From the Daily Mail

Mother dies trying to save bullied son from blaze after firework is pushed through letterboxBy Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 11:05 PM on 06th November 2009
Bonfire Night thugs were blamed yesterday for the horrific death of a devoted mother.
Mary Fox pushed her teenage son through a window to safety as a blaze tore through their house.
But she was overcome by smoke and flames before she could escape herself.
Enlarge Blaze: Mary Fox, 59, died after saving her bullied son Raum from a fire at their home. Neighbours said it was started by a firework shoved through the letterbox
Last night, neighbours said the blaze was started by a firework, dropped through Mrs Fox’s letterbox by a gang who had bullied her son because of his mild learning difficulties.
It set fire to the hallway, trapping Mrs Fox, 59, and 17-year-old Raum upstairs.

The tragedy on Thursday recalls the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her daughter Francecca, 18, after ten years of torment from a gang of local youths.
Francecca also suffered from learning disabilities.
More…Teenage daughter of murdered Garry Newlove in tears as she confronts Gordon Brown over killers’ soft sentences
Thug accused of hounding mother and disabled daughter to death is given Asbo

As neighbours paid tribute to Mrs Fox, it emerged that her son recently changed schools because of the bullying.
Doreen Rowe, 59, her neighbour in Bodmin, Cornwall, said: ‘Mary was a dear old soul and a hero.
‘Her son survived because she pushed him out of the window but she got trapped by the fire.
Trapped: Undertakers carry out Mrs Fox’s body after she died in the blaze. Her son Raum is being cared for by family
‘With it being Bonfire Night, there were loads of kids on the street armed with fireworks. Police have told us one of them has put one through Mary’s letterbox.
‘My husband saw a whole gang of youngsters carrying fireworks not long before it happened.
‘I’m devastated. Mary was such a lovely lady. I used to be able to hear her singing from my garden sometimes – she had a beautiful voice.
‘Fireworks should be completely banned to the public because they are extremely dangerous.’
Family friend Kerry Ollerenshaw, 36, a care worker, said: ‘Her son had learning difficulties and the kids on this estate can be very harsh.
‘They hang around in groups, harassing and intimidating. Raum was a victim of that.
‘A gang had been letting off all sorts of bangers and rockets near their home for days. You could just sense something was going to happen.’
Brett Millington, 17, said: ‘Raum was badly bullied. It wasn’t all physical, he suffered a lot of psychological abuse.
‘Kids would make fun of his bad acne and call him “spotty” and jeer at his greasy hair. Raum always kept himself to himself. He never socialised with anyone in or out of school.
‘While he was still at Bodmin College, his mum would walk him to school every day because the bullying was so bad. But if anything, that just made it worse.’

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca, 18, after a decade of abuse from street thugs
Another neighbour added: ‘She used to walk with him to school every morning and back again in the afternoon.
‘Some of the kids used to take the mickey out him for getting an escort with his mum. He loved computers and was always playing his game console.’

Mrs Fox also had four grown-up daughters but neighbours said they knew nothing about Raum’s father.
The teenager was treated for minor injuries at Bodmin Hospital and was being cared for by relatives last night.

Police said they are investigating the blaze and fire chiefs have confirmed they are looking at fireworks as a possible cause.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the investigation was being hampered by the extensive damage to the house ‘but nothing has been ruled out’.
Steve Halstead, of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, said: ‘Crews arrived at the scene to find a severe fire. There were flames already visible from the windows.
‘We were made aware that there was a person inside and crews made their way to the first floor, despite the severe fire and heat.
‘Unfortunately the fire was fully developed and they found the casualty was already deceased.’

It’s nearly the end of of October which means the season of festivals is beginning. First we start off with Halloween and this year we have a party to go to, then we have bonfire night followed by……THE C WORD!

All this means a nightmare for me, and for MLA. As it gets closer to each festival his anxiety levels rise with Christmas being the worst. So this year he is not getting secret Christmas present, last year he had weeks of anxiety attacks and Christmas day he was physically shaking. No this year he is to be shown what he is getting for Christmas and then it will be wrapped up. That will be spoiling his fun I here you say but the unknown is not fun for MLA. It’s terrifying for him!

So now we have to deal with Halloween.  He has chosen his outfit, a scary ghost and we have the party in a few days.  I don’t need to do to much to reduce his anxieties for this because the party he is going to is that of a couple of friends of his that also have autism which means he, and I, know that the party goers will be informed before each activity what to expect.  So I am unlikely to have all the bad nights, wetting but still have the ‘forgetting’ to eat to deal with.

Next is bonfire night, which is even easier to deal with.  We don’t do a lot on bonfire night as fireworks and dogs don’t go well together.  MLA can watch fireworks from the top of our hill without the dog having a nervous break down

Oh the joys of winter!

Yes I admit I am a bit of a hoarder, or saving ‘useful stuff’ as others will call it. I am having yet another purge of all my useful stuff and decided that a sofa I have that is very comfy but just takes up too much room just has to go. So I am giving it away on Freecycle and hopefully someone is collecting it tomorrow. In it’s place I have purchased a smaller window seat WITHOUT STORAGE! I mention to my mother I am getting a seat without storage and she tells that she is sure I will things to fill a storage one with. So you see where I get my hoarding habit from. I point out to her that yes I probably could fill but that’s the point, I want to get rid of stuff not gain more and if I have extra storage I will fill it with everything I don’t really want or need just in case I need it.  Getting rid of the sofa has a knock effect as I have a CCTV set up in my room and want to put that out of sight because it’s not that esthetically pleasing.  So that is going in my wardrobe wish also means I need to sort that out and get rid of over thing I am keeping just in case.

So the next clear out is the cupboard in BB’s bedroom with all those leads and wires you get with electrical equipment and actual equipment has long gone.  I have been putting it off because it’s a daunting task, but BB and I are going to go through together and be ruthless, hopefully!

You will recall me posting regarding the death of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter after suffering at the hands of her neighbours and the authorities failing to take any action as they deemed the harassment  ‘low level’ and not worth investigating, or in other words you have a disabled child you must go away and hide your shame! I was hoping the press would take this sad, but all to common, story and run with it.  I switched on the TV this morning and was immediately met with the BBC running a story on Fiona Pilkington and the condemning results of the Enquiry, ‘no excuses over family’s death’.  I then did a quick search on the net and was pleased to see the amount of coverage is vast and Mencap was on board too.  There is wide spread condemnation toward the Police, Local Authority and Social Services for their failure to act in defence of Fiona and her family, well nothing new there it goes on up and down the the country.  Heck , say disability hate crime to the antisocial team at your local authority and they will deny all knowledge of it’s existence, the police with make you feel like you are making ‘a mountain out of a mole hill’  Well with any luck not any more!

The extensive press coverage will and is bringing this ’silent’ crime into the public eye and people and not happy about it.  No longer will the powers that be be able to dismiss this kind of crime and try and brush it under the carpet, well not in the near future any way. Any Police Officer, Local Authority work, or Social worker that tries will be subject to a barrage of press coming down on them like a ton of bricks, and so they should.  The common man on the street is angry that this goes on all to often, and not just to Fiona and her family and the press are ensuring other incidents are exposed, the more the merrier and the more the blinkers will drop.  To long have the human rights of the disabled been dismissed, especially in the mentally disabled who’s voice is week and the often do understand what is going on.  It’s not just the authorities this happen but in the medical services, hospitals to.  How often have I over heard ‘oh he is backward he wont understand just do it’ being whispered in corners.  How many hospital staff, particularly doctors, slam doors in the face of the mobility challenged?  Yes they do I have had it happen to me which met with a loud gasp from the nurse behind and a loud ‘ignorant doctor’ comment being thrown in any general direction for all around the hear.

The legacy of Fiona Pilkington is that she has highlighted the outrages behaviour toward the disabled, particularly those with a learning difficulty.  But what a shame she had to die, and murder, to do this.

From the BBC

Murder mother’s abuse ‘ignored’

The inquest heard the family was under siege in their home
A mother who killed herself and her disabled daughter in a burning car had contacted police more than 30 times about abuse claims, an inquest heard.

Fiona Pilkington, 38, made her last report of intimidation by a gang of youths on the day she died, a jury at Loughborough Town Hall was told.

Coroner Olivia Davison heard police considered her to be “over-reacting” and did not respond to many complaints.

The bodies were found in a burning car in Leicestershire in 2007.

Ms Pilkington, of Bulwell, had driven her daughter Francecca Hardwick, 18, to a lay-by on the A47 near Earl Shilton, where she set fire to the car.

‘Under siege’

The jury heard Ms Pilkington had apparently carried out a murder-suicide.

Leicester Police said they logged 33 complaints from Ms Pilkington about a gang between 2000 and 2007, including 13 in the 10 months before her death.

The inquest heard the family were “under siege” in their home but police filed the incidents as the less serious “grade two” and considered her to be “over-reacting”.

Earlier in the inquest Ms Pilkington’s mother, Pam Cassell, 72, said a gang of up to 16 youths would stand at the front of the family house shouting that they could do “anything they liked to the family”.

Fiona just gave up. She was in despair really, nobody did anything to help her.

Pam Cassell, mother
The jury was told Ms Pilkington’s son Anthony, who has severe dyslexia, was locked in a shed at knifepoint and beaten with a metal bar.

The gang also shouted at Francecca, who has severe learning difficulties, to lift up her nightdress.

They also pelted the family’s home with eggs, flour and stones and shouted insults about the childrens’ disabilities.

Mrs Cassell said: “Fiona couldn’t defend herself. She was very shy and didn’t want any trouble.

“It was going on for so long I thought somebody would have done something. Fiona just gave up. She was in despair really, nobody did anything to help her, not the police, the council or the Neighbourhood Watch.

“Frankie was frustrated because she couldn’t go out in the garden without being tormented.”

Similarly-intended trip

Chris Tew, former Assistant Chief Constable of Leicester Police, admitted many of Ms Pilkington’s calls to police were not linked and were regarded as anti-social behaviour. On some occasions the reports were not passed on to the street’s beat officer.

He said: “There’s no damage or assault and it doesn’t pass the threshold for a crime.

If a police officer reflected on these incidents, an attempt might have been made to apprehend the individuals who were doing this

Coroner Olivia Davison
“The reporting system is that something ongoing is given a grade two. It’s infrequent that there are any resources to respond.”

Ms Davison responded by saying: “It seems to me that, given the history and the context of the abuse, it would not have been anti-social behaviour but a crime because we had people being hounded in their own home.

“This woman has been too scared on occasions to come out of her house.”

She added that officers should have realised the incidents were linked and paid greater attention to the family’s predicament.

She said: “If a police officer reflected on these incidents, an attempt might have been made to apprehend the individuals who were doing this, charge them and bring them before a youth court, rather than passing them on to the council who will write them a letter they will probably ignore.”

Mrs Cassell told the inquest her daughter had taken her children on a similarly-intended death trip in 2005, but changed her mind after failing to find somewhere to park her car.

The inquest continues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8264015.stm

 

A coroner questions the police response to a family being harassed by a gang

 

If there is one that has come out of this tragic story it’s that she has highlighted that disability hate crime does go on regularly and that the police, council and whom ever ARE told of the problems but have a tendency to ignore and down grade these crimes.  She has highlighted these cover ups and brought it out into the public eye which means those of use that still on the receiving end of it, be it by proxy for your child or directly because of your own disability, will be more likely to be listened to and action be taken.  What a pity a mother had to kill herself and her disabled daughter before this happened…hang your heads in shame law enforcement authorities and Government for allowing this to get this far!

May you rest in peace Pilkintons, and may your tormentors have nightmares for the rest of their lives.

We have had nothing but heavy rain for most of the week causing havoc around Scotland with flooding. Rivers are bursting their banks and the fields are sodden, most farmers seemed to have managed to get their damp harvest in but I doubt it will be much good. It also means that this year has been a dismal year for dog shows for MLA, with his last show at Blairgowrie being cancelled this morning ‘due to excessive rain’. I was expecting it and was going to contact the organisers to find out later today. Still MLA has done very well this year and gained a tremendous amount of rosettes, a lot being 1st and 2nds, plus a trophy. MLA has also received some good help and good tips from the judges this year as they believe he is good at showing his dog and with help will be very good, it’s also an advantage to have good dog.

My plan of dog training and shows to help MLA in his confidence has really paid off with people noticing how happy and confident he is.  But it has also worked on his little dog Coco and her confidence.  She came to us via a rescue home and was afraid of her own shadow.  It has taken time, MLA  and her have been learning together, but finally she is confident enough to enter the trick classes that some shows have AND gained first prize a couple of weeks back.  She didn’t do the best tricks or the fastest but MLA got the prize because Coco was nervous and hesitant but she did the tricks any way and MLA kept her under control and her trust in him.  So he won it for good dog control and not the quality of the trick, as it should be really because a nervous dog will be harder to control.  MLA knew the judge well and has come up against her in dog show when she has shown her dogs, and he has beaten her.  So she was fully aware of Coco and MLA and how well they worked together.

So that’s all the shows for this year but he will continue with his weekly training when it’s convenient and training at home and hopefully next year he will be even better!

The latest trick Coco is learning is to use a skate board, and she loves it!

Well all I can say is jeeze!

I am applying for passport for my children, have to do mine later, as next year we have a holiday booked abroad. Simple I hear you say, fill in the application form and get it counter signed. Well it’s that later part that prove to be neigh on impossible due to the paranoia that’s running through people in this country’s mind at present.

I tried my local home ed group I go to as I have been there the required 2 years to meet the forms criteria. The excuses I got were just unbelievable and ranged from ‘The Government will check up on me and turn up at my house’ to the most insulting of all ‘you asking me to lie!’ At this point I just managed to prevent myself from losing my temper and walked outside for fresh air to ‘cool off’. These are not uneducated people but people with degrees and had in the past what is classed as professional positions. I then asked someone I had known for the past 45 years, and an accountant. Well the paranoia reappeared to mega portions and to such a height that at present I have no wish to know her much longer! I contacted my GP surgery to see if the nurses, or doctor would sign it. But know the practise has put a stop to it and doctors no longer sign the applications. I then contacted my solicitor who was willing to sign it for a small fee, even though he has not known me for the 2 years. In the mean time my mother asked her neighbours, who I see very little of despite me visiting her. They are willing to do and can’t understand all the fuss.

So why was there all the fuss? I hear you ask.  Well it’s down to the brain washing done in this country.  We are all encourage to ’spy’ on our neighbours, friends and family in case they are doing wrong or even a terrorist.  The police no longer consider people in Britain are innocent until proven guilty and you need to prove your innocence should you need police assistance.  The underlying tone in Britain these days is that we must suspect everyone and trust know one, some thing my generation and beyond find bizarre and offencive.  After doing a search on the internet it would appear that I am not alone with this problem and a large portion of British citizens can not get their coutner singatures on passport applications.

But by far the biggest thing that has upset/annoyed me about this saga is the lack of trust my so called friends have shown me and one even made offencive remarks with regards to my integrity.  Will they remain my friends? At present I will not be going out of my way to ensure that!

On a recent holiday I was relieved to be away from the oppressive weight of constantly being on my guard with my neighbours and their constant complaint making to various council officials, all unfounded. Whilst away something came on on the news regarding the increase in neighbour complaints, mainly from Scotland, The Scottish national Party etc. Both mum and I spoke about it and this obsession, encouraged by the Government, to spy on your neighbours and friends and how in Scotland they appear to have taken this to the extreme making ordinary law abiding folks life miserable. My mother then came out with a very profound statement that I can not disagree with

“the problem is the Scots are just too busy trying to be Scottish to care about anything else but themselves.”

There seem to be a inherent culture growing in the Britain as a whole to watch each other with ill intent and no where is this more evident than in Scotland. this is born out by the racial remarks made to any one that is not speaking with a Scottish accent or not white.

Another thing that really hit home was that MLA who is noticeably ‘different’ these days was not stared at or remarked about once whilst we were away and yet within 5 Min’s of getting off the train in Scotland I noted no less than 5 people staring intently at him, and so did!

Once again the Scots are intolerant of anything different and once again feel they have the right to make rude obnoxious remarks to whom ever will listen because they are Scottish and proud of it.

The racial aspect came up again yesterday when I was renewing membership for a local museum the children like to go to. Outside was a woman taking a survey of what people thought of the attractions and on that survey we got to the usual ethnic minority section. Now I am white I am British BUT I refuse to state this because I feel we are all one under one race in the world regardless of colour or creed. However when I stated this to the woman she took a intake of breath, clearly she felt that I am white and should be proud of it. Well I am not if that means some one of a darker shade of skin to me is abused, I am ashamed!

I am of Scottish decent and was when I was younger very proud of my Scottish back ground however these days if anyone should ask me are you Scottish my answer would be NO.  Why?  Because I have no intention of associating myself with the growing culture of racism, disablism, violence, nor the surveillance culture.  I am British, I was born in Great Britain, but I can’t wait to leave it’s shores as the Great has long gone and been replaced by surveillance and totalitarian Britain.

Still think I am talking a load of twaddle?  Well watch this

Yep it’s holiday time of year and we are due to go in a few days. We are all really looking forward to having no clearing up to do at home and no cooking for 4 days. However holidays, except caravan ones, bring with them their own problems with MLA.

One of the problems that happens is MLA begins to wet himself occasionally, not a real problem as I am well used it and even though he is nearly 13 we just deal with the mess and ignore it. However the main problem is the the erratic sleep patterns. He is either wakes in the middle of the night and it will take long while to get back to bed or as this morning be up early hours of the morning asking if it’s time to get up or I hear him making himself breakfast. He is genuinely shocked when he is informed it’s 2am and he should still be in bed. We will need to get up early on the morning of our holidays but you can bet your bottom dollar I will have difficulty getting him up.

So what is the cause of these behaviours?  Well it nothing more that anxiety.  Autistics get anxious over very little and stress a great deal.  MLA is stressing over the unknown.  So how do we help overcome these things?  Well one of the thing we do it MLA and sit down and do a social story, a factual piece of writing and drawings of the journey and where we will be staying and things we will be doing.  I do them with MLA  rather than do them by myself because MLA then is ‘in charge’ of his holiday and help to elevate stress. He has a book he uses for all his social stories and will carry it around on his journey.  He will refer to it regularly, particularly when he sees something that worries him, something usually very simple. It does not work 100% but without it things would be far worse for MLA, and for me!

From the BBCTeachers facing ‘classroom MOTs’

Newly-qualified teachers will have the first licences in 2010
Teachers in England will need licences to work in the classroom which will have to be renewed every five years, under government plans.

The proposal, intended to weed out weak teachers, is included in an education White Paper announced by Children’s Secretary Ed Balls.

There is also a guarantee of personalised tuition for all pupils who have fallen behind in English or maths.

Mr Balls said there was a “moral imperative” to support every child.

The children’s secretary said the White Paper, Building a 21st Century Schools System, was based on three principles – “new guarantees for pupils and parents, a significant devolution of power to school leaders … and an uncompromising approach to school improvement”.

‘MOT test’

The licence to teach, to be introduced for newly-qualified teachers from September 2010, is intended to “boost the status of the profession”.

WHITE PAPER: KEY POINTS
Licence to teach
Guaranteed rights for parents
School report cards
Chains of schools
One-to-one tuition
Without a licence, teachers will be unable to teach – but Mr Balls said he did not have any indication of how many teachers would fail the five-yearly assessment, which will be carried out by head teachers.

“It would be foolish to speculate about numbers,” said Mr Balls.

But he said the checks would make sure that schools were “facing up to inadequacy”.

Teachers’ union leaders were divided over the plan.

National Union of Teachers leader Christine Blower was against the check: “We don’t think this is necessary at all.”

Mary Bousted, head of the ATL union, said it would be a “bureaucratic nightmare”.

But Chris Keates of the NASUWT said the licensing scheme would give teachers “the long overdue recognition that it is a high status qualification”.

And head teachers’ leader, John Dunford, said: “We expect our doctors to be up to date when they treat us. It is reasonable for the public to expect teachers to be up to date when they teach their children.”

School ‘brands’

The proposals also included details of how the school report card, which gives parents information about how well schools are performing, will be introduced.

Ed Balls: “We will introduce a licence to teach, similar to other high status professions”
Mr Balls said that schools would be given a single grade – A to D – based on a series of measures ranging from test results and the social background of the intake, pupils’ views, attendance and pupils’ “well-being”.

These report cards, to be piloted from this autumn, will be published nationally for all England’s schools – alongside the test result league tables.

The White Paper also stresses the concept of parents’ having legally-enforceable guarantees in school provision, such as the amount of sport available each week.

Mr Balls said this would be similar to the way that school admissions codes had become statutory.

Michael Gove: “The prime minister promised these things and failed to deliver”
Among the services that will become a legal right will be access to one-to-one and small group teaching for children who have failed to reach the expected levels in English and maths.

The success of this scheme will be monitored by sampling the ability of these pupils in the first year of secondary school who have received the extra catch-up lessons.

The White Paper also calls for high performing schools and education providers to take over their less successful neighbours, creating chains of schools with a shared “brand” identity.

There will be a list of successful schools and organisations accredited to set up such chains – which would mean groups of primary and secondary schools with similar uniforms and brand names under a single executive head teacher.

‘Gimmicks’

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said: “Ed Balls has refused to give teachers the powers they need to deal with violence and disruption, such as removing the restrictions on teachers removing disruptive pupils.

“He rejected our plan to give teachers the power to search for banned items. He rejected our plan to let schools make parent contracts compulsory.”

Dismissing the proposals as “new gimmicks”, he added: “Instead, he has opted for a one-to-one tuition programme that was ineffective – and over budget – when piloted, and a ‘September Guarantee’ for which the funding doesn’t stack up.”

Mr Balls also announced that his department was going to intervene to improve children’s services in Milton Keynes. He also spoke of concerns over progress in Leicester, Gloucestershire and Blackpool.