A paraplegic Ulster law student who received compensation from a nursing and care company which refused to lift her from her wheelchair last night spoke of the humiliation and degradation she endured as a result of her treatment.

Commenting on the launch by the DHSSPS of a Managed Clinical Network for Critical Care, Dr Peter Maguire, Deputy Chairman of the BMA’s Board of Science and consultant anaesthetist at Daisyhill Hospital, Newry, said:

A County Armagh couple who abused their children over a period of 10 years have been sent to prison for a total of six and a half years. The 37-year-old man was sentenced to four and a half years, while his partner, 41, was jailed for two years.

A new bill proposing a number of changes to our criminal justice system is due to be published today. The legislation is expected to include the introduction of electronic tagging for suspects released on bail, and tougher sentences for serious crime.

A Progressive Democrat TD is demanding the introduction of sentencing guidelines for sexual offences. Fine Gael has already called for action on the issue. Backbench TD Mae Sexton claimed that minimum mandatory sentences must be laid down after a man was convicted of rape and received a suspended sentence yesterday.

Shocking revelations of how patients in Muckamore Abbey hospital are being put at risk are contained in a dossier obtained by the BBC. The health service paper was sought under the Freedom of Information Act.

Stark warning from coroner after two inquests hear heartbreaking evidence.
Parents across Northern Ireland have been warned of the potentially lethal outcome of sleeping in bed with their babies.
Belfast coroner Brian Sherrard issued the warning following two separate inquests yesterday into the deaths of Belfast babies who were accidentally smothered after their parents fell asleep next to them in bed.

New figures show there were over 100 child abduction cases to and from Ireland last year, representing an all time high. The Department of Justice’s Child Abduction Unit processed a total of 170 cases in 2006.

Health Minister, Paul Goggins has welcomed O2’s announcement that calls to the pilot suicide prevention helpline will be free of charge from now on.

A disabled County Down student has won damages against a care company after it refused to lift her out of her wheelchair to attend university. Laura Lee Jenkins, 21, from Saintfield is paralysed from the chest down.