GRi British Press Review

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The Times

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Burglaries fall in Britain as drunken violence soars

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The British Crime Survey for last year has shown a sharp decrease in burglaries and car crime but a rise in drunken attacks by strangers, the Times reports on its front page.

According to the survey, overall crime fell by 10 per cent to an estimated 14.7 million offences. There were fewer burglaries in 1999 than any year since 1971, and 21 per cent fewer than in 1997. Vehicle crime fell by 15 per cent between 1997 and 1999.

The survey conducted among 19,411 people over 16, found that people in living in rural areas are more less likely to be victims of crime than those living in cities.

Researchers believe that the fall in crime rate is because low unemployment rate, high economic growth, tougher sentencing and even that offending might becoming unfashionable.

Home Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the report but said: "Crime is still far too high in this country. We are not complacent. We know more need to be done."

Extra 30,000 permits for foreign workers

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More than 30,000 extra overseas workers are in line to be granted work permits next year as part of a government drive to allow more well-qualified recruits into the country, the Times reports in its inside pages.

The figure, an increase of around 40 per cent on the 90,000 permits issued last year, follows a relaxation of rules unveiled earlier this.

Margaret Hodge, the Employment Minister, said on Monday that the government wanted to respond to the "acute shortages" in the sectors such as information technology. A failure to do so would inhibit growth," she told the Confederation of British Industry.

"If we are to maintain our competitiveness and to be ahead of the game, we need to have a system which enables us to attract the brightest and the best and which enables us to respond swiftly and efficiently to changing labour market pressures," she said.

Mrs Hodge paved the way for a substantial increase in the number of overseas workers, when she said that increasing globalisation meant that the transfer of individuals between countries would inevitably increase.

"Global business employ a global workforce, and we need to respond to that," she said, adding that Britain needed a system which enabled the country to "recruit the best talents available to us internationally."

Mrs Hodge's comments came as a Sikh barrister, Rabinder Singh, 36, was appointed the watchdog of Britain's visa system.

Rabinder, a human rights specialist who helped Cherie Booth, wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, to found Matrix Chambers, which advocates on human rights, will oversee the fairness of system and is the second person to hold that position after the Conservative Dame Elizabeth Anson, who has resigned.

As the holder of £350 a day post which has the title, 'the independent monitor of entry clearance (visa) refusal cases, Rabinder will be responsible for reviewing a sample of refused applications that do not have the right of appeal.

He will submit an annual report to on his finding to Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary.

Nigerian made to drink acid by ex-lover

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A court in Birmingham was on Monday told how a Nigerian Doctor, Katherine Longe, was made to drink acid by her ex-lover, who watched her writhe in agony as her internal organs dissolved.

The court was told Andrew Gardner, a Laboratory Technician, waited for more than 20 minutes before calling an ambulance as Katherine suffered the "torments of hell." She died later at the Heartlands hospital in Birmingham.

Gardner, 41, who worked at St Bartholomew's hospital, London, had beaten Katherine the previous week causing her to the relationship, the prosecuting lawyer, Stephen Lineham, said.

But while she had resolved to get on with her life, Gardner was not willing to let her go. On that day, he had telephoned her several times.

She arrived at their rented home about midday and somehow, Gardner made her to drink the 93 to 96 per cent acid contained in a drain-cleaning fluid.

Lineham said: "That acid was burning its way through the walls of her stomach and burning its way into her internal organs. It's almost impossible to imagine. But if you had seen or heard you would not need to imagine.

"Andrew Gardner was there. He witnessed it and heard the agony she was in. She had been cooked by the acid and dissolved by it."

Before calling an ambulance, Gardner telephoned a plumber to find out the effects of swallowing the drain cleaner and waited 23 minutes before dialling 999 for help.

He said the doctor had deliberately drank the liquid to harm herself and had complained of feeling unwell as they made love.

Lineham said before the ambulance arrived, Gardner fled to London with Katherine's credit cards, where he was arrested.

Gardner has denies murder. The trial continues.

Middle East conflict spreads to London buses

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In what is seen as a spiralling of the Middle East crisis, a Jewish man was stabbed several times in the head and chest while travelling on a bus by a man believed to be of Arab extraction.

His assailant escaped and got on another bus travelling in the opposite direction but it was stopped by police who arrested him.

The stabbing follows the distribution of leaflets with the message "Kill the Jews" in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

When the attack happened, the driver of the bus pulled up outside a bakery in Stamford Hill and locked in the attacker and his victim. Workers at the bakery offered the Jewish, aged about 25, first aid before an ambulance came to take him to hospital where he is said to be in a "serious but stable condition."

His assailant, brandishing a six inch hunting knife was able to escape from the locked bus and get onto another going in the opposite direction, before being apprehended by two uniformed policemen.

GRi