Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychotic violence in the UK and Ireland
"Those whose minds are steeped in cannabis are capable of quite extraordinary criminality."
Cannabis Health News | 28th July 2022
For a change, and a laugh, enjoy this amazing story, particularly this part:
The 28-year-old, who has held a prescription for cannabis to manage his mental health issues [my emphasis] for a number of years, visited the popular amusement park on 30 June, with some friends who had travelled from the US.
Yorkshire Evening Post | 22nd Oct. 2021
Hancock was found guilty of the offence by a jury at Leeds Crown Court after a trial in which he gave evidence and accused his victim and another woman of making up the allegation as part of a “conspiracy.”
The court heard Hancock, the victim and the woman had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis on the night of the attack.
Manchester Evening News | 3rd Sep. 2021
Manchester Evening News | 17th August 2021
A grieving girlfriend has paid tribute to her former partner, an RAF veteran and A&E nurse, who died on his 33rd birthday.
Julian Garvey Vines Lewis passed away on August 16 last year in Salford Royal Hospital from an ‘unsurvivable’ head wound after falling from his flat window.
At an inquest into his death, a coroner ruled he sustained the injury in a ‘psychotic or delusional episode from the consumption of cannabis’ he had taken on a night out with friends celebrating his birthday.
Leader | 26th April 2021
A MOLD man who cut his victim to the bone in a machete attack had been “smoking huge amounts of cannabis,” a court heard.
https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/19259823.mold-man-jailed-cutting-victim-bone-machete-attack/
Filed under ‘Violence, abuse and attempted murder’
An appalling story which, despite occurring nearly ten years ago, I have only discovered today (24th April 2021). As I point out in my book, the cases I have amassed, which now run into the thousands, are just the tip of the iceberg.
Daily Mail
20th July, 2012
A teenager who stabbed his father to death and injured his mother in their bedhad been detained indefinitely after it emerged that drugs and violent video games had ‘contributed’ to his mental illness.
Jordan Ryan from Blackburn, Lancashire, who is was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, had been playing a violent video game and also smoked cannabis and taken ‘bubble’ – a street nickname for mephedrone – on the night he fatally knifed Neil Ryan, 46, and injured his mother Deborah, 41.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176605/Teenager-killed-father-attacked-mother-taking-drugs-playing-violent-video-games.html
Filed under ‘Murder, manslaughter and infanticide’.
BBC News
12th April 2021
The court heard Ms Sugden had complained to police and alerted the letting agency about “horrendous” cannabis fumes emanating from Lawrence’s house which entered her daughter’s bedroom, aggravating her asthma.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-56724316
Filed under ‘Murder, manslaughter and infanticide’.
‘UK rapper Black the Ripper’s cause of death confirmed’
‘Today (June 7) a statement was posted on West’s official social media channels from his family, who confirmed that an autopsy had now been carried out.
“Our beloved son Dean died from a sudden heart attack,” they wrote.
‘[The 32-year-old] was also known for his campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis in the UK.’
****
Smoking weed ‘raises risk of irregular heart rate, heart failure and heart attacks’
‘Smoking cannabis puts people at a higher risk of heart failure and heart attacks, warns a new study.’
I am pleased to announce that Attacker Smoked Cannabis: Suicide and Psychopathic Violence in the UK & Ireland is now available: ‘Attacker Smoked Cannabis: Suicide and Psychopathic Violence in the UK and Ireland’
Amongst the reviews is this from author and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens:
I have read this book…and recommend it very highly. I should note that in an article on the dangers of Marijuana legalisation in The Times… (25/11/2019) Clare Foges commends the work which has led to its publication. Mr Grainger (whom I know) has worked very hard and diligently to compile details of material which is reported locally but not nationally. He has done a public service. 30 years ago many of the horrific crimes he recounts would have featured in national newspapers and on national broadcast bulletins. But the growth in such violence has meant that such events are no longer as exceptional as they once were, and so made them less prominent in national coverage. That does not mean they are not important. They are very important indeed. The correlation between marijuana use and serious violence is strong and notable, appears [to] be meaningful (as there is also a correlation between marijuana use and mental illness) and should plainly be investigated properly to see if it is causal. Nobody, aware of the facts Mr Grainger has collected, could possibly support Marijuana legalisation until this link has been properly investigated and either confirmed or dismissed by research. The information he has compiled is extremely important and has also been submitted in book form to the current Government inquiry into drugs and violence led by Professor Dame Carol Black. The material is extremely disturbing, and paints a picture of modern Britain which is deeply distressing yet not much reflected in the literature or public discussions of the day. Anyone who reads it will benefit from the knowledge it contains. I very much hope it achieves widespread circulation, and recommend it without reservation.
Scotsman | 26 June 2019 |
“On your own account, on the day in question you had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis and were angry.”
A sex attacker who brutally raped a pensioner as she made her way to a Christmas dance has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years .
James Black, 40, struck after the woman began walking through an unlit lane towards a hall in Saltcoats, Ayrshire.
A judge told Black: “You were convicted, on your own plea, of an extremely grave sexual offence, namely the rape to injury of a 67-year-old retired lady who was to all intents a stranger to you.”
Lord Arthurson said at the High Court in Edinburgh that the offence was “wholly despicable and utterly abhorrent”.
The judge said: “On your own account, on the day in question you had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis and were angry.”
He told Black, formerly of Stevenston, Ayrshire, that he would have faced a 10-year prison sentence but for his guilty plea.
The judge also ordered that Black should be kept under supervision for a further three years and warned that if he breached licence conditions during that period he could be returned to prison.
Black earlier admitted assaulting and raping the woman in December 8 last year at a lane at Canal Street, in Saltcoats.
During the attack he grabbed the victim, put an arm across her neck and struggled with her before putting his hands round her neck and forcing her to the ground.
Black pulled down the woman’s leggings and pants and forced her legs apart before raping her during the violent ordeal.
The sex attacker was later arrested in connection with another matter but told police: “That wisnae me. I chased a guy away from there.”
He then told a social worker that he had fallen out with his girlfriend, had followed someone, that something bad had happened and the woman was “very scared”.
Forensic scientists also found material linking Black to the attack on the woman who was unable to provide a description of the rapist.
Advocate depute Mark McGuire said that the woman travelled to Saltcoats to meet a relative and they went for a drink at a pub before she went to another bar on her way to the Christmas event.
After leaving the bar she began walking through the lane when Black approached her from behind and put his arm across her neck.
The woman struggled and tried to push him away but was forced to the ground. She kicked out to try to stop him taking off her boots, but he pulled down her pants and leggings and prised her legs apart.
The prosecutor said: “Nothing was said by either the accused or the complainer during the rape.”
Black fled following the sex attack and the woman went to the dance venue. She revealed what had happened to her to a barmaid and a taxi driver who encouraged her to contact the police.
She woke the following morning with pain in her back and thighs and saw her legs were bruised. She later spoke to a relative who called the police.
A trawl of CCTV footage showed the woman leaving a bar with a man following her a short time later. He was seen returning to the bar about half an hour later with a hand injury and dried blood on his head and hand.
The victim was found to have extensive bruising on her inner thighs, including finger mark imprints and injury to her genital area.
Defence counsel Lorraine Glancy said that alcohol and drugs have been “problematic issues” for Black in the past.
She said Black understood that a prison sentence was the only disposal available and added: “It is fair to say that he, upon his release into the community, will require close supervision.”
Black was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Ham & High | 20 Aug 2019 |
A former student at City Academy, Hackney, he had been “smoking cannabis and drinking brandy” to excess in the weeks between his friend’s murder and the attack on Ms Albano. But despite smoking in the hotel bathroom, he had not been incapacitated by drink or drugs on the night in question, the court heard.
Japhet Bokwa, 19, was convicted of the brutal assault – which has left his former partner Joana Albano, with permanent brain damage – earlier this year.
He will serve a minimum of six and a half years in prison – less the year and a month he has spent on remand.
Judge John Dodds QC said the life sentence was justified because “there’s no way of telling the length of time you will remain dangerous”.
The attack happened at the Dome Camden hotel in June last year.
The young couple – who were both studying for further education qualifications – chose to stay the night there.
In the morning, Bokwa left the hotel after 11.30. Ms Albano – 18 at the time of the attack and from Hoxton – was found on the floor of their room with horrific injuries to her head, face, neck, arms and legs.
She spent the next seven months in a vegetative state.
Passing sentence, Judge Dodds said he had been left with no option but to consider Bokwa as dangerous and lock him up for life given the level of violence used towards the “much-loved” Ms Albano and the fact it had coincided with a psychotic episode – which medical experts had told the court was “likely” to happen again.
The unusually low minimum tariff reflected the fact that, in different circumstances, the judge would have passed a 13-year sentence.
He said: “On June 15 last year you and your girlfriend booked into a hotel in Camden intending to spend the night together. You left the hotel the following day. Your girlfriend was close to death. She had been brutally assaulted many times and left in a state of undress.
“You came very close to murdering her – that’s the harsh reality of this case. She had her whole life before her and you have taken that away from her and her family. She was an intelligent and ambitious young woman with great plans for the future. Those plans have been dashed.
“No sentence I can pass today can possibly […] repair the damaged caused.”
In mitigation, defence lawyer Ms Nerida Harford-Bell said Bokwa had been disturbed by the murder of “close friend” Israel Ogunsola in April 2018. Israel was stabbed by Jonathan Abora and another man who has yet to be found in Link Street, Hackney.
“That’s very much the background,” Ms Harford-Bell said, adding Bokwa had “no history of violence, anti-social behaviour or any criminal behaviour” prior to the attack.
The judge accepted Bokwa had suffered a pyschotic episode either during the attack or in its immediate aftermath.
A former student at City Academy, Hackney, he had been “smoking cannabis and drinking brandy” to excess in the weeks between his friend’s murder and the attack on Ms Albano. But despite smoking in the hotel bathroom, he had not been incapacitated by drink or drugs on the night in question, the court heard.
Although Bokwa did not give evidence, he had told a member of staff at the John Howard secure unit – where he was held for a number of months after being sectioned following his arrest – that he had “believed his dead friend was communicating with her” and that Ms Albano was “possessed by the devil”.
In a statement read in court by prosecutor Ms Usha Shergill on behalf of Ms Albano’s family, her cousin said: “The events of June 15, 2018, have totally transformed our lives. She was outgoing, focused and independent and she had a close network of friends. She was like a sister, and I remain in disbelief and shock.”
After the sentencing, Det Con Paul Needley of Camden and Islington’s safeguarding unit told this newspaper: “Bokwa’s actions resulted in what the judge rightly described as a brutal and sustained attack on a defenceless and innocent young woman. This attack has led to her life being altered forever.
“Domestic violence is a serious crime. It is a crime perpetrated by someone you love and who is supposed to love you. This case illustrates the real damage caused by this sort of offence.”
The detective added that, although Ms Albano had been unable to speak for herself at the trial, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service “will always stand with victims of this horrendous crime and will prosecute those who perpetrate it”.
Manchester Evening Post | 25 July 2019 |
It is rightly recognised on your behalf that your use of cannabis that day, by your own admissions is an aggravating factor. As reflected in the evidence before me, cannabis consumption can alter peoples’ perception and behaviour.
You stand to be sentenced following your guilty pleas, in the case of the first defendant to one count of perverting the course of justice and one count of possession of a bladed article, and in the case of the second defendant to one count of possession of a bladed article.
Reporting restrictions apply in this case as you were each 17 at the time of commission of the offences for which you stand to be sentenced, and remain 17 at the time of sentence.
Accordingly I shall refer to you as D1 and D2.
At the end of a four week trial, you D1, were acquitted by the jury of the murder of 17 year old Yousef Makki on 2 March 2019 in Gorse Bank Road Hale Barns, the fatal injury to Yousef Makki being inflicted by a flick knife that you were holding at the time and which is the subject matter of your plea of guilty to possession of a bladed article.
It was one of a pair purchased by you D2 by mail order over the internet from China using a false name and delivered to the address of an unwitting friend. Your plea of guilty relates to your possession of one of those two flick knives on 2 March.
The count of perverting the course of justice relates to the misleading information that you D1 gave to the police at the scene which diverted police attention away from you and falsely suggested that those responsible for the stabbing had made good their escape in a grey VW Polo, which was taken seriously by the senior officer at the scene (PS Bamber), as is readily apparent from the body worn footage, and led PS Bamber to circulate the information on the police network.
The backdrop to your offending is depressingly all too familiar. A warped culture whereby the possession of knives is considered to be “cool” and “aesthetically pleasing”, and knives are routinely carried on our streets.
Mix that with youth as well as drugs and drug dealing, as in the present case, and it is a recipe for disaster and the tragic, but all too predictable, events that unfolded on the early evening of 2 March 2019, with the loss of the young life of your friend Yousef Makki who had everything to live for, and the irreperable [sic] harm that resulted, which has changed the lives of his family and friends forever.
The victim impact statement of Yousef’s mother speaks volumes in that regard.
You will both have to live with your actions that day and the consequences of the same for the rest of your lives. That is a different form of sentence to the sentences that I can and must pass in respect of the offending to which you have pleaded guilty.
It is a sentence from which there is no appeal, and it is a sentence that will never be spent.
The sentences I must now pass are for the offending to which you have pleaded guilty based on the seriousness and culpability of that offending, and nothing else. They are not based, and cannot be based, by reference to the tragic loss of a young life on that fateful evening.
From the evidence I have heard in the course of your trial it is clear that both of you had an unhealthy fixation with knives which is all too common amongst the youth of today. It must stop. There is nothing cool about knives.
Their carrying all too often leads to their use and to tragedy, and it is a fallacy that they can keep you safe – very much the reverse, as events all too often demonstrate.
Knife crime is a canker on society, and it affects all spectrums of society – the message that must be brought home is that knives kill, and knives ruin lives.
The best legacy of Yousef’s tragic death would be if this message could be got across – and knives regarded as “uncool” by the young in society going forward.
You D1 have admitted that you found knives “cool” and found particular knives “aesthetically pleasing”. You videoed yourself with knives – including a machete in your bedroom which you wielded with slashing motions at two friends, and stabbed your bed whilst seemingly acting out violent scenarios.
This seems to have led to a normalising process by which you became over familiar with the carrying of a knife, and with its handling.
You also listened to drill music and gangster rap glorifying the carrying and use of knives. I am quite satisfied that the use of such a soundtrack on one of your videos was not coincidental, but whether that is so or not it is clear that you associated yourself with the lyrics of that genre of music and the constant references to the carrying and use of “shanks” which deadened you to the risks and consequences of the carrying of knives.
You D2 also clearly have a fascination with knives. It was at your initiative that you went to the trouble and expense of importing the two flick knives by mail order from China. This required planning and conscious intent. You used a false name and you persuaded an unwitting friend to have parcels delivered to his home which unknown to him contained the flick knives. He was horrified, and rightly so, when he discovered the content of the parcels.
You wrongly regarded knives as something to show off and create an image with.
Those two flick knives had a sharp thin pointed blade that was deployed and retracted with the pressing of a button on the shaft of the knife. They are offensive weapons with no legitimate purpose. They are designed by their very nature to injure or to kill.
The ease with which they can do so was graphically illustrated in the present case. Neither of you had any legitimate reason for their possession, still less in a public place. It is no excuse D1 that you had be [sic] attacked in the past. That is not an excuse to carry a knife.
The adage that death and serious injury are far more likely to occur when a knife is present is all too true. You D1 say that you now recognise that – I hope that is true.
So it was that in the early afternoon of 2 March 2019 you two and Yousef Makki cycled into the Booths car park at Hale. You D1 are seen smoking a spliff as you arrive.
By your own admission you had more cannabis in your bag. We know from the toxicology evidence that following the stabbing both you and Yousef each had the products of cannabis and the benzodiazepine alzalopram (xanax) in your bloodstream.
We also know, by your own admission, that you D2 also smoked cannabis that afternoon. We will never know the precise amount of cannabis constituents in your bloodstream as your blood was never tested. It was also you D2 who arranged the ill-fated drug deal for you to purchase cannabis from your drug supplier that afternoon.
Before departing for that drugs meet the three of you compared knives, and Yousef showed you, D1, how the flick knives operated. Either at that time or later at the drugs meet you D1 came into possession of one of the flick knives from D2 that D2 had previously purchased.
You D2, by your plea of guilty, admit that you had one of the flick knives in your possession that afternoon.
For whatever reason (and the jury rejected the prosecution case that you conspired together to steal the cannabis) the drugs meet was not a success, and you D1 were beaten up and your expensive carbon fibre bicycle was thrown over a hedge.
You were to search for that bike for over an hour, it appears without success. On any view, and as you admit, you were angry with D2 and Yousef for leaving you, though you told the jury you were more angry with D2, and that Yousef helped you look for your bike.
The precise events that followed will never be known. What is known is that an altercation followed between you D1 and Yousef, during the course of which he suffered a fatal injury from the knife that you produced, and was one of the two knives that D2 had purchased.
Your immediate reaction to those events when the police arrived at the scene, and whilst attempts were being made to save Yousef’s life, D1, was to provide misleading information to the police which diverted police attention away from you and falsely suggested that those responsible for the stabbing had made good their escape in a grey VW Polo, which was taken seriously by the senior officer at the scene (PS Bamber), as is readily apparent from the body worn footage, and led PS Bamber to circulate the information on the police network.
Turning then to the approach to sentencing you in relation to the offences to which you have pleaded guilty.
You were both 17 years old at the time of the offences remain 17 years old as at the date of sentence. In sentencing you I confirm that I have had regard to, as I am required to do, the aim of the youth justice system which is to prevent offending by children and young people (Section 37 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998), and your welfare (Section 44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933).
I have also taken full account of the Overarching Principles of Sentencing Youths guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council which apply.
In this regard whilst the seriousness of the offences will be the starting point, the approach to sentencing should be individualistic and focussed upon each of you.
I bear well in mind that children and young people are not fully developed and have not attained full maturity, and that the impact of punishment is likely to be felt more heavily by a child or young person in comparison to an adult.
I also bear well in mind that any restriction on liberty must be commensurate with the seriousness of the offence, and that in considering the seriousness of any offence it is necessary to consider the child or young person’s culpability in committing the offence and any harm which the offence caused, was intended to cause or might foreseeably have caused.
Turning then to the offences in respect of which you have pleaded guilty addressing first the count of perverting the course of justice to which you D1 have pleaded guilty. In this regard it is well established that the three factors to which the court should have regard are (1) the seriousness of the substantive offence to which the perverting of the course of justice relates (2) the degree of persistence in the conduct; and (3) the effect of the attempt to pervert the course of justice on the course of justice itself.
Guidance has been given recently in R v Coslett (Catherine) 2017 EWCA Crim 2376 . The principles to be applied are set out at paragraphs [16] to [22], in particular:
“16. Our attention was invited to the judgment of Stanley Burnton LJ in Tunney [2007] 1 Cr App R(S) 91, in which the court provided some guidance on sentencing for this kind of offence. He observed at paragraph 10: “The particular factors which the court must have regard to are, first, the seriousness of the substantive offence to which the perverting of the course of justice relates. Here the offence in question, murder/manslaughter, was at the most serious end of the spectrum. The second matter which the court must have regard to is the degree of persistence in the conduct in question by the offender. […] Thirdly, one must consider the effect of the attempt to pervert the course of justice on the course of justice itself. Here it is unsuccessful. Nonetheless, the substantive offence of murder or manslaughter could scarcely have been more serious.”
17. Other decisions were put before us in which the court has adopted a similar approach. They were said to establish the following principles:
18. A sentence of immediate custody is required in all but the most exceptional circumstances (Attorney General’s Reference No 35 of 2009 [2010] 1 Cr App R(S) 61 at paragraph 11).
….
20. Where the offender provides a false account to the police investigating a serious offence: “The general area of starting point for offences in the particular circumstances of this kind is bound to be measured in years rather than months, something probably between two and three years.”
21. (Attorney General’s Reference No 109 of 2010 [2010] EWCA Crim 2382).
Applying those principles to the present case. Here the seriousness of the substantive offence to which the perverting of the course of justice relates was at the most serious end of the spectrum, namely the murder or manslaughter of Yousef Makki.
Secondly in terms of the degree of persistence, you maintained this false account throughout the time at the scene and indeed it was some 24 hours before you corrected your lies.
Thirdly, and whatever scepticism was expressed about consistency of accounts and whether the full story was coming out, your account was taken seriously, you were treated at the scene as a witness not a suspect, and I have no doubt whatsoever that valuable police resources were wasted whilst a futile search was no doubt being made for the VW Polo – resources which would otherwise have been available to others in immediate need.
You lied convincingly and it did mislead the police.
Your conduct in terms of the disposal of the knife was an aggravating feature of your offending in this regard, but I will be careful to ensure that there is no double counting as this was also an aggravating feature in your offending in terms of possession of a bladed article.
You, as well as D2, are clearly, intelligent young people with a good education. It would be an insult to your obvious intelligence to suggest that either of you were unaware of the seriousness of the offence of carrying a knife in public and the risk of very serious harm that could result from the use of the type that you each had in your possession.
I note that you D1 were assessed by Ms Widdowson, in her detailed pre-sentence report, as having thinking and maturity skills commensurate with your age.
So far as the offence of perverting the course of justice, this is an even more serious offence striking, as it does, at the very heart of the judicial system.
Given your intelligence and level of comprehension and maturity displayed by the manner in which you gave evidence, which I was well placed to assess over an extended period during the trial, you D1 cannot but have been aware of the seriousness of what had just occurred and as to the serious effect of your lies on the course of justice, lies that you persevered in for some considerable time as you gave your initial accounts.
Again I note that Ms Widdowson assessed your emotional and cognitive maturity as commensurate with your age.
I am satisfied that you had the necessary maturity to understand the consequences of your actions – as did D2 in relation to the offending to which he has pleaded guilty.
I recognise that young people are prone to impulsive behaviour and may not appreciate the impact of their behaviour, but I am satisfied you were both aware of the dangers of carrying knives, and you D1 lied and lied convincingly to the police at the scene.
Whilst not cynical or pre-meditated your lying occurred with knowledge of what had just occurred and with clear intent of diverting the police’s attention away from you. There was nothing impulsive about your convincing account to officers at the scene.
The officers’ actions as a result of your account speak for themselves.
I bear well in mind the matters identified by your counsel in their helpful sentencing note, in particular that you had yourself been subject to a violent attack earlier in the evening from the Choudhary brothers and were involved in an altercation with Yousef that had led to his death from a knife in your hand, in circumstances where you considered that you needed to defend yourself.
I also bear in mind that you were aware that you had caused at the very least very serious injury to your friend, and I have no doubt that it was a very traumatic experience as you attempted to save Yousef’s life in the immediate aftermath of your actions.
Nevertheless I do not agree that your actions were unsophisticated or ineffectual, at least in the short term – anyone who has seen your performance on the body worn footage will appreciate that your performance was convincing as evinced by the fact that despite a potential fatality having occurred and you being at the scene, you were not treated as a suspect, and as your account was given, updates were given by PS Bamber clearly designed to search for the presumed offenders.
Your lies may have been short-lived and ill conceived but they had a real effect on the contemporaneous operational activities. Nor were they doomed to fail had you not had a change of heart and had the weapon not been located.
I bear well in mind the fact that you are of previous good character, the mitigation offered on your behalf and the character reference I have been provided with.
In particular I bear in mind that you faced charges of the utmost gravity from March to July 2019 and that your conduct has been the subject of intense media comment both before and after the verdicts, not all of which has been focussed upon the evidence that was heard by the jury.
I have also given very careful consideration to the contents of Ms Widdowson’s pre-sentence report which has been prepared with obvious care and identifies that you D1 know that you are facing a custodial sentence, and that a custodial sentence would go a long way in reinforcing to you that offences of this nature are extremely serious.
On any view the custody threshold has been passed and passed by some margin. This is not a case in which a referral order would be appropriate as Ms Widdowson recognises. I am asked to consider the possibility of a community disposal in the form of a Youth Rehabilitation Order with an Intensive Supervision Requirement, and I have given that careful consideration.
However a community disposal, as reflected in such an order, would not reflect the seriousness of your offending in relation to perverting the course of justice and possession of a bladed article and the circumstances of this case that I have identified.
I have had regard to your welfare and to the need to provide for your education and training and I am satisfied that your offending is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. I am therefore going to make a Detention and Training Order.
Had you been an adult I consider that your offending is so serious that an appropriate starting point would have been one of 3 years’ imprisonment.
I bear well in mind your age, your previous good character and your personal mitigation. Given your age (17) and maturity (which I was well placed to assess during the course of your trial and giving evidence and consider to be at least equivalent to your chronological age if not greater) I consider a sentence around two-thirds of the adult sentence would be appropriate having regard to such matters as well as your personal mitigation.
Before full credit for your guilty plea I consider that the appropriate sentence would be 24 months. However I will also take into account the time you have spent on qualifying curfew (equivalent to 138 days) and also take into account that you have been subject to an intensive supervision and surveillance package.
Taking all that into account, and after giving you full credit for your guilty plea, I will round your sentence down to a 12 months Detention and Training Order.
This is the shortest period which in my opinion matches the seriousness of your offending and the mitigating factors in your case.
Turning to your plea of guilty to possession of a bladed article. This is clearly Category A offending with a starting point for an adult of 6 months with a range of 3 months to 1 year.
I have had specific regard to the Bladed Articles and Offensive Weapons (Possession and Threats) – Children and Young People Guideline, which identifies that in relation to possession of a bladed article whether produced or not a custodial sentence or youth rehabilitation order with intensive supervision and surveillance may be justified. In the present case the knife was not only produced by you D1, but inflicted a fatal wound upon Yousef. There is the significant aggravating factor of the attempts to conceal or dispose of evidence – which is common ground.
The toxicology reports also show that you had alprazolam (xanax) a benzodiazepine, and Carboxy-THC a constituent of cannabis, in your bloodstream when tested later that night (and so at the time of your offending).
I have had regard to the agreed facts and the medical evidence of Dr Wilson. Dr Wilson’s evidence, which I accept, is that these can alter peoples’ perception and behaviour.
Whilst it is not possible to say precisely what influence such drugs had on you, I consider the use of such drugs is an aggravating factor. At the end of the day you drew a knife in public which was on any view an unwise thing to do, and your judgment cannot have been assisted by prior consumption of both a benzodiazepine and cannabis.
I also bear in mind the established evidence of community wide impact of knife crime (such wider impact being an aggravating factor under the Sentencing Children and Young Person Definitive Guideline).
Again I have had regard to your welfare and to the need to provide for your education and training. In all the circumstances I consider that the seriousness of your offending is such that only a custodial sentence can be justified.
If you had been an adult I consider that the appropriate sentence would have been one of 11 months’ imprisonment. Having regard to your age and the personal mitigation offered on your behalf and to totality (and having studiously avoiding any double-counting), I consider that after giving you full credit for your guilty plea the appropriate sentence is a Detention and Training Order of 4 months, consecutive to the sentence passed for perverting the course of justice.
This is the shortest period which in my opinion matches the seriousness of your offending and the mitigating factors in your case. The total period of your Detention and Training Order is accordingly 16 months (as to permissible DTO consecutive sentences see R v G.N. 2000 WL 1480067).
You can expect to serve up to one half of the sentence in detention and training. When you are released, you will be under supervision until the sentence has ended.
If you break the terms of your supervision or commit a further offence during that period, a court can order your detention in secure accommodation.
D2, you stand to be sentenced for one offence of possessing a bladed article. In your case too this is clearly Category A offending with a starting point for an adult of 6 months with a range of 3 months to 1 year. I have had specific regard to the Bladed Articles and Offensive Weapons (Possession and Threats) – Children and Young People Guideline, which identifies that in relation to possession of a bladed article whether produced or not a custodial sentence or youth rehabilitation order with intensive supervision and surveillance may be justified.
It is rightly recognised on your behalf that your use of cannabis that day, by your own admissions is an aggravating factor. As reflected in the evidence before me, cannabis consumption can alter peoples’ perception and behaviour.
It will never be known if you were actually under the influence of cannabis (as your blood was never tested) but you had consumed cannabis that day and on D1’s account that would have been before the knife that inflicted the fatal wound was passed by you to D1 immediately before the drugs meet that you had arranged for you to purchase further cannabis.
That drugs meet, at which you were all present, followed on from a meeting in the Booths carpark where all the knives were out and compared, and cannabis was consumed by D1. Part of the factual matrix to your offending that I consider is also relevant is that you had purchased the two flick knives and had then given one of those flick knives to D1, which inflicted the fatal injury on Yousef Makki.
You also disposed of one of the knives (not the knife that inflicted the fatal wound, nor the knife that you had previously had in your possession) at the scene, and prior to the arrival of the police.
Again I also bear in mind the established evidence of community wide impact of knife crime (such wider impact being an aggravating factor under the Sentencing Children and Young Person Definitive Guideline).
I bear well in mind your age (17) and your previous good character (including the character references testifying to your character) and the personal mitigation offered on your behalf, including your age, your previous good character, your expressed remorse and regret and the impact of your offending upon you both in terms of the matters identified by Dr Latif, and also in terms of repercussions upon you.
I acknowledge that you yourself have suffered health wise and have been diagnosed with PTSD accompanied by a generalised anxiety disorder – but these are all consequences of your own actions that led up to the chain of events that resulted in the death of Yousef Makki from a knife you had purchased, and passed to D1, on your own admission.
I have had careful regard to the pre-sentence report prepared by Bonita Jordan. I do not consider that a referral Order with an Intensive Contract would begin to reflect the seriousness of your offending.
As with D1 I have given careful consideration to whether a community disposal in the form of a Youth Rehabilitation Order with Intensive Supervision and Surveillance would be appropriate. However a community disposal, as reflected in such an order, would not reflect the seriousness of your offending in relation to possession of a bladed article in the circumstances of this case. I have no doubt that a custodial placement whether in a YOI or a Secure Training Setting will be difficult for you, but you have committed a serious crime, and one that only justifies a custodial sentence.
There is a price to pay for your actions. I can only hope that other young people in your position will learn from your mistakes, and will be put off taking knives onto the streets.
I have had regard to your welfare and to the need to provide for your education and training and I am satisfied that your offending is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. I am therefore going to make a Detention and Training Order.
Had you been an adult I consider that your offending is so serious that an appropriate starting point would have been one of 10 months’ imprisonment prior to mitigation and credit for guilty plea.
In all the circumstances, and after having full regard to the personal mitigation available to you and giving you full credit for your guilty plea, I consider that the appropriate sentence is a Detention and Training Order of 4 months.
This is the shortest period which in my opinion matches the seriousness of your offending and the mitigating factors in your case.
In reaching this sentence I have also given careful consideration to whether, in the exercise of my discretion, it would be appropriate to take into account time spent on non-qualifying curfew but in the circumstances of your offending, and the lack of electronic monitoring, I do not consider that it would be appropriate to do so.
I note the expressed concern about the impact of any custodial sentence on your ability to resume full time education. In terms of the length of sentence I have passed, the reality is that it is not of such length that it will prevent you carrying on studies in full time education upon your release, albeit it may delay the commencement of those studies depending on when you are released. A custodial sentence is, however, necessitated by the seriousness of your offending.
You can expect to serve up to one half of the sentence in detention and training. When you are released, you will be under supervision until the sentence has ended.
If you break the terms of your supervision or commit a further offence during that period, a court can order your detention in secure accommodation.
I order the forfeiture and destruction of the knives. The victim surcharge must be paid in each case and I make a collection order in that regard. I make no order as to prosecution costs.
BBC News | 24 July 2019 |
“The defendant was experiencing hallucinations, hearing voices and tried to cope by drinking and smoking cannabis.”
A man who stabbed his mum to death in a “brutal and frenzied” attack as she watched TV has been jailed for life.
Lee Sowerby, 45, stabbed Mary Annie Sowerby “with the largest kitchen knife possible” in her home in Dearham, Cumbria, on 22 January.
Preston Crown Court heard the 69-year-old was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and neck and died at the scene.
Sowerby pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a minimum of 11 years.
Judge Mark Brown QC described Sowerby as “extremely dangerous”.
He said: “This was a brutal and frenzied attack on a victim who had no chance.
“You had considered ending her life for some time.
“The bitter ironies are that your mother had been devoted to you and done her very best for you.
Prosecutor Tim Evans told the court that Sowerby had a history of mental health issues dating back to the mid-90s after taking drugs “as part of the rave scene”.
The court heard he had been diagnosed with Paranoia Schizophrenia and had previously been the subject of two hospital orders by courts, including in 2008 when he was “millimetres away” from stabbing his brother’s ex girlfriend.
He was given an absolute discharge in 2012 but by October 2018 his mental health was deteriorating as he refused to take his medication, the court was told.
A week before he stabbed his mum, Sowerby was taken by his father Leonard to a mental health team after he had walked to Dearham in the middle of the night.
Mr Evans said: “The defendant was experiencing hallucinations, hearing voices and tried to cope by drinking and smoking cannabis.
“Mr Sowerby senior was plainly seeking to support his son.”
In a victim impact statement, the Sowerby family said the death had been “devastating” and expressed “frustrations of failures at the hands of the mental health services”.
The judge said there were “justifiable concerns” about how the case had been handled, adding: “It does seem there should be some investigation or inquiry as to what has gone wrong.”
Sowerby had initially been charged with murder but his guilty plea to manslaughter was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Kent Online | 4 Nov 2016 |
The victim had been drinking in a city bar in May this year and was on her way home when she was spotted by the cousins, who had been drinking and smoking cannabis.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/sex-fiend-jailed-for-stalking-115178/
Liverpool Echo | 17 July 2019 |
Adrian Sword attacked his partner of 32 years after an argument broke out over cannabis, while the couple watched TV, in their Wirral home.
A violent husband told his wife “your claret will be all over my tiles” as he sliced her from mouth to ear with a Rambo-style knife.
Adrian Sword attacked his partner of 32 years after an argument broke out over cannabis, while the couple watched TV, in their Wirral home.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how at around 11.30pm, on March 30, the 54-year-old picked up the frightening 8ins long bladed weapon, placed one hand over his wife Jacqueline’s mouth and swiped the knife across her right cheek.
The court heard the dad-of-two, who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, had become “angry” that his wife had taken some of his cannabis and then erupted after he accused her of selling some of it.
In a fit of rage the grandad chillingly told his wife “your claret will be all over my tiles” – in reference to her blood – before slicing her face, causing a deep, 10cm wound.
Following the attack Sword went to the house of a friend and said: “I’ve done Jackie.”
Judge Gary Woodhall said: “You told your friend you had cut your wife’s throat and you said ‘the knife was f*****g sharp’
“You then said both ‘I hope I have not killed her’ and ‘I hope I have killed her’.”
Prosecutor Simon Duncan told the court how, after the attack, Sword tried to barricade himself into his friend’s home.
Mr Duncan said: “The defendant attempted to barricade the back door.
“He has a machete and talked about ‘going down fighting’
“His friend told him ‘don’t be stupid’.
“The defendant then handed over the machete to another friend who had arrived.
“When the police did turn up the defendant came out the house alone and there was no issue with his arrest.”
On his arrest for [sic] Sword told Merseyside Police: “I don’t know what you are on about”.
He subsequently answered no comment to many questions when interviewed but claimed that his wife of 12 years had in fact sliced her own face, in a bid to “stitch him up”, because he said “I was going to leave her”.
In a victim impact statement read by defence barrister Nicholas Walker, Mrs Sword told how she can’t sleep since the attack on March 30.
She described her husband as having multiple personalities one which she said was “horrible and violent”.
Reading her statement Mr Walker said: “Mrs Sword says she is struggling on a daily basis even though that is with the knowledge that the defendant is locked away and he can’t get to her now.”
Mrs Sword, who has been left with considerable scarring, said she feels “nervous, scared and paranoid” thinking that people are staring at her when she goes out.
Mr Walker added: “She said ‘I can’t wait to go back home when I do venture out because I feel safer indoors’.”
The 57-year-old also told how the events of that evening come “flooding back” to her every time she looks in the mirror and sees her injury.
“It’s like I’m watching a DVD that keeps playing over and over.
“I feel like I am on a roller coaster and then what happens hits me like a sledge hammer.
“I try and put on a front in front of my kids and grand children but inside I’m a complete wreck.”
The statement added: “There are no winners [in this case], I have lost my husband. Their kids have lost their dad and the grandchildren their grandad.
“We are all grieving.
“I wish I could turn the clock back.
“I want to try and rebuild my life, I don’t want this to ruin what life I have left.
“I didn’t think this would be my future after being with him for 32 years.”
However despite the horrendous attack, which Judge Woodhall described as “calculating”, Mrs Sword was in court to support her husband.
And in court she stood up and said: “I still love him and want us to work it out.
“I have been with him 30 odd years and I can’t just chuck that away for one night of madness.”
Sword, of Hopfield Road in Moreton, has no previous convictions for violence, however the court heard five days before the attack he had thrown a beer can and glass at his wife, in another argument.
For the majority of the hearing and in particular when hearing his wife’s comments, he cried and asked for tissues.
Nicholas Walker, defending, told the court how his client is “ashamed” of his actions and “utterly remorseful”.
He said: “He is distraught at what he has done to his wife of three decades.
“He can’t believe he did it and told me he is ashamed.
“He has tried to kill himself on a number of occasions and said he can’t live with what he has done.”
Mr Walker said a combination of alcohol and drug abuse coupled with a number of “very sad events” in his client’s life, including the death of a friend, nephew and grandchildren had led Sword to “snap”.
He said he suffered with mental health problems and depression.
Sentencing Sword to nine years for wounding with intent, Judge Woodhall said: “The wound you caused to your wife’s face is very significant.
“It stretches from the corner of her mouth to her ear.
“She required 15 stitches and although the muscle was visible thankfully no nerve damage was caused.
“I saw pictures of the wound and I have seen your wife in the court room today and she will suffer a scar to a prominent part of her face for the rest of her life.
“It was a very serious injury.”
Sword will serve half of his sentence in custody and half on licence.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/violent-husband-slashed-wife-mouth-16600618
Here is an article I wrote recently for Bournbrook magazine, a Birmingham-based publication run by a small number of students who are much more intelligent and sensible than I was at their age: ‘Another cannabis-crazed killer?’
Attacker Smoked Cannabis monthly update (July 2019):
214 cases of violence and attempted murder
192 cases of murder, manslaughter and infanticide
50 cases of rape and sexual violence
47 cases of suicide and attempted suicide
And counting.
Where were you when you heard about a man being stabbed to death on a train on 4 January this year? I remember where I was when I heard about the attacks of 11 September, 2001 (on a high school ‘retreat’ in a beautiful redwood forest in California) and 7 July, 2005 (about to walk our dogs), and the deaths of Dianna Spencer and Michael Jackson. 51-year-old victim Lee Pomeroy wasn’t a celebrity, and his sudden and violent death is of no apparent national or international significance, but I remember hearing about it on the day itself on BBC News as I waited for my turn at the barber’s.
Actually, that’s not quite accurate. I remember reading about it, on the scrolling news reel. I’d been running this website for several months by then, and had learnt to spot the signs of a psychopathic attack committed by someone whose mind is ‘steeped’ in cannabis (a simple task, if one isn’t closed to any criticism of this popular pleasure drug). As soon as I read the headline, therefore, I knew that the perpetrator would a) have stabbed his victim multiple times in a frenzy of violence, b) not evade capture for long, and c) turn out to have smoked vast amounts of cannabis for many years.
Sure enough, after stabbing Mr Pomeroy 18 times, Darren Pencille embarked on a pitiful and shameful attempt to evade capture by altering his appearance, aided by his repulsive girlfriend, which came to nothing. His claim that he acted in self defence, and his refusal to testify during the trial further showed that his once fertile mind had been turned into a nuclear wasteland. It came as no surprise when, a week before he was found guilty yesterday, it emerged that he smoked cannabis every day.
As with countless other cases, I do not say that cannabis caused this attack. Violence is a voluntary action; nothing causes it. But just as there is a flagrant link between alcohol and many fights in city centres on Saturday nights, so there is blatant connection between Pencille’s heavy consumption of cannabis and his sudden decision to murder a man who had briefly blocked his passage in the aisle of a train from Guildford to London, and then stood up for himself in front of his teenage son when challenged and mocked about it. Those whose minds are steeped in drink do not commit such crimes. Their violence is always deplorable, often traumatic and occasionally fatal, but it is not frenzied and sustained. There are now too many similar cases for this terrible problem to be ignored. Here are some of them:
Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychotic violence in the UK and Ireland 