

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a campaign aimed at ensuring private investigators follow the correct notification procedures. As they are handling people’s private data they are subject to the Data Protection Act in the same way that all other organisations are. Many private investigators routinely process personal data such as information about people’s private lives, financial data and images but the number of investigators on the register is much less than the number known to be operating in the UK.

David Smith, Deputy Commissioner at the ICO, said: “We want to work with the industry to ensure all private investigators meet the legal requirement to notify us that they are processing personal information. A targeted approach working with stakeholders and membership bodies has proved highly successful in other sectors. We will be writing to organisations providing them with advice and encouragement to notify. However, if that encouragement is ignored, we will take action against those who flout the law. The message is very clear – notify with the ICO.

Barnardo’s says children are being left in abusive homes longer than necessary due to court delays. Vulnerable children are being “damaged” by delays in care proceedings in England and Wales, a charity has said.

Barnardo’s wants to see a 30-week limit after figures showed children waited an average of 57 weeks – sometimes in abusive homes – for county courts to make care or supervision orders. In family courts, proceedings took an average of 45 weeks, it said.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government was “committed to reducing unnecessary delays”.

Barnardo’s said court data showed that at the end of 2009 there were 50% more unresolved care proceedings cases than at the end of 2008. According to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) in England, new applications accounted for less than half of this increase – suggesting the courts were taking longer to close a significant number of cases, it argued.

Barnardo’s chief executive Martin Narey said uncertainty had spread through family courts, with “additional, sequential expert assessments being routinely ordered”. “This, paired with the evident lack of credence given to social workers, is causing unnecessary delay,” he said.

“The courts need urgently to reflect on the damage these delays are having on extremely vulnerable children.” He said a year of a child’s life was “an inordinate amount of time for them to be trapped in desperate limbo, unclear of their future and very possibly at risk”.

“During this time, these children might remain at home with neglectful or abusive birth families or be living in emergency foster care, expected to settle with families they may subsequently have to leave. “At a time when stable relationships and secure attachments are vital for a child, they are instead engulfed in a period of uncertainty and confusion,” he said.

Boy’s two-year wait for care order

In one case highlighted by Barnardo’s, two-year-old Michael was removed from home on an emergency protection order (Epo). He had wait more than two years for his full care order, by which time he was four years and four months old. It was another year and a half before he was placed with an adoptive family. Michael went through 11 placement changes between the first Epo and adoption.

He was involved in parenting skills assessments at two different family centres and was also seen by a psychiatrist. A social worker from an adoption team saw him six times, and he had three different allocated social workers. The boy was placed in the care of his father and his father’s partner on a trial basis but the arrangement broke down. The same thing happened 10 months later.

Barnardo’s also said the figures – which were revealed in written answers to Parliamentary questions from Liberal Democrat MP Annette Brooke – also revealed a “postcode lottery” for children awaiting care. In London, county court proceedings in 2008-09 took an average of 65 weeks, while similar proceedings in Humber and South Yorkshire took 46 weeks.

The figures covered only cases where a care or supervision order was made, not cases where orders were refused, where emergency protection was given, or where children were put in secure accommodation.

‘Radical culture shift’

There are no comparable figures in Scotland, where care decisions are handled by the welfare-based Children’s Hearing system rather than the courts. Family lawyer Christina Blacklaws said social workers dealing with public law cases were often inexperienced, lacking in confidence and simply “overwhelmed” by their workload. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In London, we’re running at 33% vacancy rate for social workers… so even if they have the ability to undertake these complex and difficult assessments, they just don’t have the time.”

A lack of court judges and the number of days they sat further delayed proceedings by months, she added.

Barnardo’s said there needed to be a “radical culture shift in court practice” and said the government should give “urgent consideration” to a number of measures, including setting new limits to ensure all cases were dealt with within 30 weeks, or 12 weeks for children under 18 months.

‘Detrimental effect’

Hugh Thornbery, director of children’s services at Action for Children, said the figures were “a cause for serious concern” and called for more to be done to ensure vulnerable and neglected children were not left in limbo.

“For children who are unable to stay with their birth families, entering the care system is an extremely uncertain and unsettling time, and it’s critical that their care provision provides them with the stable and secure home environment that they need.

“Being left languishing in emergency foster placements for unknown extended periods of time can only have a detrimental effect on children, and risks giving them a false sense of security at a time when they need stability the most,” he said.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said a family justice review was under way and 4,000 extra sitting days were added to family courts this year to deal with cases.

“The panel leading the review shares Barnardo’s concerns and has met its representatives to discuss suggestions for reform,” he said.

“We are also exploring proposals to make better use of local performance groups to give local decision makers more ownership of the system, empowering them to tackle the local causes of delay.

“The government is clear that every child’s case should be dealt with as quickly as possible to minimise trauma and keep young people safe from harm.”

Naphyrone, often known as ‘NRG1′, and related substances have been banned and made Class B drugs, as of Friday 23 July 2010.

Banning Naphyrone

The decision to make Naphyrone illegal was based on the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

The ACMD found that the substance, often labelled ‘100 per cent legal’ or ‘plant food’, has considerable potential for misuse and accidental overdose.

Likely harmful effects of Naphyrone include:

• adverse effects on the heart and blood vessels
• hyperthermia
• dependence
• psychiatric effects

Minister for crime prevention James Brokenshire said: “I want to send a clear message to anyone considering buying a ‘legal high’ – just because they are advertised as ‘legal’ does not mean that they are safe and they may not be legal.

“You are putting your health at risk and could be committing a criminal offence.”

There were nearly ten recorded incidents a day of trespass and vandalism on railway lines in the last year, figures from Network Rail have revealed. By taking short cuts, spraying graffiti, playing chicken with trains or placing objects on the tracks, young people are not just putting their own lives at risk, but endangering other people as well.

As the summer holidays begin, Network Rail is encouraging young people to take up more positive activities than taking risks on the tracks. Campaign is working with local community groups and clubs to hold events across Britain. As well as loads of different sports you can try DJing, street dancing, street art and much more.

Incidents on the railway

A shocking 49 people died after trespassing on the tracks in the last year; with a quarter of trespass deaths young people aged 11-20. While adults commit more crimes, young people take more risks and their actions are more dangerous – such as playing chicken and graffiti spraying in hard to reach locations. Adult crimes tend to be more platform-to-platform trespass and taking short cuts.

People placing things on the railway line is another major problem. Items placed on railway lines over the last year include:

• 180 bikes
• 76 shopping trolleys
• 7 prams
• 3 trampolines and another dropped onto a train
• 3 televisions
• 1 bouncy castle

An agreement has been struck between the police and the mobile phone industry to close a loophole which sees roughly 100,000 stolen mobile phones being sold to recycling companies every year.

New industry code of practice

At the moment, 90 per cent of handsets reported stolen in the UK are blocked across all networks within 48 hours of reporting. This makes them useless in the UK to criminals trying to sell them on.

However, blocked phones can still be used abroad and as the recycling industry exports many of the handsets it buys this has created a new market for stolen phones.
To combat this trade in stolen mobile phones, 20 recycling companies have signed up to a new industry code of practice.

Under the new code, companies will check the details of every phone they are offered against the National Mobile Phone Register, a database of all phones reported stolen.

If the handset has been reported as stolen the company will refuse to buy the phone and details of the phone and the person trying to sell it to them will be passed to police to investigate.

The recyclers who have so far signed up to the code are:

• 20 – 20 Mobile
• Anovo
• Carphone Warehouse
• Earthmobile Ltd
• Eazyfone
• EMC Recycle
• Fone Hub
• Greener Solution
• Mazuma Mobile
• Mobile Phone Exchange
• Mobile Phone Recycling Organisation
• Money for Your Phone
• Recipero
• Redeem PLC
• Regenersis
• Royal Mail
• RPC Recycle
• SHP Solutions
• Virgin Media
• West One Technology

Source: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_189551