Baby Peter abusers sentenced

The mother of Baby P has been sentenced to an indefinite jail term for causing or allowing the death of her child.

The twenty seven year old must serve a minimum of five years in jail, including the twenty one months she has already been imprisoned following Peter’s death in August 2007.

Once her five year jail term has been served, she will only be released if she is no longer considered a risk to children – a point which was stressed by the judge in his summation when he said that both she and her boyfriend should be removed from children for a long time.

The judge also pointedly remarked that he did not believe that anyone in the small house in Haringey where Baby Peter was abused was unaware of what was happening to him, contradicting the mother’s argument that she did not know what was going on.

Her boyfriend, who Peter called “dad”, has also been jailed for twelve years for his part in the toddler’s death.

He has also been sentenced to a life sentence, minimum of ten years, after he was convicted on May 1 of raping a two-year-old girl.

Lodger Jason Owen, has also been jailed for a minimum of three years.

The reporting restrictions have still not been lifted from Baby Peter’s mother or her boyfriend.

In other sport….

TENNIS:  RAFAEL Nadal will appear in the ATP World Tour finals, it was confirmed this week.  The finals, which will be staged at London’s O2 Arena in November, are contested each year by only the top eight male players in the world.  Nadal’s tremendous form so far this season has ensured that he will be still in the top eight by November, regardless of how he performs between now and then.

RUGBY:  LEICESTER and Leinster meet in the Heineken Cup final in Edinburgh this Saturday and experts are anticipating a heated battle.

FORMULA ONE:  JENSON Button is anticipating a rough ride in Sunday’s Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.  The Brit, who drives for Brawn GP, leads the Formula One Drivers’ Championship having won four of the first five races this season.

SCOTTISH LEAGUE NEWS -

PREMIER:  KYLE Lafferty’s shocking antics in Rangers’ match against Aberdeen last weekend have once again brought the issue of diving into the limelight and the time is right for FIFA to make themselves heard.

DIVISION ONE:  St Johnstone’s Paul Sheerin, Graham Gartland and Kevin Rutkiewicz have all signed new one year deals.

DIVISION TWO:  AYR and Airdrie battled to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Division Two play-off final last night.

DIVISION THREE:  The Division Three promotion race will go down to the wire after a goal-less draw between Cowdenbeath and Stehousemuir in the play-off final last night.

Pringles are crisps

A HIGH court judge has ruled that Pringles are potato crisps, leaving makers Proctor and Gamble with a £100m tax bill.
The company failed to convince the judge that their product was a snack rather than a crisp.
Although made of a third fat and flour, it was ruled that they should not be exempt from VAT.

Joanna gets the job done for the Gurkhas

All Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years’ service will be allowed to settle in the UK, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said.

Ms Smith told MPs she was “proud to offer this country’s welcome to all who have served in the brigade of Gurkhas”.

Her announcement followed a high-profile campaign by actress Joanna Lumley and other supporters – and an embarrassing Commons defeat for the government.

Around 36,000 Gurkhas who left before 1997 were previously refused habitation in the United Kingdom.

Ms Lumley, who has become the public face of the Gurkhas’ campaign described Gordon Brown as a “brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave.”

Gurkhas, who are recruited from Nepal, have been part of the British Army for almost 200 years.

Shakhtar secure last Uefa win

SHAKHTAR Donetsk won the last ever UEFA Cup, beating Werder Bremen 2-1 after extra time on Wednesday.  97th minute strike from Rodrigues Jadson won the tie for the Ukranian side.

Shaktar’s victory means that they will go down in history as the last winners of the  tournament.  The UEFA Cup is to be replaced next season by a new competition, the Europa League.

Ferrari consider FIA future

FERRARI have confirmed that they will consider leaving Formula One after their appeal against the FIA’s budget cap proposals was rejected on Wednesday.  The FIA want to introduce an optional £40m cap in 2010 to protect teams during the global financial crisis. Teams that accept the cap will receive greater technical freedom than those that don’t.  Ferrari said this would create a two-tier system favouring those who accept the budget cap.  The deadline for teams to sign up for next season’s competition is next week.  Several teams are backing Ferrari and may also withdraw from the FIA if a solution is not reached.

A Quacking Effort

A man who saved a mother duck and her ducklings made news across the world yesterday as people flocked to watch him catch falling ducklings, lead them through a parade and restore them to the safety of the waters.

Second largest economy suffering

Japan has announced that it is in the deepest economic crisis the country has experienced since World War II.
Japan’s economy shrank at the fastest rate ever recorded during the first three months of this year officials figures have shown.
This unprecedented  weakening of the world’s second largest economy is attributed to export problems during the recession.
Ryutaro Nagayama, marketing manager, Nagayama S.p.A (a fashion company which distribute clothes throughout South East Asia and the EU), said: “The last year has been very tough for us, and the financial situation has got even worse since the turn of the year.
“We have not been hit too badly  but the economy has been ravaged.”
The government says the slump is worse than the 1990s recession: a decade of economic stagnation and deflation for the country.
Japan’s economy contracted 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, official data reported.
Mr Nagayama said: “The government keep saying everything will be alright, but so far have offered no solution to help business owners.
“We are trying to focus on the positives, but there are no signs of it getting better yet.”
Japanese share prices have been impacted by the data, with the Nikkei-225 index ending down 0.38 percent.

Oil prices hit six month high

Oil prices have hit six-month highs, breaking through $60 a barrel as investors wait for vital US inventory figures.
US light crude rose to $60.70 a barrel, while London Brent reached $59.18.
US crude fell to under $60 on May 19, and was further lowered by official data indicating a record fall in the number of new homes built in the US.

Future of Scottish Mortgage lenders unclear

Continuously changing mortgage data is leading to unhelpful housing market predictions according to Scottish lenders.
The latest figures came from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), who said the total amount of mortgage lending fell back again in April.
A concerned spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland, who did not want to be named, said: “The way it stands currently, information on lending says it’s going up one month, and the next it’s going down.”
  CML said the amount lent by its members stood at £10.4bn, down from £11.4bn in March, and was 60% lower than in April 2008.
However, these are UK-wide figures, and are thought by many to be unreflective of the Scottish housing market.
Countrywide has posted agents reports saying that on the whole, West of Scotland housing stock is going up, as more people sell their houses.
A spokesman from Countrywide, who also did not wish to be named, said: “As more and more people are putting their houses on the market, an upward shift should naturally follow, but this has not been      adequately reported.”

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