News stories are better in pairs
Man tried to hire prostitute for his son, 14
LONDON - A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.
Excellent character
Number of UK children with sex diseases soars
LONDON - The number of British children being diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has soared in recent years, according to government figures.
The increase in those under 16 diagnosed with a sexual disease was 58 percent -- to 3,913 in 2007 from 2,474 in 2003.
The greatest increase was the number of cases of Chlamydia, the world's most common STI, with a 90 percent rise in diagnoses, but there was also a rise in the number of cases of genital herpes and genital warts.
Gee I wonder why