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“Blows to the head” required

Editor’s Note: Today’s story comes to us from the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association.Catch and Release fishing will be banned in Switzerland from next year, it was revealed this week.

And anglers in the country will have to demonstrate their expertise by taking a course on humane methods of catching fish, under new legislation outlined by the Bundesrat - the Swiss Federal Parliament.

The new legislation states that fish caught should be killed immediately following their capture, with a sharp blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Under the new regulations, the use of livebait and barbed hooks is also prohibited except in certain situations.

The laws come into effect in 2009 but while the Swiss government does not mention Catch and Release specifically, it does say that “it is not permitted to go fishing with the ‘intention’ to release the fish.”

EFTTA lobbyist Jan Kappel has been in contact with Martin Peter, Vice President of the Swiss Angling Federation, to see whether a joint approach to the Swiss government could persuade them to amend the legislation - which forms part of a much wider animal welfare programme.

The law on the protection of animals was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2005 and officials have spent three years refining the details, taking into account the comments of interested parties.

Said Jan: “Catch and Release is one of the most difficult issues we have to deal with, and one of the most important in my opinion.

“The new Swiss law doesn’t make use of the term ‘Catch and Release’, which is the same as in Germany – but I don’t see how governments can enforce legislation which makes ‘intent’ illegal.

“And demanding that people kill the fish they catch gives no thought to the conservation benefits from releasing them.”

Angling Codes of Conduct with regards to proper handling and releases can be found for practically any fish species caught by anglers in Switzerland and the rest of the world. The new Swiss law makes it obligatory for anglers to take lessons before being granted a fishing license. So there is absolutely no need for an outright ban on the release of fish in Switzerland.”

It’s believed that the legislation could affect as many as 275,000 anglers in Switzerland, who generate around 30 million Euros in annual tackle sales.

EFTTA acting president, Pierangelo Zanetta, said: “EFTTA does not believe that forcing anglers to kill their catches is either good for nature or for recreational sport fishing - which makes a significant financial contribution to the EU economy.

“Making the killing of fish obligatory will simply reduce fish population and, at the same time, run the risk of having a negative impact on sport fishing.

“Anglers and the sport of angling invest time and money to improve water quality and create larger and healthier fish populations. We believe is it far better for the fish if the fisherman decides, according to the situation, whether to keep and eat the fish or to release it.” Source

Daily Mail
Chris Brooke

When convicted rapist Michael Clark was freed from prison, he refused to return to his home town of Scunthorpe because he claimed to fear for his safety.

Instead he was housed in a community where no one knew of his past.

Less than a year later, he sexually assaulted and killed Zuzanna Zommer, a 14-year-old girl living two doors away.

Officials had tried to turn down the registered sex offender’s request to move 40 miles away to Leeds, but they were forced to back down after representations from the homeless charity Shelter.

The organisation warned the council it was breaking the law by not letting 40-year-old Clark, as a “homeless” person, jump to the top of the housing queue.

Victim: Zuzanna Zommer

Council housing chief Les Carter said: “It was too dangerous for him to go back to Scunthorpe but it wasn’t too dangerous for him to live next to this poor girl, was it?

“That’s the problem with this country nowadays, the rights of offenders come first.”

Clark murdered Zuzanna just 11 months after he was given a rented house in the Harehills district of Leeds.

Yesterday at Sheffield Crown Court he was jailed for life. He was given a minimum term of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.

Mr Justice King told him: “Your victim was only 14. She was no doubt easy prey to your predatory sexual desires which you found difficult to control.”

The girl’s Polish family had arrived to start a new life in the UK just weeks before the attack.

Zuzanna’s father, Robert, told the court Clark befriended the family by them offering lifts to the supermarket and taking them to buy a television set. He even attended a barbecue at their house.

When Clark discovered Zuzanna liked cats he bought a kitten which he let her cuddle.

But Clark’s more sinister side emerged when he walked into the family home one day without knocking. He looked “like a zombie” and stared at Zuzanna and her younger brother. Mr Zommer warned his children not to have any more contact with their neighbour. But it was too late.

In October last year, Mr Zommer and his wife Matgorzarta returned from a shopping trip to find their daughter’s semi-naked body on the bedroom floor.

She had been murdered by Clark in a frenzied attack. He fractured her skull by stamping on her head, stabbed her and cut her throat. Clark had a criminal record for violence dating back 20 years.

In 1991 he brutally raped a woman he met in a nightclub and was jailed for seven years; in 1996 he was jailed for an assault on two police officers; in 1998 he sexually assaulted a woman in front of her three-year-old son; and in 2004 he assaulted a prostitute.

Human rights rapist: Michael Clark

Arrangements were made for him to live in Leeds while he was completing his latest jail term in Hull prison.

“It was felt he would be at risk if he returned to where he was living before,” said Mr Carter.

Clark had no previous connection with Leeds, but he had a right under the 1996 Housing Act to choose where he wanted to live.

Shelter last night blamed the council for allowing the Zommers to live near Clark.

A spokesman said: “We applied to Leeds City Council because local authorities have a legal obligation to house prisoners under the Housing Act.

“However, the decision on where to place Michael Clark and who to house next to him were decisions taken by Leeds City Council, and which Shelter played no part in whatsoever.

“Questions need to be asked as to why this young girl and her family were housed next to a known sex offender.”

The Zommers have now returned to Poland. They were too upset to sit through the trial.

Source

Daily Mail
James Tozer

He only popped out to run a couple of errands for his disabled wife.

But Keith Hirst ended up spending the night in a police cell after being accused of dropping an apple core.

Despite strenuously denying the allegation, the former plumber, who has a heart condition, was taken into custody by up to five uniformed officers and had his DNA and fingerprints taken.

Keith Hirst, who has a heart condition, was locked up for 18 hours

By then his worried family were calling hospitals, fearing he had been in an accident.

It wasn’t until nearly 11pm that he was able to ring them and explain what had happened.

He was finally released after 18 hours behind bars.

Mr Hirst, 54, said yesterday he would fight to clear his name in a case which could leave him with a criminal record and cost taxpayers thousands of pounds.

“The way I was treated you would have thought I had robbed a bank,” he said.

“My family are law-abiding people and I would help if I saw a gang of yobs attacking a police officer.

“This kind of incident does not help in improving relations between the community and police.”

Mr Hirst had just come out of a post office near his home in Swinton, Greater Manchester, and was heading for the chemists to collect his wife’s prescription when a community support officer accused him of littering.

He said the officer wanted to issue him with a £50 on-the-spot fine for littering.

“There was a chap there in a fluorescent jacket, big sunglasses, and a baseball cap, on a bike, with a wad of tickets and a pen. He said, ‘Why did you drop that apple core?’ and I told him I didn’t drop an apple core.

“He then said he wanted my name and address. He was an over-zealous young lad, baying to give me a ticket.

“I told him I was on my way to the shops but would be walking back that way if he wanted to speak to me later.”

Mr Hirst says that when he emerged from the chemists he claimed he was surrounded by five uniformed officers.

“I said I had done nothing wrong and so was not telling them who I was,” he said.

He was taken to the police station, where his belongings were taken and his DNA and finger-prints recorded before being locked in the cells overnight.

He twice had to be seen by a doctor after complaining of dizziness and chest pains.

After being charged with littering and obstructing a police officer, the following morning he was handcuffed to a security guard to appear before local magistrates.

His wife, whose disability is due to a back problem, said: “The first I knew about it was when Keith called at 10.45pm.

“He’d gone to the Post Office at lunchtime. We did not know where he was and my daughter had been ringing hospitals. The whole case is ridiculous.”

A police source claimed Mr Hirst had flung the apple core across the road, almost hitting someone.

The source added that Mr Hirst refused to give his details to a single officer called in by the PCSO as back-up after he behaved rudely and aggressively. This officer requested two more officers to arrest him.

If he had provided his address he would have been released from custody, the source added.

The obstruction charge was subsequently dropped but Mr Hirst is due to face trial before a district judge for the alleged littering offence last month.

He could face a £2,500 fine or up to six months in prison.

Superintendent Ian Palmer, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “Littering is an offence. We work tirelessly to ensure the streets are not only safe but also clean.”

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail told how Kate Badger, 25, from Wolverhampton, was taken to court after being accused of throwing an apple core from her car.

The case, which dragged on for a year at a cost of at least £2,800, was later dropped.

Last month, Sarah Davies, 20, was fined £75 after dropping a piece of sausage roll she was feeding to her four-year-old daughter in Hull. Source