Samuel Ramos

A male carer who carried out a serious sex attack on an infirm 76-year-old woman at a nursing home has been jailed for six years and eight months.

Joseph Sinja was taken on with "absolutely no qualifications", the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

Sinja, 32, admitted the attack on 26 April this year, when he appeared at the High Court in the city earlier.

The distressed victim told an employee that Sinja had "done things her husband wouldn't do".

A judge told the devout Christian: "You were working at the care home at the time of the offence as an agency care assistant."

Lord Kinclaven said: "You were entrusted to provide care to her but instead indecently assaulted her in what was, in effect, her home and had been for many years. You acted in gross breach of trust.

"This was a man with absolutely no qualifications, irrespective of his religious beliefs and references"

"The emotional and psychological impact of your crime has been considerable.

"There is no alternative to a significant custodial sentence."

He told Sinja, a Kenyan national who was allowed into Britain to study at a private Bible college in Scotland, that he would have jailed him for 10 years for the offence, but for his guilty plea.

The judge also recommended that Sinja should be deported after serving his prison sentence.

The daughter of another resident in the Edinburgh home said after the case: "There should be an inquiry into this to avoid this happening again."

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: "They should have learnt from the 1970s and 1980s and all the abuse in children's homes."

Health problems

Defence lawyer Ray Megson said Sinja's employent as a carer raised questions. He told the court: "This was a man with absolutely no qualifications, irrespective of his religious beliefs and references.

"This was a man put into the situation of caring for the elderly with absolutely no training other than for four days of following someone around."

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told the court: "The victim describes feeling dirty and sick as a result of the incident.

"Her age makes the offence particularly distressing and embarrassing to her and any mention of it causes extreme upset."

The prosecutor told the court that the woman, who has suffered strokes, irregular heart rhythm and reduced mobility, remains at the home run by Edinburgh City Council, but is now treated by female carers only.

Mr Prentice said at the time of the attack the council care home catered for more than 40 residents and was staffed by a mixture of permanent and agency staff.

Sinja, a first offender, was employed as an assistant at the home through a firm which provided the agency staff.

He was earlier placed on the sex offenders register.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the final design of the controversial national identity card.

The card will be offered to members of the public in the Greater Manchester area from the end of this year.

Ministers plan to launch the £30 biometric ID Card nationwide in 2011 or 2012 - but it will not be compulsory.

But the government faces increasing opposition over the card with critics saying it breaches privacy as well as being useless and a waste of money.

Ministers say the card, which follows the launch of the foreign national ID card, will provide an easy way of safely proving identity.

They say this system, backed up by a national identity register, will help combat identity fraud, crime and terrorism.

How the card will look and work

The card is very similar in look to a UK driving licence but holds more data, including two fingerprints and a photograph encoded on a chip.

This chip and its unique number in turn links the card to a national identity register which, under current legislation, could hold more information about the identity of the individual.

PROPOSED TIMETABLE

• 2008: Foreign National ID card launched
• 2009: UK ID Card offered in Greater Manchester
• 2010: Scheme extended across NW England
• June 2010: Last possible date for General Election
• 2011-12: Nationwide roll-out

If the scheme goes ahead, the card could be used as a travel document within Europe, separate to the passport, similar to arrangements between other EU member states.

Unveiling the card, Mr Johnson said: "The introduction of ID cards today reaches another milestone, enabling the people of Manchester to prove and protect their identity in a quick, simple and secure way.

"Given the growing problem of identity fraud and the inconvenience of having to carry passports, coupled with gas bills or six months worth of bank statements to prove identity, I believe the ID card will be welcomed as an important addition to the many plastic cards that most people already carry."

The Home Office has faced increasing pressure over the ID Card programme in recent months.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the government had signed contracts worth £1bn before last month's u-turn.

"Alan Johnson today launches a wing and a prayer scheme based on the hope that people across the North West will sign up for a glossy ID card, and send a message to their counterparts in other parts of the country that the ID card is the hottest property since Susan Boyle," said Mr Grayling.

"The Government has already wasted £200m that we cannot afford.

"The scheme will cost hundreds of million pounds more, even if the cards are voluntary. It is time this scheme was completely scrapped."

But Mr Johnson said the card was a "no brainer" and that the opposition had initially supported the plans before changing their position.

Last month the Home Office dropped plans to make the ID Card compulsory for 200,000 airport workers amid widespread opposition from inside the industry that it would do nothing to improve the strict security procedures already in place.

That announcement means only some foreign nationals are currently obliged to hold a card, although the Home Office still wants to press ahead with an 18-month trial at Manchester and London City airports.

Any government plans to make the cards compulsory would need the approval of Parliament after the next general election.

UK NATIONAL ID CARD: KEY FEATURES EXPLAINED

• 1. Symbol meaning a chip is embedded in the card
• 2. National Identity Registration Number
• 3. Date of card issue and date it becomes invalid
• 4. Citizenship. Foreign nationals in the UK are being given different cards.
• 5. Signature - digitally embedded in the card
• 6. Place of birth 7. Photo taken to biometric standards
• 8. Biometric chip holds fingerprint record
• 9. Swipe zone. Information which can be automatically read by computer

Back to the story

Fina World Championships
Date: 17 July-2 August (swimming from 26 July) Venue: Rome
Coverage:Live/highlights on BBC Two, Red Button and BBC Sport website

Jo Jackson won silver in the 800m freestyle at the World Championships in Rome, but Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington finished fourth.

Denmark's Lotte Friis took gold, while Italy's Alessia Filippi just held off Adlington to claim bronze.

British duo Gemma Spofforth and Lizzie Simmonds failed to get into the medals in the final of the 200m backstroke.

But Britain's Liam Tancock set a new world record of 24.08 in the semi-finals of the 50m backstroke.

"I really wanted that world record back. I'm sure it won't last very long, but -- hey, who cares" said Tancock.

Great Britain just missed out on the medals in the women's 4x100m individual medley, finishing fourth in the final behind China, who set a world record of 3:52.19, Australia and Germany.

Liverpool's Fran Halsall, who claimed a surprise silver in Saturday's 100m freestyle, qualified for the final of the 50m freestyle, while David Davies made the final of the 1500m.

606: DEBATE
What did you think of the Great Britain team's performance

Jackson and world record holder Adlington were caught unawares by Friis, who had opened up a big lead by the halfway mark.

And although the British duo managed to close the gap over the final two lengths, Friis, who won silver in the 1500m, held on to win in eight minutes, 15.92 seconds.

Jackson, who finished second behind Adlington at last year's Beijing Olympics, finished strongly to overhaul Filippi with a time of 8:16.66, but Adlington did not have enough in the tank and finished in 8:17.90.

"It was so tough, it was really tough. Yesterday morning I found the heat very hard," said Adlington.

"I may have over-tapered, I don't know. All week I have been finding it really hard.

"Coming back a year after the Olympics - there is nothing like the Olympic Games and it is a little bit of a comedown for me.

"But I really wanted to do a PB at this meet and that didn't happen.

"The 400 the first day I found really tough although I managed to pull it out in the final. I'm not having that much of a great meet, I'm just finding it really difficult.

"I didn't realise how much the pressure would hit once I got to the major meets.

"But I am so pleased for Jo - that was unbelievable."

Great Britain have now won six medals at the meet, while Jackson, who also won silver in the 400m freestyle and bronze in the 200m freestyle relay, has won three.

Spofforth, who won gold in the 100m backstroke earlier in the week, finished fourth in the 200m backstroke final, with Simmonds fifth.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won the race with a world record of two minutes 04.81 seconds.

"This is about experience," said Simmonds. "It was tough but I'm really pleased my swimming is moving forward."

Russian Anastasia Zueva was second in 2:04.94 and American Elizabeth Beisel third in 2:06.39.

In the 50m freestyle, Brazil's Cesar Cielo Filho won gold as he added the title to his win in the 100m freestyle.

The Olympic champion sprinted to a time of 21.08 seconds as he beat world record holder Frederick Bousquet, who was second, and third-placed Amaury Leveaux.

"I was expecting faster times. I'm very happy and very satisfied," said Filho. "I think the 100 took something out of me but I haven't reached my peak yet."