Legal flaw in power of attorney revealed
Thousands of people who took steps to protect their affairs or those of elderly relatives if they become incapable could unwittingly be in breach of the law (Frances Gibb writes).
People who rushed to take out an old-style power of attorney before the law changed on October 1 may have executed their documents invalidly after solicitors told people that to obtain an enduring power of attorney all they had to do was to sign the documents themselves. The Office of Public Guardianship said that to be valid, the documents had to be signed by the person who was granting the power and the person who would take it on and manage their affairs.
Blair becomes judge
Bill Blair, QC, the brother of the former Prime Minister, has been appointed a High Court judge. Mr Blair, 57, is a well-known banking and commercial silk but has maintained a low profile outside the Bar, unlike his sister-in-law, Cherie Booth, QC. He will sit as a High Court judge in the Queen’s Bench Division.
Advertisement
Folic acid advice
Elderly people with low levels of folate in their blood are three and a half times more likely to develop dementia. The findings, to be published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, suggest that folic acid – found in oranges, lemons and greens - could help to stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
Council staff strike
Thousands of home-helps, grave diggers and refuse collectors in Birmingham are holding a 24-hour strike over plans to cut council staff salaries by up to £18,000, in a move towards equal pay. Four unions claim that Birmingham City Council is forcing through the new pay grades for 40,000 workers.
Cancer discovery
Advertisement
Scientists have identified a protein that appears to be critical to resistance to tamoxifen, the drug that can help to stop cancerous tumours growing. The discovery could pave the way to overcoming breast cancer resistance to hormone treatments. The research is published in the journal Cancer Cell.
Forest search for missing woman
Detectives are due to begin searching an area of Ashdown Forest as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a TV make-up artist whose husband was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of her murder.
Diane Chenery-Wickens, 48, from Duddleswell, near Uckfield, East Sussex, who has worked on shows including Dead Ringers and Casualty, was reported missing by her husband, David, 51, on January 24, supposedly after a joint trip to London. Since his arrest he has been released on police bail. Sussex police said a search would start today at a site in Ashdown Forest, “based on specific information”.
Council thieves jailed
Advertisement
Two council officers who plundered more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ money were jailed by Hull Crown Court. Paul Hinks, 41, and Neil Poskitt, 35, both of Selby, North Yorkshire, bought and sold numerous items including mobile phones and plasma televisions. They were caught after auditors spotted that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s housing budget had paid for a motorcycle exhaust.
Yard’s foreign unit
A national police unit could be set up to satisfy the growing demand for British officers to work on high-profile overseas inquiries, Scotland Yard has confirmed. Proposals are being made for a team of officers, including detectives, linguists and science and terrorism experts, to specialise in foreign tasks. A police spokesman said talks with the Home Office were at an early stage.
Pregnancies alert
The Government is set to miss its target to halve the number of teenage pregnancies by 2010, the Commons was told yesterday. Tim Loughton, the Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said that the number of teenagers having second pregnancies and second abortions had risen dramatically and that nearly half of teenagers rated their sex education as poor or very poor.
Advertisement
Meat cleaver attack
A 16-year-old boy was slashed with a meat cleaver in a mobile phone robbery. Two youths pounced on the teenager as he made his way home from school in Oldham, Greater Manchester. One hit him on the hand with the cleaver. The boy suffered tendon damage. In Rochdale a 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of wounding after a boy, 16, was stabbed in the back at the town’s bus station.
Families frozen out
Nearly one in five families with children cannot afford to heat their homes because of rising energy bills. Nineteen per cent of people with children under 17 said that they could not keep their homes warm because of the cost, according to Save the Children UK. A further 15 per cent of households had cut back on food, and another 15 per cent spent less on essential clothing, to be able to pay their fuel bills.
Win in police dispute
Advertisement
The Police Federation was given leave for a High Court challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision not to backdate officers’ arbitrated wage settlement, in effect cutting the pay rise to 1.9 per cent. Mr Justice Collins said that he had no hesitation in finding that the federation had a case for a judicial review.
Columnist dies at 101
The woman believed to have been the world’s oldest newspaper columnist has died. Rose Hacker, who wrote a fortnightly column for the Camden New Journal, which covers northwest London, died at the age of 101 after a short illness. She had her first column published at the age of 100.