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A teenager fell to her death from a bridge after being peer pressured to drink vodka in the playground and wandering out of school. Wendy Maguire, 16, was allowed to leave the school grounds even though her teachers realised she had been fed alcohol by other pupils, it is claimed. Her family say she had [...]

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The distraught family of a 17-year-old girl killed by a disqualified drink-driver who lied about being behind the wheel have branded his prison sentence ‘a joke’. Banned Zahoor Hussain, 25, was driving his father’s Mini Cooper at 50mph on a 30mph road when he lost control, causing the death of his friend and back-seat passenger [...]

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Children played with a dead woman’s skull after finding it in woodland in East Sussex, an inquest has heard. Youngsters made the discovery in Redgeland Wood in the Queensway area of St Leonards in October 2008. Searches of the area uncovered other body parts belonging to Victoria Couchman, 19, who lived in nearby Beecham Place. [...]

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By her own admission 15-year-old Chloe was a difficult pupil, telling me she got into trouble for “smoking, being on my phone”. Her mother Donna adds to the list: “Disrupting classes, making silly remarks, trying to get everyone to laugh at her really.” Chloe was identified as having Special Educational Needs, but her behaviour led [...]

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A father died after falling through an icy pond while saving his family’s stranded puppy. William Tuttle, 45, crawled across the frozen surface in Fountain, Colorado after fearing Brock was drowning. But, just as he reached the dog, the ice gave way and the father-of-two plunged into the freezing water. via William Tuttle: Father dies [...]

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More than 400 children in Syria have been killed since the start of the uprising last March, according to human rights activists. The UN has condemned what it has called “numerous and substantiated” reports of torture in detention – which includes that of children. As the uprising enters its 10th month, the BBC’s Fergal Keane [...]

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The age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 12 for any crime, experts said today. Controversial new proposals set out by a think tank set up by Iain Duncan Smith say no child should be prosecuted for any crime, whether it be shoplifting or murder, until they are at least 12. The current age [...]

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Good Lord, is there anything French women don’t do better than us? First we’re told that French Women Don’t Get Fat; now another hit book, entitled French Children Don’t Throw Food, invites us to marvel at their parenting skills. Written by Pamela Druckerman – an American mother of three, who lives in Paris with her [...]

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Taxpayers are forking out thousands of pounds a year on DNA paternity tests after mothers seeking maintenance wrongly identified the father of their child. Last year, around £100,000 went on tests which turned out to be the wrong man because the mother has slept with so many men that she has no idea who the [...]

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George Osborne signalled  yesterday that he will try to ease the burden of child benefit cuts on middle-income families. Families earning between £40,000 and £80,000 are expected to receive some financial relief to ease the pain of plans to strip the benefit from those with one parent paying the 40p rate of income tax. The [...]

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The 22-year-old said her father, Bob Geldof, was “overwhelmed” when she told him on Boxing Day that she was expecting a baby boy with her fiance Thomas Cohen. She told Hello! magazine: “Oh my God, he was so happy, especially as I’m having a boy. The poor man’s been surrounded by women up till now. [...]

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Thousands of children are being ‘needlessly dumped in prison’ because of Britain’s failing youth justice system, a think-tank has warned. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said courts and prisons were being used to ‘parent children’ and were expected to sweep up problem youngsters inadequately dealt with by other departments, such as social services. In [...]

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At 8am yesterday Sarah Griffiths looked at the landmark she hated, thought of the last time she saw her father, and pushed a red button. In five seconds, the Campbell’s Tower, which had stood in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, for 53 years was a heap of smoking rubble. It was a controlled explosion which finally buried [...]

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Child welfare officials are looking into reports that a mother took her five-year-old son with her on a bank robbery with her boyfriend. Lauri L. Ruble, of Antioch, Lake County, Illinois, and Brandon Stancliff have both been charged with robbing the Wauconda Community Bank in Island Lake on December 29. According to the FBI, Ruble [...]

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When Sophia Mason lost her baby daughter due to a tragic stillbirth, she knew she wanted to do something to help other mums avoid such a tragedy. She and twelve brave friends have all bared their bumps for a poignant calendar to emphasise the important of feeling your unborn baby kicking. Their campaign called ‘Count [...]

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Madonna has agreed to pay almost £100,000 to a group of charity workers who sued the star after her plans to build a school in Malawi were abandoned last year. The singer, who has an estimated fortune of more than £400 million, was facing a court case to answer claims of unfair dismissal and unpaid wages [...]

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Thousands of children are being “needlessly dumped in prison” because of Britain’s failing youth justice system, a think-tank has warned. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said courts and prisons were being used to “parent children” and were expected to sweep up problem youngsters inadequately dealt with by other departments, such as social services. In [...]

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Six years after he established his fund for African orphans, Prince Harry has led a major shake-up which has seen its colourful chief executive depart, to be replaced by the Number Two at the charity giant Oxfam. Mandrake can disclose that Kedge Martin has left Sentebale and Harry has poached Cathy Ferrier, the marketing director [...]

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We were watching Family Fortunes. I was 11 – a late-blooming August baby who looked more like a nine-year-old. A Sunday evening: the end of my first week at high school. It was darkish: my dad liked to have the big lights off and only one of the fringed table lamps on at a time, [...]

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If you think parents are keeping tabs on their kids’ Facebook profile pages and pictures, you’re absolutely right. According to a new infographic released by market research firm Lab42, parents are keeping a watchful eye on their child via Facebook, with many checking out their pages daily (43%). The study — which was conducted among [...]

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This Chinese school is clearly taking the safety of its students very seriously indeed, with an incredible 19 speed bumps outside their front gates. The school in Qingdao, northern China’s Shandong Province, had originally fitted just two of the rubber strips but were advised to add a further 17 just in case. The yellow and [...]

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A medical student with an eating disorder died after her emaciated body could not cope with the anti-depressants prescribed by her GP mother. Katie Lumb, 23, weighed just 5st 8lbs when she died from a toxic build-up of the drugs – after begging her mother to treat her as a private patient. An inquest heard [...]

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One in 11 children are unhappy, according to a survey by the Children’s Society. I thought it would be more. Children aren’t stupid, and happiness and an interesting life are not always the same thing: misery, at certain times, is as important to the development of the psyche as rage. Only imbeciles claim to be [...]

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Mr Osborne said it was only ”fair” that the better off made a contribution towards paying down Britain’s record debts. He indicated however that ministers would be looking at the way the plans are implemented when the changes come into effect next year. And he seemed to suggest that only individuals earning more than £80,000 [...]

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Teenager Cassie McCord was killed by an 87-year-old motorist who drove into her as she walked on the pavement – three days after he refused to surrender his licence to police. Colin Horsfall had been in a minor accident and failed an on-the-spot eye test but held onto his driving licence, an inquest heard. Cassie, [...]

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A toddler drowned at a private sports club after she wandered off from her father following a family swimming lesson, an inquest heard. Zainab Yusuf was in a changing room as her father finished showering when she walked out into the pool area, where he mistakenly thought his wife was waiting, saying: ‘Mama.’ The twenty-two-month-old [...]

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A 10-year-old street performer has died after accidentally hanging himself in his bedroom. Caleb ‘Flip’ Kors, who was well-known for his juggling, magic and acrobatic tricks at the weekly farmers market in Bellingham, Washington, was found next to some acrobatic equipment. Initial reports suggested he had been practising a trick, although it has also been [...]

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The devastated children of a couple murdered at their home have made a desperate plea for in help finding their parents’ killers, saying the light had been “switched out” in their lives. Michelle Kirwan, 39, and her brother, Avtar Kolar, 32, held hands and sobbed as they gave an emotional press conference, telling gathered reporters [...]

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A mother-of-two died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a smouldering charcoal barbecue was stored in her family’s tent as they slept. Tracy Screen, 34, had cooked a meal for her husband and two children on a barbecue and afterwards it had been dragged inside the tent to keep the family warm. But the family, who [...]

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A teenager left brain-damaged by a hospital blunder as a newborn baby has been awarded £6.5 million damages. Ewan Waker, now 15, was diagnosed with dangerously low blood sugar levels shortly after birth. But midwives at Harold Wood Hospital in east London sent him home. His mother Cecilia today said the High Court settlement was [...]

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A mother has expressed her outrage after she found out the brain of her six-week-old baby who died 13 years ago had been found in a jar at Southampton General Hospital. Julie Middleton, 40, buried her son Regan in 1998 but has now been told that doctors removed his brain during a post-mortem at the [...]

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Measures are to be introduced to ensure that fewer than 50 pupils are excluded from Kent’s schools in any one year. In the last academic year there were 237 exclusions from schools, 198 of them permanent. There are 210,000 pupils in Kent’s education system. Kent County Council (KCC) said it aimed to reduce the number [...]

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The son and daughter of a couple murdered at their home broke down today as they begged for help in finding their parents’ killers, saying the light had been ‘switched out’ in their lives and their hearts were ‘broken forever’. Michelle Kirwan, 39, wept inconsolably as she and brother Avtar Kolar, 32, described the heartbreak [...]

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A mother who murdered her toddler son at their flat in Renfrewshire has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years. Kimberley Hainey, 37, was convicted of killing Declan at their home in Bruce Road, Paisley, and hiding his body to avoid a police investigation. The child’s mummified body was found in his cot in [...]

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A television wildlife expert has gone to Africa to hunt a child-eating crocodile – believed to be responsible for at least two deaths. Pete Prodromou, also known as “Safari Pete”, who is a regular on Channel 4′s The Paul O’Grady Show, said he hoped to capture the beast humanely. The 29-year-old from Highbury flew to [...]

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New Yorker Pamela Druckerman married an Englishman and lived with him in Paris, where she had a baby, closely followed by twins. In England or the US she might have found sympathy and chummed up with similarly sleep-deprived, frazzled new mums. But motherhood in Paris was different. She found herself in a strange new world [...]

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Almost one in 10 children over the age of eight are unhappy, according to a landmark survey by the Children’s Society, which questioned more than 30,000 youngsters aged eight to 16 in the UK. The charity’s researchers found that family had the biggest impact on children’s happiness. Relationships within a household rather than the family [...]

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Over 64 pages, it sets out to provide a detailed analysis of what makes children in modern Britain happy. Yet the traditional family unit is given such little importance in the report by the Children’s Society that the word ‘marriage’ does not merit even a single mention. The charity insists it is the quality of [...]

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tudents are being targeted by a ‘legal loan shark’ offering cash at an astonishing 4,214 per cent annual rate of interest. Wonga.com is marketing its exorbitant scheme as an alternative to Government-backed student loans – which attract interest rates of just 1.5 per cent. Charities warn the payday loan company is ‘moving in for the [...]

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The news that dogs are causing families to row three times a week was met with slack-jawed disbelief in our household. Only three times a week? Were it not for our dog (and occasionally our children) my husband and I would live a life without discord. Boring, but true: for 25 years, we’ve lived together [...]

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The average number of IVF cycles provided on the NHS so far this financial year is down 14 per cent on the previous year. The figures were revealed in Freedom of Information responses to Pulse magazine. The NHS is having to save £20bn over the next three years and providing fertility treatment on the NHS [...]

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The study published by the Children’s Society following interviews with 30,000 under-16s claims those who have deeply negative feelings about their lives are at higher risk of bullying, depression and eating disorders. It says those who suffer instability, moving from one family member to another, are twice as likely to be unhappy although household structure [...]

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Five years ago, Charles and Iona Cole led a gilded life that most people could only dream of. Home was a £2.25 million Devon manor house set in 214 acres, with his and hers luxury cars on the sweeping driveway, not to mention the portfolio of 84 buy-to-let properties they owned in Yorkshire. With their [...]

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Under-pressure retailer Mothercare today announced another drop in UK sales as it continues to flounder at home but flourish abroad. The mothers-to-be, babies and children’s goods group, which runs around 350 stores in the UK, said that like-for-like sales in its domestic market were down by 3% in the 13 weeks to January 7. The [...]

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The ruling has been made by the Health Services Ombudsman after a six year battle by the parents of Daisy Healy. She was admitted to Kettering General Hospital in Northamptonshire on three occasions after bleeding from where three teeth has been taken out. The cause of the infection was never established and Daisy’s condition deteriorated [...]

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Figures from HM Revenue & Customs show that of the 555,000 vouchers issued in the 12 months to June 2011, 136,000 are yet to be invested. The vouchers issued at this time are worth £50 (£100 for low-income families) compared with £250 for previous vouchers, and it is feared that many people have not taken [...]

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The “Skins” generation is less materialistic than the babyboomers, preferring to save for university rather than save for a car or a home, if the latest research is to be believed. According to a survey by Barclays, more than third of people over the age of 45 said they had saved for a car when [...]

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A study shows ‘man’s best friend’ can also be his worst enemy, triggering nearly 2,000 family arguments during its lifetime Spats range from disagreeing about who should take the dog for a walk, feeding them too many treats and what to do with them when holidays loom. Nikki Sellers, Head of Pet Insurance at esure, [...]

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A British man has been interviewed by police investigating the death of a little girl in Norway while the child’s mother was talking to him on Skype. Yasmin Chaudhry was arrested by police in Oslo after her 20-month-old daughter died after being plunged into a bucket of water in October 2010. A prosecutor told the [...]

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A mother accused of murdering three of her daughters and her husband’s first wife in an honour killing broke down in tears while testifying today in an Ontario court. Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, is accused of conspiring with her husband, Mohammad Shafia, 58, and their eldest son, Hamed, 21, of running one of their family [...]

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