16/06 Gulf Veterans Awareness Week

National Gulf War charity brings services to the local community during
veterans’ awareness week.

The National Gulf Veterans & Families Association (NGVFA) will be
in Newcastle on the 29th June 2007.

As part of our contribution to Veterans’ Awareness Week we are bringing
our services to Newcastle to provide face-to-face advice to the large
ex-service community in Tyne and Wear.

The event will be held at
The Durant Hall, Unitarian Church in Ellison Place, Newcastle, NE1 8XG
On June 29th between 10.30 and 17.00

In the morning there will be presentations on financial assistance
available to veterans. NGVFA staff will then be available in the afternoon
for one-to-one advice.

Maria Rusling, the General Manager of the NGVFA says:
“Many veterans suffer from a multitude of illnesses that can prevent
them from working. They are then living on a reduced income and
struggling to pay their bills. We can give veterans practical help to get the
money they are entitled to from the War Pensions and benefits systems.
Although money can’t solve all of the problems that Gulf Veterans
suffer with, it can alleviate some of the worry about where the next
mortgage/rent payment is coming from.”

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22/08 A 17-year-old youth from Sunniside in Gateshead has been jailed for 12 months

22/08/2006 - Gateshead

A 17-year-old youth from Sunniside in Gateshead has been jailed for 12 months and given a two-and-a-half year Criminal Anti Social Behaviour Order (CRASBO) following a string of offences against elderly people.


Northumbria Police officers from Gateshead Area Command secured the CRASBO for the teenager which will begin following his release from prison.


It forms part of Chief Constable Mike Craik's pledge of total policing to tackle crime and disorder at all levels, supported by Northumbria Police Authority.


The teenager was jailed by magistrates at Gateshead on July 25 for criminal deception offences and a distraction burglary carried out against elderly victims.


He had gained access to one person's home and while they were distracted stole cash. He had also gone to people's homes collecting money under various pretences.


On his release from custody he will be prohibited from making unsolicited calls to residential addresses for the purpose of collecting money or its worth, seeking work, offering services, selling anything or obtaining refreshment. The CRASBO will remain in force until January 24, 2009.


Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Gordon Watson, said: " These offences had a substantial impact on this Gateshead community and we have responded to their concerns.


" I hope the custodial sentence given to this teenager sends out the message that neighbourhoods will not tolerate this kind of behaviour and that together we will work to build a safer Gateshead."


Tyneside, Wearside and Northumberland are amongst the safest places in the country to live. Crime fell by 7% last year and has dropped 37% since the early 90s.

02/08 £319,000 Sale of criminal assets

£319,000 Sale of criminal assets to fund future crime fighting
initiatives

Property purchased with criminal funds have been seized by the Assets
Recovery Agency (ARA) and sold off to raise £319,240 which will be
channelled into the ongoing fight against crime.

Satnam Singh of Cleadon, Sunderland, convicted of excise fraud from the
sale of alcoholic drink, surrendered his assets to ARA last December
which have now been sold off to raise the following sums of money:
* £57,000 from the sale of a derelict shop in South Shields, sold at
auction for redevelopment;
* £179,740 raised from insurance policies, bank accounts and building
societies;
* £15,000 of cash from a property sale;
* £66,000 of funds held by Mr Singh's solicitors;
* £1,500 value in a motor vehicle.

Jane Earl, Director of the Agency said "We are very pleased that assets
which were bought with the proceeds of crime have been sold off and the
money raised will go directly into funding the ongoing fight against
crime.

"Also pleasing is that this case sends a clear message to those who
fund their lifestyle with criminal money that the Assets Recovery Agency
will use its powers to the full to ensure that crime does not pay."

The Agency was originally granted an Interim Receiving Order over Mr
Singh's assets in April 2003. Mr Singh made a series of legal challenges
to the Agency's action but lost when the Court Of Appeal ruled in the
Agency's favour last year. Mr Singh then negotiated with the Agency to
bring the case to a conclusion without the need for a full hearing.

In 1998 Mr Singh was successfully prosecuted by HM Customs & Excise
when he pleaded guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue. The
offences alleged excise fraud from the sale of alcoholic drinks diverted
from a bonded warehouse. A confiscation order made against Mr Singh under
the Criminal Justice Act 1988 was subsequently quashed in December 2002
because of procedural defects relating to the court's handling of the
confiscation proceedings. In May this year the Court of Appeal confirmed
that as the original order had been quashed it was to be treated as it
if had never been made. Therefore section 308(9) of the Proceeds of
Crime Act 2002, which the Court of Appeal agreed is aimed at preventing
the same assets from being recovered twice, would not prevent the Agency
from seeking to recover assets in civil recovery proceedings.