Deafblind people in Scotland face a “postcode lottery” of services, it has been claimed. Glasgow man Michael Anderson, who has the condition, said there was a shortage of trained professionals, known as guide communicators. They are funded by local authorities and are available for between two and 25 hours per week in different areas. The Scottish Executive said it was working on a number of initiatives to help people and respond to their needs.

Hospitals in Scotland are facing a new “superbug” crisis after it emerged yesterday that a form of the Acinetobacter bacterium, never before found north of the Border, was discovered in

A specialist court set up to tackle the menace of Scotland’s “booze and blades” culture has led to a massive reduction in serious knife crime. An official evaluation of violence in Inverclyde over the first year of its dedicated weapons court – launched by ministers in June last year – has revealed a 9% fall in the number of slashings and stabbings involving knives and blades.

The number of beds at Carstairs hospital is to be cut by a third as dozens of patients are moved to lower-security institutions.New policy guidance on mental health facilities for offenders shows the high-security hospital is to be dramatically reduced in size as more medium and low-security beds are introduced. Women will also no longer be sent to Carstairs, after experts concluded that high-security psychiatric care for female criminals was not required in Scotland.

A convicted rapist who terrorised hospital staff keeping him alive has been jailed for nine months. But Donald Gibson, dubbed Hannibal Lecter by medical workers, will continue receiving vital kidney dialysis treatment at the hospital where he abused his carers. Gibson, 37, admitted assaulting a male nurse and was found guilty of racially abusing a German security guard while receiving treatment at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Plans for a crackdown on prostitution, aggressive begging, drunkenness and other anti-social crimes in Aberdeen were unveiled yesterday. Grampian Police is to join forces with the city council, the Grampian Fire and Rescue Service and the Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership to take a hard line against a range of crimes afflicting the city centre.

The chief inspector of prisons yesterday criticised the “quite disgraceful” practice of double-cuffing female prisoners in Scotland when held under escort – including during labour. Dr Andrew McLellan also disclosed that the number of women prisoners had doubled in the past decade.The revelations, based on an inspection of Cornton Vale in February, prompted calls from campaigners and politicians for drastic reforms.

Children as young as eight are being referred to the children’s reporter with drink and drug problems, figures have revealed for the first time. Referrals are made if social workers, the police or school teachers are sufficiently worried, about the welfare of individuals. The number of children 16 and under coming before a hearing because of alcohol or narcotic abuse fell from 219 in 2003-4 to 160 the following year.

More than 30 licensed premises have been reported for selling alcohol to under-age customers in the first month of a pioneering police project using “undercover” children. Supermarkets, pubs and corner shops were among those caught in the operation in Fife, the first of its kind in Scotland. The operation is likely to be introduced throughout the country next year following the year-long project. It is part of a joint initiative by police and the Scottish Executive to stop children buying alcohol.

An Indonesian national has been recommended for deportation after a string of sex offences in Galashiels. Home Secretary John Reid will now decide whether Amelio Ximenes, 22, is sent back to Portugal, where he came from after becoming an EU citizen. He attacked a woman in Channel Street, Galashiels, on 31 July, 2004, and followed two other women in October. His defence denied he posed a high risk of reoffending but the sheriff at Selkirk recommended deportation.