Other UK News In Brief

Judge Declares Divorce Can 'Damage'

A senior family Judge has warned that divorcing parents, using their children as "ammunition", can do serious harm. In a speech to the charity, Families Need Fathers, the President of the Family Division of the High Court, Sir Nicholas Wall, said that this approach was more common among well-educated parents. He added that a less adversarial approach was needed in the family justice system. Sir Nicholas said: "People think that post-separation parenting is easy - in fact, it is exceedingly difficult, and as a rule of thumb my experience is that the more intelligent the parent, the more intractable the dispute. Parents simply do not realise the damage they do to their children by the battles they wage over them. Separating parents rarely behave reasonably, although they always believe that they are doing so, and that the other party is behaving unreasonably." A child was not a "piece of property which can be parcelled up and moved around at will", he concluded. Sir Nicholas went on to say that Parliament, rather than judges, should decide on shared parenting orders. In 2008, the Office for National Statistics has reported that the number of divorces in England and Wales is down to 121,779, the lowest number since 1975.

Reward In Valentine's Day Murder

Police are offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information regarding a murder on Valentine's day this year. Mark Corcoran, 26, from Croydon stumbled into the Subitha Food and Wine shop in South East London, on February 14, asking for help, shortly before he collapsed. Police and London Ambulance Service were called, but Mr. Corcoran was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination held gave cause of death as a stab wound to the chest. Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command said: "We still do not know why Mark was stabbed. He was wearing a distinctive black and white stripey top that night and would have struggled to walk the 100 yards to the shop. Lots of people were around that evening, either out celebrating valentine's day or at the football match (CrystalPalace vs Aston Villa). We would like to hear from these people no matter how insignificant their information may seem. "

MPS Responds To Home Office Policing

The Met has responded to the Home Office White Paper that sets out the Government's vision for the future of the policing landscape in England and Wales. 'Policing in the 21st Century: Reconnecting police and the people' includes plans to replace police authorities with directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners and create a National Crime Agency with national responsibilities for fighting serious and organised crime.

(BMcN/BMcC)