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."
Irish Examiner | 13th December 2022
The judge said Biber had started taking cannabis at 17 and attended addiction counselling for four years afterwards. At 24, Biber started taking cocaine and other stimulants that cause him to experience psychosis and auditory hallucinations for one to two days at a time.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41027093.html
Daily Mirror | 10th November 2022
A dad has been jailed after “trying to throw his own daughter out of an upstairs window” while high on cannabis and phencyclidine – known as monkey dust.
James Owens, 29, was in a drug-induced state when he turned up at his ex’s home wearing just boxer shorts and a high-vis jacket on February 4 of this year.
He turned on his ex’s new partner, punching him and hit him with a pole, before he was ushered away.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dad-high-weed-monkey-dust-28460079
Filed under ‘Violence, abuse and attempted murder’.
Yorkshire Examiner | 7th November 2022
Apropos of nothing, here is one story that could stand for the thousands that I do not add to the catalogue, because, although it can be strongly inferred, if not guaranteed, it is not stated as a fact that the attackers smoked cannabis.
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/teens-ransacked-mans-house-after-25454487
Mail on Sunday | 30th October 2022
When Freda Walker opened her back door to let her cat out one night last January, she let Hell into her home. It came in the form of Vasile Culea. He seems to have sneaked in while she was not looking[…]
All I can say about that is that the grotesque fury and savagery of his behaviour is horribly like that of many criminals whose merciless actions are listed on the website ‘Attacker Smoked Cannabis’. This is compiled from hundreds of local media reports by Ross Grainger. Yes, our society has always had murderers and thieves in it, but something far more cruel is now in our midst. Who will put this right?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11368907/PETER-HITCHENS-murderers.html
BBC News | 28th September 2022
Two teenagers who befriended a vulnerable man before stabbing him to death in his own home have been jailed.
Jack Hindley and Samuel Jones, both 17, killed 35-year-old Edward Reeve in Christchurch, Dorset, on 31 December.
Winchester Crown Court heard the pair “berated” Mr Reeve in front of their friends before stabbing him eight times and fist-bumping in celebration.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-63047354
*****
Bournemouth Echo
“Whilst there the two defendants were smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. The group moved up to the music.
“[O]ne girl described how the defendants came into the music room and moved a chest of drawers in front of the door, preventing him from coming back in.
“They began to punch the walls, causing damage to the plaster. The girls began screaming at them to stop which they did, Mr Reeve came back asking why are they trashing the house.”
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20253684.edward-reeve-murder-trial-live-updates-case-opening/
Daily Mail | 20th
Forensic psychologist Dr Frank Farnham said Morgan had a ‘troubled childhood’ having been taken into foster care between the ages of 12 and 16.
Morgan told Dr Farnham that he first took cannabis when he was 12 and this increased his paranoia.
He also had a history of cocaine use, taking crack from the age of 20.
Dr Farnham said Morgan ‘probably has a personality disorder’, adding:
‘Heavy drinking, lockdown, isolation…are all important things that led to an acute mental crisis’, said Dr Farnham.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10837445/Ricky-Morgan-guilty-Terminator-tube-attack.html
Wales Online | 3rd February 2022
A doctor was murdered in a homophobic attack carried out by two men and a teenage girl in a Cardiff park after they targeted a gay man to rob.
Dr Gary Jenkins, 54, was brutally beaten, kicked and punched to death in Bute Park in the early hours of July 20 last year.
Audio of the horrendous attack, carried out by Jason Edwards, 25, Lee Strickland, 36, and Dionne Timms-Williams, 17, depicted Dr Jenkins pleading for help and for his attacks to “Leave me alone” but his cries were left unheeded…
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Witness Owain Hill explains how the encounter with the group he met in Bute Park in the early hours of July 20 last year developed…
“There’s a wooden seating area we sat on behind the Summerhouse Cafe and they just asked me about being gay. The one who was originally sat down he started lighting a cigaretts of cannabis I think.
“In that moment I started getting uncomfortable and made an excuse to leave… I believe I said I had work in the morning so had to go… I just felt they were really intoxicated and by that point I had sobered up and didn’t want to be around that.
“I thought they were pressuring me to drink with them and they were going to pressure me into smoking with them which I didn’t want to do, I wanted to leave really.”
*****
Edwards says he hadn’t taken cannabis or crack on the day in question, and had only drunk alcohol – he puts his level of intoxication as seven out of 10.
In response to questions from officers the defendants says he takes cannabis to make him “calmer”, and that he takes it because he is no longer given Rital for his ADHD.
Officer: “How much do you smoke?”
Edwards: “Enough.”
Officer: “How much does it cost you?”
Edwards: “No comment.”
*****
Edwards says he was unable to get cannabis or crack in the city centre on the day in question but that friends he wouldn’t name had bought him alcohol. He denies committing crime to buy drugs, saying his use is funded through benefits and his nan.
He says he uses cannabis as “self-medication”.
The jury is now hearing details of another interview with Edwards. When the officer mentions CCTV audio from the Summerhouse Cafe in Bute Park the defendant said he has remembered being chased by undercover police officers in the early hours of the morning. He said he ran from officers because he had cannabis on him, and did not want to get caught, and that he hid in a block of flats before going home.
Asked why he had not mentioned this incident before, Edwards replied: “It’s only just coming back to me.” The defendant says cannabis affects his memory and that he is addicted to it, calling it his “medication”. Edwards describes his use of crack cocaine as a “hobby”.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/bute-park-murder-trial-court-22849979
Sky News | 17th January 2022
The court heard Chevelleau – a regular cannabis user – suffers from a schizophrenic illness which has been resistant to treatment.
He was admitted to hospital in 2006 for a psychiatric illness, while his mother said he was diagnosed in prison with schizophrenia when he was 21.
A consultant forensic psychiatrist had previously told the court he thought it was “highly unlikely” Chevelleau would have committed the offences if he had not been suffering from schizophrenia.
Mail on Sunday | 2nd January 2022
‘For some time I have tried to find out if drugs – especially marijuana – may have been involved in cases of apparently irrational violence. This is because the excellent Ross Grainger has compiled the website Attacker Smoked Cannabis, which records the huge number of crazed violent crimes in this country, where the perpetrator has been found to have been taking this drug. I suspect there are many more, where it never comes out.
The police are astonishingly unhelpful in such matters. I think this may be because they are rightly embarrassed about their almost total failure to enforce the law against marijuana possession.
Anyway, you might like to know that when I asked if any investigation had been made into whether the suspect in the recent Windsor Castle incident had used illegal drugs, Scotland Yard refused to answer the question.’
First, the sentencing of Zephaniah McLeod for a murderous rampage in Birmingham last year: Zephaniah McLeod: Birmingham stabbing spree killer sentenced
High on cannabis and cocaine at the time of the attacks, McLeod was well know to health services and had previous convictions for drug offences, amongst others.
Next, the heinous killing of 25-year-old Lauren Bloomer last year by her boyfriend Jake Nolman after he had suffered an ‘adverse’ reaction to eating cannabis-infused cakes: Man ‘killed girlfriend after eating cannabis cake’.
Both stories have been filed under murder.
And finally, Kasim Hussain, who first stabbed and very nearly killed a university lecturer three years ago, before being let out on bail and stabbing a second victim: University lecturer 1cm from death as knifeman plunged blade into back during random attack.
Sentencing, Judge Peter Kelson, describing Hussain’s drug consumption, said: “It’s about time the users of cannabis woke up to the fact many people suffer psychological harm from taking that drug.”
Filed under violence.
Daily Mirror | 27th Sep. 2021
A woman attacked a Manchester Arena bombing survivor and bit off part of her ear after punching her and dragging her to the ground.
Amy Bruce was left permanently disfigured after the horrific attack at a pub in Gateshead.
Amy and her friend Elizabeth Brown were waiting for a friend to come out the toilet to leave when patron Sophie Watson, then 19, grew paranoid that they were laughing at her, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Watson, who was intoxicated on alcohol and cannabis, marched over to the women and dragged Elizabeth down to the ground by her hair and started punching her, the court heard.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-punches-bites-ear-manchester-25083176
Although the summer holidays for us teachers are nearly over, I’ve only just had time to update this site. Here are some of the stories I’ve added:
Northern Echo | 20th June 2021
The court heard that Hall had previously been sectioned and admitted himself to a mental health unit, but since his last hospital stay in 2002 had controlled his schizophrenia with a combination of antidepressants and anti-psychotic drugs.
However, in the lead up to the incidents he had stopped taking his tablets and began smoking cannabis.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19384802.man-jailed-psychotic-rampage-county-durham-street/
Irish Independent | 18th May 2021
He believed he was seeing “shadows” and was attempting to burn them away with the blowtorch, defence counsel, Karl Monahan BL, said.
Brennan has no previous convictions.
Ms Collard said the little boy’s entire family have been emotionally affected by what happened. The boy’s parents in particular are “full of what-ifs”, she said.
The boy’s father cried in court as he said the attack had left him “empty, scared for my family’s safety and helpless”. He said he struggles with sleep and feels nauseated when he sees the footage of Brennan hurting his son.
The boy’s mother said she still struggles to come to terms with the fact her child was attacked in their garden. She said the assault has left her sad and afraid. “I hold my children close to my heart and tell them I love them every day,” she said.
Both parents reported how their child has had nightmares and sleep difficulties in the wake of the assault, has become hysterical when he sees a strange man and is scared to go out in the front garden where the attack occurred.
Mr Monahan said Brennan was diagnosed with autism when he was a child and Asperger’s Syndrome when he was a teenager. He started using cannabis which may have led to him developing schizophrenia.
Filed under ‘Violence, abuse and attempted murder’.
Bradford Telegraph & Argus | 10th May 2021
Anthony Webster was today sentenced at Bradford Crown Court for sexual activity with a child, attacking a man in a pub and growing £7,457 of cannabis at his home.
…
Webster did not start the attack in the pub and the cannabis crop was to feed his own habit. He had been a regular user of the drug for many years.
Judge Davey jailed Webster for 13 years for sexually abusing the girl, with two years to run consecutively for the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, making 15 years in all. The cannabis sentence was concurrent.
Filed under ‘Rape, paedophilia and sexual violence’.
Mail on Sunday | 9th May 2021
Two questions arose. How had he become unhinged in the first place? Individual madness is quite rare but it is a sad fact that a growing number of children are introduced to marijuana at younger and younger ages and become permanently mentally ill as a result.
Irish psychiatrists last week reported that marijuana is the ‘gravest threat’ to the mental health of young people in that country. The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland said a combination of ever-stronger strains of the drug and a common public belief that it is harmless (the same idiocy is widespread here) has had ‘devastating effects’.
I’ll say. Hardly a day goes by without my friend Ross Grainger adding another hideous case of violence committed by supposedly peaceful dope-smokers to his ‘Attacker Smoked Cannabis’ website.
Daily Mirror | 8th Jan. 2021
A cannabis addict obsessed with stabbings and serial killings has been jailed for life after he knifed two lone elderly women in alleyway attacks.
Jayden Hayes attempted to kill one of his victims just 90 minutes after he had been released on bail by magistrates following other alleged offences.
Judge Alan Conrad QC said: “This is a chilling case, in which you Jayden Hayes brought terror to the Oldham area and a case which demonstrates the effect that cannabis can have on a person’s mental health causing in you a psychosis which rendered you dangerous in the extreme.
“During this period you indulged in an obsession in stabbings and serial killing by making searches on the internet.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-thug-who-stabbed-pensioner-23275756
Filed under ‘Violence, abuse and attempted murder’.
Hull Daily Mail | 21st Dec. 2020
A Hull mum whose partner broke her daughter’s arm has told how cannabis turned him into a violent monster.
The woman feared for her life as her partner attacked her and her two-year-old daughter “out of the blue”.
“It [the attack] just came out of nowhere. He has been smoking weed a lot recently and it was getting ridiculous, it was every single day. When he didn’t have it he was really horrible and would shake and speak to me like rubbish but as soon as he had it he was really nice. He had had some this day.”
Derby Telegraph | 28th July, 2020 |
A drug user who was smoking £40 of cannabis a day carried out a terrifying and unprovoked hammer attack on a total stranger in the street.
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/drug-user-battered-strangers-skull-4361710
Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychotic violence in the UK and Ireland 