Courts cannot cope with the large number of terrorist cases coming to trial, the senior prosecutor in charge of counter-terrorism has told The Times. Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s counter-terrorism division, said there was a backlog of 34 terrorist trials involving 99 defendants.

One million nursery places are at risk of closure because of Labour’s plans to penalise middle class parents who pay extra for better childcare warn campaigners. Leading nursery care providers say that parents will struggle to find decent preschool childcare as thousands of private nurseries will be forced to shut their doors.

A child-killer who cheated justice for a quarter of a century after stamping a three-year-old girl to death is finally behind bars thanks to her natural father’s suspicions. Nicholas Byard had previously been questioned by police over the death of Lisa Jayne Pegg, his partner’s daughter, in 1982 but escaped prosecution because of a lack of evidence.

A former patient of the UK’s best-known expert on transsexualism yesterday told an inquiry that she bitterly regrets changing sex and feels unable to live as either a man or a woman. The male-to-female transsexual told the General Medical Council disciplinary hearing into gender psychiatrist Russell Reid that she wanted to go back to living as a man but felt this was impossible following genital surgery.

{mosimage} Bulgarians and Romanians face on-the-spot fines of up to £1,000 for illegally working in Britain when the two Eastern European states join the EU in January, the Government announced yesterday.

Under proposals announced by John Reid, the Home Secretary, about 1,800 skilled and 20,000 unskilled labourers will be given permits to work in the United Kingdom.

But the Government admitted that the new quotas would be difficult to police, as it would be unable to deport illegal workers back to their home countries once they join the EU.

The Home Office was unable to say what would happen to an immigrant who failed to pay the fine.

Athough Mr Reid promised unlimited fines on employers found illegally hiring Romanians or Bulgarians, Home Office figures show that, since 2001, only 24 employers have been prosecuted for the offence.

The two worst-performing police forces in England and Wales are Humberside and Northamptonshire, Home Office inspectors said. They also reported concern that forces are failing adequately to protect vulnerable people, such as victims of domestic violence, missing persons and child abuse victims. Worries were also expressed that forces are performing poorly when managing sex offenders and dangerous individuals.

A charity fund set up to help victims of the 7 July bombings has been wound up after handing out £12m in grants. Some 325 applicants, including individuals and families, have benefited from donations by The London Bombing Relief Charitable Fund (LBRCF).

The “Wearside Jack” hoaxer, who fooled police investigating the Yorkshire Ripper into diverting their inquiry to north east England, has lost an appeal against his eight-year jail sentence.

Over 400 people attended a one off event at Tate Britain on Monday night (23rd October) to raise awareness about the issues affecting young people from care.

{mosimage} The number of young people in custody in England and Wales has reached a record high, prompting warnings of a youth justice system “crisis”. The Youth Justice Board, which administers the system, said 3,350 youngsters were being held and action was needed to stop a “meltdown”.

Only a handful of beds were free, and children were being held hundreds of miles from their families, it said. The Home Office said the use of custody for those under 18 was a last resort.

{mosimage} The Youth Justice Board said the rise in numbers had caused an increased risk of self-harm and suicide by youngsters. It meant difficulties in running crime reduction courses aimed at preventing re-offending.

It also meant increasing numbers were being forced to share cells and youngsters were being transported around the country. Dozens of children and youngsters from London were held as far afield as South Yorkshire and the Scottish borders, said the board.