A new centre for carers has opened in one of Plymouth’s most famous buildings – staffed by volunteers and paid for through fundraising.

A schizophrenic former police officer who defrauded her lover out of more than £20,000 before setting fire to their home has avoided jail.

Relatives of elderly residents at a care home in Cambridgeshire have said they were not told about low inspection results and falling standards of care.
 

THURROCK Council has promised a wide-ranging shake-up in its social services department after a catalogue of blunders led to clashes between antisocial neighbours and vulnerable residents.

Youth workers have been threatened with the sack if they don’t accept a new restructuring deal, according to documents leaked to The Herald.

A High Court judge who condemned Nottingham City Council for unlawfully taking a teenage mother’s newborn baby from her has called for an urgent review of training and management of social workers and hospital staff.

Police are investigating almost 1,400 sex offenders living within a 20-mile radius of the home of missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews as her mother insists she is still alive.

Karen Matthews today denied that her daughter had run away and said something “sinister” must have happened to her to prevent her returning home.

The nine-year-old vanished more than a fortnight ago, but a huge police search has failed to find any trace of her.

Detectives have now turned their attention to the 1,387 convicted sex offenders who live within half an hour’s drive of the family home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire.

Hundreds have already been questioned, but police have admitted they have few leads to go on.

Mrs Matthews, however, told GMTV that she remained “convinced” her daughter was still alive.

She said: “Wherever she is she has to be frightened. It’s breaking everyone’s hearts in the streets. They want her back in her own environment.

“I don’t think she has run away, I think something sinister has happened. I’m convinced she is still alive. I know she is.”