They thanked the people of Elton Cheshire where the family lived and elsewhere who have given

They thanked the people of Elton, Cheshire, where the family lived, and elsewhere “who have given us so much support over the last three-and-a-half years”.The Woodwards posed for photographs outside the court, but refused to answer questions.During the trial, which had been scheduled to last three weeks, the jury was told that donations of about £250,000 had flooded into the appeal fund from around the world after Louise’s arrest for the killing of Matthew Eappen.The au pair, now 22, was convicted of the baby’s second-degree murder in October 1997, but the trial judge later reduced the verdict to one of manslaughter and freed her by sentencing her to the 279 days she had spent awaiting trial.During the case the prosecution alleged the couple used a bogus invoice to defraud £9,113 from the Louise Woodward and Family Trust.Mr Woodward, a joiner, of Regent Street, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and Mrs Woodward, a clerical worker, of Marsh Lane, Elton, Cheshire, had been accused of falsely claiming for the cost of accommodation at the home of their daughter’s Boston lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, before and during Louise Woodward’s trial.Mrs Whitfield Sharp gave evidence in court against the couple last week.. The trial of retired police superintendent accused of manslaughter over the deaths of 96 soccer fans at Hillsborough stadium in 1989 has abandoned with no option for a retrial. The trial of retired police superintendent accused of manslaughter over the deaths of 96 soccer fans at Hillsborough stadium in 1989 has abandoned with no option for a retrial.
Jurors at Leeds Crown Court had failed to reach a verdict on Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, who was in charge of crowd control when the Liverpool fans were crushed to death.”The jury couldn’t reach a verdict so the proceedings are finished.” a court official said. “There will be no retrial.”Duckenfield’s deputy, Superintendent Bernard Murray, was cleared by the same jury on Friday.Relatives of the Hillsborough victims brought the rare private prosecution against the pair after the government turned down calls for a new inquiry into the deaths of the fans.Lawyers for the families had argued the fans died in a crush because the two defendants allowed severe overcrowding on one of the stadium’s terraces.The disaster at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, was the worst in British sporting history.. Three schoolboys have been found guilty of the murder of a 15-year-old youth in which they re-enacted a violent scene from the film Reservoir Dogs in a children’s playground. Three schoolboys have been found guilty of the murder of a 15-year-old youth in which they re-enacted a violent scene from the film Reservoir Dogs in a children’s playground.
The three 16-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, launched a sustained and violent attack – sparked by jealousy over a girl – on Michael Moss in which one of the boys mimicked the cult film by trying to cut off their victim’s ear in Litherland, Merseyside, Liverpool Crown Court was told.Seven men and five women jurors delivered a unanimous verdict on the boys from Liverpool, after deliberating for nearly 12 hours.During a two-and-a-half week trial, the court was told how the victim was lured to a school playing field yards from the adolescent centre where he was a resident in the early hours of November 13 last year.One of the attackers – boy A – was jealous that Michael had begun dating his former girlfriend, a 14-year-old girl who cannot be named.Cornering Michael by a climbing frame, boy A floored him with a single head-butt and, stripping him naked apart from his socks, he and boy B rained countless punches and kicks about his head, chest, back and groin..

Nightmare neighbours who terrorise people on some of Britain’s roughest and poorest estates should be offered cash and other benefits in return for good behaviour, say researchers. Nightmare neighbours who terrorise people on some of Britain’s roughest and poorest estates should be offered cash and other benefits in return for good behaviour, say researchers.
A report, by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a centre-left thinktank, found threatening people with conviction and using the law to fight anti-social behaviour is not improving life on large housing estates for thousands of people.The study of the future of social housing found councils or housing associations which reward tenants with a yearly bonus for good behaviour, such as paying rent on time, looking after their garden and property, or getting involved in community activities, have reduced late-night noise, anti-social behaviour and vandalism.The researchers say other benefits that could be offered should include low-cost home insurance, discounts on household goods, or access to training and work opportunities.The proposals for new “contracts” between landlords and tenants in social housing to prevent anti-social behaviour are the result of a year-long IPPR Forum on the Future of Social Housing.The Forum, made up of Britain’s leading housing experts, believes rewarding good behaviour by benefits and cash is the only way to improve the life chances of people in our most deprived neighbourhoods and ensure everyone has the bedrock of a decent home in a safe community.”The government has been rightly congratulated for its major investment in public services, but without tackling the apartheid at the heart of housing system the money will alleviate some of the symptoms but may not tackle the root causes,” said Matthew Taylor, director of the IPPR.”Housing is a significant factor in determining health, educational attainment, safety and security. As a society we pay hugely, and in many ways, for the failure in housing.”Victor Adebowale, chief executive of Centrepoint and chair of the Forum, said: “Our vision for social housing is about a united approach, housing united across tenure, landlord, individual and community.”Tom Manion, chief executive of Irwell Valley Housing Association, which has 6,500 properties, introduced a reward scheme for good tenant behaviour two years ago. “A culture of non-payment of rent had built up on many estates, which led to breakdown in community relations,” he said.”The good-behaviour scheme has improved the situation. We now spend 27 per cent less on security, such as boarding up houses burglar alarms and dealing with vandalism than two years ago.”Four out of five people who live in the housing association accommodation are members of the Irwell Valley Gold Service scheme, and receive an individual bonus of £52 a year, low-cost contents insurance, education grants and scholarships.Of those originally rejected from the scheme because they were not good tenants, 60 per cent have changed their behaviour to qualify within two years.Only 1 per cent of residents was removed from the scheme for breaking the good-behaviour contract..

The most crime-ridden areas in England and Wales have been identified by the Government in a major programme to tackle the next generation of young offenders. The most crime-ridden areas in England and Wales have been identified by the Government in a major programme to tackle the next generation of young offenders.
In each of the 47 crime hot spots – which range from crumbling inner-city areas to sprawling edge-of-town council estates – the 50 worst offenders will be identified and targeted. The hot spots will be formally named today.The Government intends to cut the arrest rates of the targeted youths by 60 per cent in two years and to drive down the overall crime rates in the hot spots by 30 per cent in the same period. The £13m initiative was outlined to the The Independent last night by Charles Pollard, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley and a member of the Government’s Youth Justice Board.Mr Pollard said a small number of young serial offenders were creating “cultures of fear and helplessness” in the country’s most crime-hit areas and that research had shown there was a need to tackle the 3 per cent of offenders who were typically responsible for 25 per cent of overall crime.He added: “They create an atmosphere on an estate, which arouses fear in people living there and encourages other youngsters to get involved in criminality through peer pressure.”The scheme is being jointly funded by the Home Office, the Youth Justice Board, the Department for Employment, Transport and the Regions and the Department for Education and Employment.Officials in the 47 most run-down local authorities in the country, as identified by the DFEE’s Index of Deprivation, were asked to nominate a specific neighbourhood or estate plagued by crime.Teachers, police officers and car workers will pool information on local youngsters with previous convictions, records of truancy or school exclusion.They will then draw up a list of the 50 youngsters aged 13-16 who represent the greatest risk of criminal activity in the neighbourhood.The initiative – known as the Youth Inclusion Programme – has a further aim of reducing by a third the levels of truancy and school exclusion in the hot-spot neighbourhoods during the next two years.Youngsters at risk will be offered treatment for drug and alcohol misuse and classes in literacy and numeracy.

They will also be offered after-school activities and vocational training.YIPs have been piloted in 10 areas around the country since last September and early indications show that a comprehensive approach to youth offending is helping to divert youngsters from crime.It is hoped that local people will volunteer to help with the activities programmes so that they will continue after the end of the scheme in 2002.Mr Pollard said: “I am sure that people will have no objections to their neighbourhoods being labelled as high-crime areas. They want their estates to be nicer and safer places to live and this programme will help to achieve that.”Louise Bennett, the Board’s senior policy adviser on the Youth Inclusion Programme, said: “Nearly all the communities have welcomed the scheme. Residents see it as a good way to reduce the nuisance behaviour on their estates.”. The radical lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, who represented Stephen Lawrence’s family, is to defend the man accused of shooting dead Jill Dando. The radical lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, who represented Stephen Lawrence’s family, is to defend the man accused of shooting dead Jill Dando.
Mr Mansfield has agreed to act as lead counsel for Barry George, 40, who is charged with murdering Ms Dando on 26 April 1999 on the doorstep of her home in Gowan Avenue, west London.The barrister is best known for his cross-examination of police officers involved in the bungled murder investigation into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1993.More recently, he agreed to represent the families of two black men, Errol and Jason McGowan, who were found dead in mysterious circumstances in Telford, Shropshire.He represented the family of Ricky Reel at his inquest, where the jury sided with the family in returning an open verdict, rejecting the police’s account that the Asian teenager’s death was accidental.

He also represented the family of the IRA man Diarmuid O’Neill at the inquest into his killing.He is a leading and founding member of the national civil rights movement, set up inresponse to the Macphersonreport into the Lawrence case to campaign for racial justice.Mr George, an unemployed musician of Crookham Road, Fulham, southwest London, who also calls himself Bulsara after the real name of the late Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen, was remanded in custody yesterday at Bow Street magistrates’ court in central London.Wearing a dark blue short- sleeve shirt and tan trousers, he said he was happy to appear again in court next Monday.. Naz aims to steal two mobile phones or car radios – preferably both – every 24 hours to feed his £60-a-day crack and heroin habit. Naz aims to steal two mobile phones or car radios – preferably both – every 24 hours to feed his £60-a-day crack and heroin habit.
The baseball-capped 17-year-old is one of the disenfranchised youngsters at the heart of the drugs and crime problem that has made the Bury Park area of Luton in Bedfordshire one of 50 areas to be targeted by the Youth Justice Board.High unemployment and years of miss-targeted social funding have left Bury Park’s vibrant and predominantly Asian community facing the task of reclaiming their streets from drugs, theft and prostitution.Luton, a post-war sprawl once famed for making hats and now the home of Vauxhall Cars, has seen its crime rate increase by 9.2 per cent in the past 12 months with its Pakistani, Kashmiri and Bangladeshi neighbourhood bearing a large part of the burden.Naz, a second-generation Pakistani found sitting on a bench yesterday waiting for his lunchtime fix, said: “Mobiles are the best thing – people leave them in their cars or you just grab bags I know someone who gives me £30 a go. He sells them on for £100 I think.”Drugs is the best thing around here, there is nothing else for us to look forward to. You go out thieving in the shops or the streets and get enough to buy your bags [of drugs]. Everything is all right after that.”Community workers in Bury Park – a bustling mile-long strip of Asian food and clothing stores, wholesalers and importers surrounded by rows of terraced housing – admit drugs is their major problem, with the attendant difficulties of youth crime and unemployment.The jobless rate of 8.9 per cent in two council wards of Biscot and Dallow is double that of Luton as a whole and more than triple that for all Bedfordshire.