Savile: Celebs 'Frightened By Police Probe'

Dozens of big name stars from the 1960s and 70s have contacted Max Clifford "frightened to death" they will become implicated in the widening Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal, the PR guru has claimed.

He said the stars, some of whom are still big names today, were worried because at their peak they had lived a hedonistic lifestyle where young girls threw themselves at them but they "never asked for anybody's birth certificate".

Scotland Yard is leading the current investigation into accusations of abuse by former BBC DJ and presenter Savile, which now involve around 300 potential victims.

Officers have searched a cottage belonging to Savile in Allt na Reigh in Glencoe, Scotland, to look for "any evidence of any others being involved in any offending with him".

Speaking on London's LBC radio, Mr Clifford said young pop stars at the time had gone from working in a factory one week to performing in front of thousands of people "and girls are screaming and throwing themselves at them then".

"All kinds of things went on and I do mean young girls throwing themselves at them in their dressing rooms at concert halls, at gigs, whatever," he said.

"They never asked for anybody's birth certificate and they were young lads ... suddenly everyone's dream was a reality."

He added: "We are talking about a lot of people that were huge names in the 60s and 70s and a lot of them barely remember what they did last week, genuinely.

"For them to try and recount what happened in a dressing room in 1965 or 1968 or 1972, genuinely they are frightened to death."

Mr Clifford said that he did not condone the men's behaviour, but that it could be understood, adding: "No one had heard the word paedophile in those days, the 60s and 70s."

Seven alleged victims of Savile made complaints to four separate police forces, Surrey, London, Sussex and Jersey, while the disgraced television presenter was alive but it was decided that no further action should be taken.

Scotland Yard revealed on Friday that a retired officer had told them that he had investigated Savile in the 1980s while based in west London but did not have the evidence to proceed.

Commander Peter Spindler said he believed the allegation was of an indecent assault, possibly in a caravan on BBC premises in west London, but officers have still not found the original file.

Another allegation, of inappropriate touching dating back to the 1970s, was made by a woman in 2003, but this was treated as "intelligence" by police because the victim did not want to take action.

Surrey Police submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service containing references to four potential offences, including an allegation of indecent assault on a young girl at a children's home.

The allegations related to three potential victims in Surrey and another in Sussex, and Savile was interviewed under caution in 2009, but prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

The seventh allegation emerged in 2008 when Jersey police received a claim that an indecent assault occurred at children's home Haut de la Garenne in the 1970s.

Again it was decided that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

Mr Spindler said Savile was "undoubtedly" one of the most prolific sex offenders he had come across and that Operation Yewtree, looking into Savile's crimes, would be a "watershed moment" for child abuse investigations.

Claims have been made that former DJ Savile, who died last year aged 84, targeted children while they were in hospital.

He had a bedroom at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, an office and living quarters at Broadmoor and widespread access to Leeds General Infirmary.

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CCTV Clue In Hunt For Fugitive 'Sex Attacker'

Police hunting for a fugitive who is believed to have sexually attacked two schoolgirls whilst on the run have released CCTV image of the suspect.

Ivan Leach, who is also known as Lee Cyrus, did not return from day release from North Sea Camp open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire, earlier this month.

People are being warned not to approach him under any circumstances and described him as "dangerous and predatory".

Officers fear he carried out a very serious sexual assault in Tayside, Scotland, since he absconded on October 9.

Despite a large scale police search and numerous reported sightings 47-year-old Cyrus remains at large.

New CCTV footage, believed to be of Cyrus in Preston city centre on October 17, has now been released in the hope that someone might come forward with information. It shows him walking down Friargate at 6.50pm in the direction of the train station.

He has links to Preston, and has known to be in the city on a number of occasions since he absconded, but it is believed he could be anywhere in the country.

Police enquiries are also ongoing in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Tayside.

Cyrus was jailed in 2005 for robbing a 90-year-old woman in Ribbleton, Lancashire. He was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of five years. He also has convictions for burglary and robbery and assault.

Detective chief inspector Ian Dawson of Preston Police said Cyrus "is an extremely dangerous and predatory individual who poses a serious threat to members of the public".

He added: "He has previous convictions for burglary, sex offences against a young girl, assault and robberies in which he has targeted elderly people in their own homes.

"We believe he could be sleeping rough and travelling extensively throughout the country."

Cyrus is described as white, around five feet 11 inches tall, of stocky build with cropped hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with any information about his possible whereabouts is being urged to contact local police either in person or on 101, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Trainee Teachers Face Tough New Tests

Prospective teachers will have to sit new tougher tests in English, maths and reasoning before they can start training.

The changes will see calculators banned from maths tests, and pass marks in English and maths raised.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said the "rigorous selection" of trainee teachers was key to raising school standards.

All trainee teachers currently have to pass basic skills tests in literacy and numeracy. However, until this September they were allowed unlimited resits.

Figures showed that around 98% of trainees passed the tests, potentially calling into question the level of challenge.

Candidates have already been limited to two resits for each test from this September, and the pass mark has been raised.

Now a panel of head teachers and education experts has recommended that the tests are toughened-up further.

The Government has said it will accept the panel's recommendations in full.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has backed the overhaul

Following the changes, candidates will have to achieve separate passes in English, mathematics and reasoning in order to be able to start teacher training.

Mr Gove said: "The evidence from around the world is clear - rigorous selection of trainee teachers is key to raising the quality and standing of the teaching profession.

"These changes will mean that parents can be confident that we have the best teachers coming into our classrooms.

"Above all, it will help ensure we raise standards in our schools and close the attainment gap between the rich and poor."

The panel's chairman, Sally Coates, said: "We believe that the whole selection process needs to be sufficiently rigorous to ensure that anyone who gains a place on a course of initial teacher training would be highly likely to succeed in that training, and go on to make an excellent teacher."

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat education minister David Laws has criticised teachers for leaving children with "depressing low expectations" of what they can achieve in life.

He said too many children were led to believe that top exam grades, places at elite universities and professional careers were beyond them.

"Teachers, colleges, careers advisers have a role and a responsibility to aim for the stars and to encourage people to believe they can reach the top in education and employment," Mr Laws told The Daily Telegraph.

"That's not happening as much as it should do at the moment."

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Lung Cancer: Biggest Cancer Killer Among Women

Lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer to become the most common cause of cancer death among women in the UK, figures reveal.

Some 15,449 women died from lung cancer in 2010, compared to 11,556 from breast cancer the same year, according to statistics from Cancer Research UK.

While new data published last month by the charity suggests the number of women dying from breast cancer in the UK is in decline and is expected to drop almost 30% by 2030 - the number of women dying from lung cancer is on the increase.

The mortality rate has risen to around 31 deaths per 100,000 women from 18 per 100,000 women in 1971 - an increase of around 72%.

It accounts for around one-fifth (21%) of all cancer deaths in women, and kills more women each year than breast, uterine or ovarian cancers.

With the cancer becoming more common among women, a campaign is being launched next month to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of the disease, and the need to diagnose it early.

Liz Darlison, Macmillan consultant nurse specialist, from University Hospitals of Leicester, said: "While the statistics paint a frightening picture, there's a great deal that can be done to help ensure women are diagnosed earlier, treated earlier and live longer.

"By raising awareness of the tell-tale signs - for example, a persistent cough that lasts longer than three weeks - there's the potential to save thousands of lives every year."

Dr Mick Peake, consultant respiratory physician at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, said: "Although most women know that a lump in their breast could be a sign of cancer, awareness of the symptoms of lung cancer remains comparatively low.

"No doubt linked to this is the fact that patients in the UK are diagnosed at a later stage in their disease and, as a result, has significantly worse lung cancer survival rates compared to other major European countries.

"More needs to be done to raise awareness of the increasing incidence of lung cancer in women and to encourage early diagnosis - catch it early and it can be cured."

Paula Chadwick, chief executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, added: "Once considered a man's disease, we need to get the message out that anyone can get lung cancer.

"Although it remains a devastating disease for many, if caught early, it can be treated more effectively."

Lung Cancer Awareness Month starts November 1.

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Petrol Prices Cut By Up To 2p By Supermarkets

Supermarkets across the UK have lowered their petrol prices following a fall in the wholesale cost of fuel.

Asda was the first to announce it would cut up to 2p off a litre of petrol, saying customers would pay no more than 133.7p.

Rivals Sainsbury's and Tesco followed with similar pledges of up-to-2p price reductions.

The AA broadly welcomed the move, but urged other retailers to do the same.

"Unless the rest of the market reflects the lower cost, it's a case of the same old story - prices up like a rocket, falling like a feather," the AA's head of public affairs, Paul Watters, said.

The roadside recovery group is in the process of providing information to the Office of Fair Trading, which is investigating whether a fall in oil prices is being passed on to motorists.

"Last week, our fuel-price report pointed to a 4p drop in petrol wholesale prices working its way through the system," Mr Watters said.

"UK average petrol pump prices reached a late summer high of around 140p a litre in mid-September and sat there for more than a fortnight.

"More than a month on, the average petrol price yesterday was down to only 138.70p a litre."

Asda cut its petrol prices by 3p a litre at the end of September and other retailers said they would follow suit.

Meanwhile, average diesel prices have fallen by 1p a litre - almost exactly reflecting the late summer fall in diesel wholesale costs, according to the AA.

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Olympic Medals Stolen: Pair Plead For Return

Two of TeamGB's Olympic heroes had their medals stolen just hours after attending a Buckingham Palace celebration of their success.

Rower Alex Partridge and hockey team member Hannah Macleod took to social networking site Twitter to appeal for information in an attempt to find their Olympic bronze medals.

Partridge won bronze as part of the men's eight rowing team. He tweeted that his Olympic blazer had also been stolen from a club in Mayfair, central London.

Macleod wrote on the site: "My medal was also stolen at the same time. Totally devastated."

Both athletes later published a photo of a man captured on CCTV who they wished to talk to about the alleged thefts.

Partridge said: "To the chap who took my @London2012 Olympic Blazer & Medal last night The police have u on CCTV Please return it."

Macleod said she was not looking for punishment, she just wanted the medal back.

"If you picked up a Bronze Olympic medal that isn't yours pls just send anonymously back to GB hockey-Bisham Abbey," she tweeted.

Scotland Yard confirmed it was investigating reports of a stolen Olympic medal and blazer, but said it had not yet been contacted about a second stolen medal.

A Met Police spokesman said: "An Olympic medal and blazer were reported stolen from a venue in Mayfair in central London.

"It was believed the items were taken between midnight and 5am on Wednesday, October 24."

A host of Olympic and Paralympic stars had earlier been invited to the palace to mark their achievements along with the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Duchess of Cambridge, Prime Minister David Cameron and London 2012 chief Lord Coe.

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Equal Pay Ruling Could Benefit Thousands

By Adele Robinson, Sky Reporter

The Supreme Court is due to make a decision on unequal pay claims that could pave the way for thousands more women across the country to get compensation.

Birmingham City Council has appealed against a ruling by the Court of Appeal to allow claims to go through civil courts instead of only through employment tribunals.

At the moment people are only allowed to make claims through tribunals within six months of employment. Through civil courts people would be able to claim within six years.

It would mean more women like Vera Box, a former care assistant for Birmingham City Council, could make a claim for unequal pay despite having sought legal advice more than six months after retirement.

"If that case is won it would be a gateway for many more people to put in a claim. And I really hope that we do win this claim," she said.

Vera retired in 2005 after 11 years. She says when she found out she may have been paid thousands of pounds less than a man on the same pay grade she was angry. She is one woman out of many who say they were excluded from bonuses.

"I still feel quite bitter about it really because when you're on the same pay grade as someone and they are getting paid a lot more it just doesn't seem fair," she said.

"It was alot of money it could have made a hell of a difference to our lives in retirement."

Several thousand Birmingham City Council staff won their case for equal pay at a tribunal in 2010.

The council said the ruling related to its old bonus structure which had been removed.

Chris Benson, a partner at Leigh Day & Co, who is representing hundreds of ex-workers in Birmingham as well as thousands of others in many other local authorities including Wolverhampton, Blackpool and the London Borough of Croydon said: "We look forward to the verdict and hope that, if we are successful, Birmingham City Council will settle these equal pay claims."

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Young Inmate Deaths 'Show Justice Failing'

Young people are dying in custody because of "bad practice" in prisons, a report has said.

In the Fatally Flawed report, former chief inspector of prisons Lord Ramsbotham said the criminal justice system and community services "have demonstrably let young people down, for all the wrong reasons, for far too long".

Nine children and more than 190 other young people aged 24 and under have died in prisons or secure training centres in the last 10 years, according to campaigners.

The report, which looked at 98 of the deaths, found that in many cases there were communication failures between community agencies and prisons while, in others, the inmates were placed in prisons with unsafe environments and cells.

It added that poor medical care and limited access to therapeutic services in prison also caused problems and some children and young people had been exposed to bullying, segregation or restraint.

The dead were "some of the most disadvantaged in society" and had experienced problems with mental health, self-harm, alcohol and drugs, it said.

Deborah Coles, co-director of the campaign group Inquest, said: "This shocking death toll has been obscured for far too long.

"Working on a daily basis with bereaved families, we see inquest after inquest raising the same issues and, despite promises of change, the deaths continue."

"This report must prompt an independent review as a matter of urgency as there is a pressing need to learn from the failures that cost these young people their lives."

The report comes more than 10 years after 16-year-old Joseph Scholes hanged himself in his cell at Stoke Heath Young Offenders' Institution in Shropshire on March 24 2002.

Yvonne Bailey, Joseph's mother, who has long called for a public inquiry, said she read today's report "with sorrow".

"It is now over a decade since my son Joseph died in fear and distress hanging from the window bars of his squalid cell in a children's prison," she said.

"The deaths of a further nine young boys are devastating evidence that the changes implemented were yet again wholly insufficient to fulfil the duty on the state to protect the right to life of the children it imprisons."

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said that self-inflicted deaths in custody have fallen by about 40% since 2004.

"Young people in custody are some of the most vulnerable and troubled individuals in society and their safety is our highest priority," she added.

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Insurance Report: AA Says It's Good And Bad News

Car insurance costs are going down but home insurance premiums are rising, it has been revealed.

Taking an average of the cheapest five premiums, the average fully-comprehensive car insurance policy fell 2.9% to £844 in the period July-September 2012 compared with the previous three months, according to AA Insurance.

But after a summer of storms and floods, a similar survey of home buildings insurance revealed an average rise of 2.4% to £181, while home contents insurance rose 1% to £242.

Over the late-summer period, young male drivers saw their premiums fall 0.7% to £1,603 on average, while those for young women fell 2.2% to £1,127.

All regions of the UK saw average car insurance premiums fall except Anglia, where they rose 1.4%.

Scotland remains the cheapest region in which to buy car insurance (averaging £438) while Greater Manchester and Liverpool are the most expensive areas (£1,059).

On home buildings insurance, the AA reported a rise in every region in the UK this late-summer period.

The biggest regional increase, of 3.5% to £177, was in Yorkshire and East Anglia, while London and south east England were the regions with the highest average premiums (up 2.9% to £200).

Wales and the West Country had the cheapest home building premiums - up 1.1% to £157.

AA Insurance director Simon Douglas said: "I am very concerned that no agreement has yet been reached in finding an affordable option to the 'statement of principles' between the insurance industry and the Government, which ensures that families in flood-prone properties can continue to obtain flood cover.

"This expires in June next year and if no agreement is reached soon, could lead to the most vulnerable homes becoming uninsurable."

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Hacking: Mirror Papers Face Legal Claims

By David Bowden, Senior Correspondent

Newspapers belonging to Trinity Mirror are for the first time to face legal claims for phone hacking, Sky News has learned.

Until now the only company to be sued for illegally snooping on voicemail messages was News Group Newspapers, publishers of the now-defunct News Of The World.

The latest claims allege that the mobile phone messages of the former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, Abbie Gibson, former nanny to the Beckham children, ex-Manchester City star Garry Flitcroft and actress Shobna Gulati were all listened to by Mirror group journalists.

Lawyer Mark Lewis: 'We will show there is a smoking bullet'

There have been allegations that hacking was going on at the Mirror titles before, but the publisher of papers including the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing and there have, as yet, been no legal actions.

Now solicitor Mark Lewis has lodged claims on behalf of his clients.

Piers Morgan: 'No reason to believe (hacking) was going on'

He says that unlike the News Of The World hacking cases, where police found a list of alleged victims in a notebook belonging to private investigator Glen Mulcaire, there is no paper trail this time round.

"There might not be a documentary smoking gun, but we will show there is a smoking bullet, the consequence of the actions," said Mr Lewis.

The former editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, wrote a number of articles alleging phone hacking was prevalent in Fleet Street, but told the Leveson Inquiry he had never sanctioned it when he was an editor.

"My own evidence is I had no reason or knowledge to believe it was going on," he told the inquiry earlier this year.

In the summer, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, in charge of investigating any criminal aspects of the cases, told MPs she believed there were more than a thousand victims of phone hacking.

Scores of claims have been made against the News Of The World and many of the cases have been settled already with payouts totalling millions of pounds.

The most high profile case involved the hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone and cost the paper £3m.

Actress Sienna Miller reportedly received £100,000 and her former boyfriend, Jude Law, is also among the many celebrities to have won a substantial payout from News Group.

Politicians including former deputy prime minister John Prescott and Respect MP George Galloway have also been paid compensation.

This latest revelation that hacking was allegedly going on at a rival newspaper group will, temporarily at least, take the spotlight off the wrongdoing at the News Of The World.

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