This article first appeared on the Daily Telegraph website (here) on 13th november 2012 European court ruling could see minor criminal records withheld from employers People with minor criminal records may not have them disclosed to potential employers in future after the European Court of Human Rights condemned the lack of scope for discretion in [...]
Strasbourg rules that the retention and disclosure of caution data is unlawful (in Northern Ireland)
November 15, 2012 from Leave a Comment
Union says false claims are ruing the lives of teachers
April 10, 2011 from Leave a Comment
This news item has been extracted from Belfast Today A teacher from Northern Ireland, falsely accused of throwing a pupil from a chair, had her own children interviewed as part of an investigation, it’s been claimed. The case was highlighted ahead of today’s Ulster Teachers’ Union [UTU] conference in Co Down, which will hear calls [...]
Statutory Instrument: Scotland and Northern Ireland – The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Specified Lists: Scotland) Order 2010
October 20, 2010 from Leave a Comment
The Secretary of State for Education has made an Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3(2)(b) and (3)(b) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006(1) to the effect that Section 3 of the Act provides that a person is barred from regulated activity if the person is included in a list maintained [...]
Belfast woman lied about child abuse out of spite after divorce
July 22, 2010 from Leave a Comment
A High Court judge has urged Social Services to monitor the children of a woman who falsely accused their father of sexually abusing them. Mr Justice Weir held that the woman lied consistently about her former husband and was motivated by spite during a divorce case he heard. The judge described her as a highly [...]
David’s story: How false accusations blighted one teacher’s life
June 4, 2010 from Leave a Comment
Ministers are planning a reform to give anonymity to teachers such as David Bell, who are accused of assault. Eight years ago this month, a 12-year-old girl from a broken home claimed a teacher had run his fingers between her breasts during a lesson. Her mother was about to give birth at the time and [...]
Woman jailed for lying about rape
April 20, 2010 from Leave a Comment
Lindsay Gorman, originally from Lake Glen Avenue in west Belfast went to police two years ago, after claiming she had been raped in Botanic Gardens. It caused widespread alarm among female students in the university area. An 18-year-old man was charged with the rape, but was later freed after Gorman admitted she had concocted the [...]
Teacher seeks Royal Pardon over ‘assault’
March 17, 2009 from Leave a Comment
Man barred from schools after touching pupil’s chin to appeal to the Queen More than 100 MPs, peers and members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have backed the first ever school teacher in the UK campaigning for a pardon from the Queen. Retired Belfast teacher David Bell says the royal pardon will wipe away the [...]
A case for mercy – the plight of a teacher in Northern Ireland
February 4, 2009 from Leave a Comment
Mark Devenport, a reporter with the BBC has raised the question of whether or not mercy should be shown to David Bell a teacher in Northern Ireland who received an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to a technical assault on a a pupil at Laurelhill Community College in Lisburn back in June 2002. Mr Bell has had [...]
Blair apologises to wrongly convicted Guildford Four
June 6, 2000 from Leave a Comment
Prime Minister Tony Blair has apologised to the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of IRA bomb attacks in England in 1974. In a letter, Mr Blair acknowledged the “miscarriage of justice” which they suffered as a result of their wrongful convictions. Details of the apology are revealed for the first time in a special [...]