The brother of Home Secretary Jack Straw has been found guilty of an indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl.

William Straw, 47, of Bramcote in Nottingham, will be placed on the sex offenders' register for the next five years.

Straw had denied the charge at Nottingham Magistrates' Court.

"I realised it was a mistake...to be alone with her in her home"

William Straw

But stipendiary magistrate Peter Nettle found him guilty of assaulting the girl at her home in April and fined him £750 and £275 costs.

Giving evidence Straw said he agreed with the majority of what the girl said had happened, but he denied ever actually touching her.

The father-of-two said he had been on his own, feeling low and was reaching out to a friendly face.

The court heard how Straw, an Open University administrator, bumped into the girl, who was a friend of the family, while she was out shopping on 19 April.

He asked her to come to his home to see his new dog.

'I had not asked him in'

The girl refused, saying she had GCSE revision to do.

But Straw rang her at home later and repeated his offer.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court Straw then rode his bike around to her house.

Straw, a father-of-two, then invited himself into the girl's house, the court was told.

"He came in to the kitchen and asked if I was okay," the girl told the court.

"I had not asked him to come in, I felt worried and nervous but I offered him a cup of tea because he is a friend of the family."

She said Straw, who is married but separated, started talking to her and touched her on the stomach, below the crop top she was wearing.

'Family friend'

The girl said Straw then asked if he could have a look at her bedroom.

"I started to get more worried but he was a family friend so I said yes," she told the court.

She said Straw sat on her bed and commented on how soft it was.

When they went to leave the room, the girl said Straw put his hands on her hips.

"He started rubbing my hips and staring at my breasts. I told him he was scaring me and he seemed to snap out of a trance," she told the court.

The girl said Straw then apologised and went back downstairs and left a short time afterwards.

Anti-depressants

In Straw's account, he said he had gone to the house wanting "someone to talk to".

He said: "On the stairs I stopped and turned and put my hands out to her - I'm not quite sure why I did it, and when she said she was scared that's when I realised it was a mistake for me, a 47-year-old man, to be alone with her in her home."

The court heard Straw had been referred a psychiatrist a month before the incident and was prescribed anti-depressants.

The magistrate said that while he found both credible witnesses, the version of events given by the girl seemed to hold more truth.

UK

Cabinet Minister's son cautioned
image: [ 17 year-old William Straw receives a police caution ]
17 year-old William Straw receives a police caution

The son of the British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, who faced criminal proceedings after allegedly selling cannabis to an undercover reporter, has been cautioned by police.

William Straw, 17, was accused of selling 1.92 grams of cannabis resin to a journalist from The Mirror newspaper.

The reporter, Dawn Alford, had herself been questioned by police for possession of the drug, a move that outraged the paper's editor.

Dawn Alford will not be prosecuted

Scotland Yard has informed Ms Alford through the paper's lawyer that no action will be taken against her.

Given the small quantity of drugs involved, the BBC's legal affairs correspondent Joshua Rosenberg said it was not surprising the police were not taking stronger action against William Straw.

He said: "There was a lot of talk about the fact that the police didn't consider that there was enough evidence to bring a prosecution.

"What seems to have happened is that Jack Straw and his son William went to a police station in South London. William Straw received a formal caution - meaning in effect that he admitted the truth of the allegations against him - and that's the end of the matter as far he is concerned."

In a statement, Mr Straw, whose responsibilities include law and order enforcement, appealed to the media for continued restraint.

He said: "William is now learning the lessons of this episode and he has of course my full support in doing so."

Mr Straw said he was grateful for the restraint shown towards his son by most of the media. He added that he has no plans to make any further comment about William.

Home Office cover-up

Home Office suppressed details of crimes committed by foreign nationals as pressure mounts on Clarke to go

By Francis Elliott, Sophie Goodchild and Marie Woolf
Sunday, 30 April 2006

The pressure on Charles Clarke to resign intensified last night following allegations that he tried to cover up the true scale of the threat posed by foreign prisoners wrongly released on to Britain's streets.

The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that the Home Secretary withheld detailed information about the serious crimes committed by 79 convicted criminals who should have been deported following their release from British jails.

With claims that public safety could have been jeopardised by the refusal to name the men being hunted, the IoS can reveal that a list of offenders passed by Mr Clarke to the Association of Chief Police Officers includes four kidnappers, two murderers, eight rapists, 13 sex offenders, two killers convicted of manslaughter and 50 violent offenders.

Although Mr Clarke admitted on Friday that 13 of the "most serious offenders" had convictions for murder, manslaughter and child sex offences, he withheld the other crimes committed by the released foreigners. Five of the 79 have re-offended and two more are under investigation for alleged sex offences, one of whom was released after Mr Clarke was told about the scandal.

Kyle Bester, a Zimbabwean national who was sentenced to five years for rape, was the first prisoner to be identified after he was re-arrested on Friday night. He was being held at Belmarsh high-security prison.

Last night, police and immigration officers were desperately trying to establish the whereabouts of other released offenders. Police detained an undisclosed number of criminals on the serious offender list yesterday, but would not givedetails.

With Tony Blair's government braced for further disclosures today about ministerial behaviour, David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said yesterday that at "every stage" the Government had battled to keep the true facts of the prisoner release crisis concealed. "The public can no longer have confidence in a Home Secretary who covers up the facts and particularly the facts of his own failure ... We have had to drag the numbers out of them."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "They are salami-slicing into the statistics. It's difficult for me to work out where cock-up ends and cover-up begins."

The allegations of a cover-up will push to the limits the support of Downing Street, which was last night facing further revelations about John Prescott's affair with his secretary, who has reportedly sold her side of the story for in excess of £100,000.

The deluge of negative publicity prompted one cabinet minister to tell the IoS that Mr Blair was "in the endgame". Another senior MP said disastrous results in Thursday's local elections could prove the "tipping point" for mutinous Labour backbenchers desperate for a change at the top.

But it is Mr Clarke's career that is in more immediate peril. Mr Blair appeared to cut his Home Secretary adrift in an interview with the News of the World last night, refusing to rule out sacking him. He said: "It depends on what happens, what the reasons are." Mr Blair also said he had been "pretty angry" when he found out about the fiasco.

The Home Office's top civil servant has blamed the bungle on staff being unable to cope with the huge rise in the number of foreign prisoners in British jails. A letter from Sir David Normington, the permanent secretary at the Home Office, circulated to staff this week, refers to the crisis as "deeply regrettable".

The memo, a copy of which has been seen by the IoS, said: "The foreign national prisoner population is at record levels and it is clear that while an increasing numbers [sic] of cases have been referred for consideration, we have not kept pace with that rising demand." It adds: "This is clearly a situation that all of us would rather have avoided."

Reid 'wrong' on Home Office split

Mr Clarke lost his job in last May's Cabinet reshuffle..

Ex-Home Secretary Charles Clarke has criticised proposals to split up his former department, following a series of controversies.

Mr Clarke, who was sacked last May over a failure to deport foreign criminals, told Sky News he disagreed with his successor, John Reid.

"I think he's wrong," he said, adding that it could make the problems worse.

Mr Reid wants to split the Home Office into two departments, dealing with security issues and justice.

Mr Reid said parts of the Home Office were "not fit for purpose", when he took over last summer.

	" I think dividing the home office would make those problems far worse"
	Charles Clarke

It has continued to hit the headlines with stories ranging from a lack of prison places to Britons who had committed crimes abroad but whose case files were not entered on the police computer.

In an interview on Sunday, Mr Clarke said that Mr Reid's recent decisions to write to judges to remind them of sentencing guidelines, and to suggest splitting up the Home Office, were both mistakes.

"I think the problem with the department is a lack of co-ordination between its various elements," he said.

"Between immigration and asylum on the one hand, police, prisons and probation, there simply isn't enough co-ordination between them.

"I think dividing the Home Office would make those problems far worse".

Balanced government

Another former Labour home secretary, David Blunket, has said the split would not be good for balanced government as it would leave only two powerful figures in Cabinet - the prime minister and the chancellor.

But Jack Straw, who was Labour home secretary from 1997 to 2001, has said he had not backed such a plan then, but terrorism had since become an "overwhelming" issue and he now thought it was a good idea.

And Mr Reid has said: "We have to look at all of the options that are available to us with a view to protecting the nation, protecting the public, ensuring national security and putting the public interests first in everything we do."

Since he took over he has been reviewing the way the Home Office works and its structure, but says it will take two and a half years to fix.

Under Mr Reid's recommendations the security department would be responsible for anti-terrorism policy, immigration and the security services.

The Ministry of Justice would have control of probation, prisons and stopping re-offending.

The Conservatives have called the plan an "admission of failure" and say breaking up the Home Office will "compound existing problems" and create new ones.

Blunkett 'gave machine-gun order'

Mr Blunkett denies the machine gun accusation

David Blunkett told the head of the Prison Service to call in the Army and "machine-gun" rioting inmates to regain control of a jail in 2002, reports say.

Martin Narey, then director general, said the then home secretary told him he did not care about possible deaths during bids to retake Lincoln prison.

Mr Narey's comments in The Times are in response to Mr Blunkett's diaries which accuse him of dithering over the riots.

Mr Blunkett denies the charge: "I think Martin's got slightly carried away."

The diaries, which record Mr Blunkett's eight years in Cabinet, were published on Monday.

Mr Narey said when he read Mr Blunkett's account of the riot he was "very angry".

	"What you are looking for is calm guidance, it's leadership from a secretary of state, and that was sadly lacking on that occasion"
	Martin Narey Former Prison Service head

"And on behalf of all those who worked so bravely that night - particularly my deputy, Phil Wheatley - I was determined to put the record straight," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He said that, during a telephone conversation in October 2002, he told Mr Blunkett he would not rush into ordering staff back into jail if it put lives at risk.

He told The Times: "[Mr Blunkett] shrieked at me that he didn't care about lives, told me to call in the Army and 'machine-gun' the prisoners and - still shrieking - again ordered me to take the prison back immediately.

"I refused. David hung up."

Mr Narey acknowledged that the comments were not meant literally.

"He surely cannot have intended us to take (them) seriously," he wrote in The Times.

Mr Narey described Mr Blunkett as being "reckless" during the crisis.

"What you are looking for is calm guidance, it's leadership from a secretary of state, and that was sadly lacking on that occasion."

Martin Narey claimed Mr Blunkett was "reckless"

He added: "I don't think David was decisive that evening; I think he was reckless."

Mr Narey said he "was well aware of the capacity for riots to spread" because of his experience of the riots at Strangeways prison in 1990.

But the ex-Cabinet minister has stood by his account of the Lincoln prison riot and denied Mr Narey's account.

Asked if he had mentioned machine guns, Mr Blunkett said: "Well, I didn't. I mean I told him to get on with the job. I told him, frankly, that if the prison service and the police couldn't go in and take the prison back, then the armed services should.

"But...how the hell could I tell somebody to machine gun? Come on. It's a good story. It's made a good headline."

Recorded call

A spokesman for Mr Blunkett told the Times that any such phone call to Mr Narey "would have been monitored by Mr Blunkett's private office".

Mr Narey said he would be "delighted" to hear such a recording.

"I promise you my account is absolutely true."

At his monthly news conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Mr Blunkett had been an "excellent" education secretary, home secretary and work and pensions secretary.

Asked if he was dismayed at any damage to the government caused by the diaries, or if he had felt personally let down or had sought to delay their publication, Mr Blair replied "no, no, no and no".

"I have got other things to think about."

Jacqui Smith denies immigrant 'cover-up'

By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor and Emma Henry

Last Updated: 2:09am GMT 14/11/2007

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has told MPs that she was 'responsible' to establish the scale of the illegal immigration problem before informing the Commons.

Analysis: Charles Clarke resigned. Will Jacqui Smith?

Olympic stadiums 'may need more migrants'

Miss Smith said she had a duty to act first and explain later, after leaked emails revealed that she was told in July that 5,000 illegal immigrants had been cleared to work in sensitive Whitehall security jobs.


	Ms Smith arrives at Number 10

But David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the Home Office response had been "blunder, panic and cover-up".

Ms Smith was forced to make a statement in the Commons after the emails revealed the problem, which saw one worker sent to guard Gordon Brown's car, while 11 more were placed at Scotland Yard.

All had been licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), a Government agency.

Miss Smith stressed it was the "legal duty" of all employers to ensure that their employees were entitled to work in the UK.

The Security Industry Authority, which has licensed applicants for security posts since 2003, had "not failed to do anything that it was obliged to do in law".

She told MPs that from July every non-European applicant had had their right to work in the UK checked and from October the SIA had required "new and tighter" identity checks.

"My approach was that the responsible thing to do was to establish the full nature and scale of the problem and take appropriate action to deal with it, rather than immediately to put incomplete and potentially misleading information in to the public domain," she said.

She said that stringent new checks on the estimated 40,000 non EEA nationals granted icences by the SIA would be complete in December.

Ms Smith took over as the first woman Home Secretary in June and her department was told of the problem just a week later on July 2. But she chose not to make the information public to avoid more bad publicity for the embattled ministry.

Instead, the Home Secretary launched an internal investigation to identify the scale of the problem and keep it hidden.

Other ministers and senior officials were also aware of what was happening.

One of her predecessors, Charles Clarke, lost his job over a similar controversy when it emerged foreign prisoners were released without being deported.

Mr Clarke was open about the problem - even volunteering a statement to parliament - yet still lost his job.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, said: "There are some really big questions for the Home Secretary.

"It looks like they put the convenience of when they wanted to announce things to the press and Government spin ... ahead of public safety and telling the public what was happening."

The revelation has also raised a major question mark over Mr Brown's commitment to greater openness.

The news that at least 5,000 illegal immigrants had been cleared by the SIA to work in some of Whitehall's most sensitive buildings finally broke on Sunday.

But the assessment of another former home secretary, John Reid, that the department is "not fit for purpose" still haunts the Government.

Extracts from the Home Office memos

From Ms Smith's private secretary Mark Williams, Aug 9, 2007:

"The Home Secretary has seen your submission of today's date ... She agrees with you that this is not ready for public announcement yet."

From Peter Edmundson of the Policing Policy and Operations Directorate, Aug 20:

"Given that the Home Office and the SIA do not currently know the full scale of these problems, Press Office continues to recommend strongly that no public announcement is made."

"At the moment, no section of the media are aware that there are any concerns about the security industry employing illegal migrant workers. Despite the corrective action being taken, any announcement about illegal migrant workers and SIA licences would not be presented by the media as a positive story."

From Peter Edmundson, Aug 30:

"Press Office advises that should the media discover that a Home Office NDPB has issued thousands of licences to illegal workers and that some of those workers have been employed in high-profile security jobs there will be significant criticism of the Home Office and our processes."