A picture worth a thousand words
Category: Violence
‘Man took his mother’s car after she refused him drug money’
Northern Echo | 3rd June, 2020
Neil Bennett, mitigating, said Bloomfield knows his behaviour to his mother was “inexcusable”, while his driving was, “clearly reckless”, and it was only fortunate that no-one was injured.
Mr Bennett said Bloomfield began taking cannabis at the age of 20 and it led to him losing his job as an hgv mechanic.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18491597.man-took-mothers-car-refused-drug-money/
‘Partner stabbed in face by drunken girlfriend as she shouted ‘I’ll f***ing kill you”
Northern Echo | 4th June, 2020
The violent argument erupted after 25-year-old Cooper and her partner had spent they day drinking before returning home and smoking cannabis on April 25.
Fire torture maniac is sent to jail
Birmingham Mail | 15th May 2007 |
Brotherton…had been smoking strong cannabis when he hatched his plot to get even and that had clearly affected his thinking.
A MAN who set a friend on fire after dousing him with petrol before laughing as he burned was today beginning an indeterminate prison sentence.
Judge Robin Onions at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Adam Brotherton his vicious attack had been “chilling in its conception, remorseless in its execution and horrifying in its consequences.”
He ruled that 22-year-old Brotherton should spend at least ten years behind bars before being considered for parole.
He told Brotherton: “I have to impose a sentence for the protection of the public. You represent a significant risk of harm to the public.”
Gardener Ian Smith, was tied to a tree at a secluded Walsall beauty spot and stabbed twice before being callously set on fire by Brotherton, the court heard.
The 24-year-old suffered 64 per cent burns in the attack, which robbed him of the “quality” of his life and Broth-erton had simply abandoned him at the Lime Pits nature reserve.
Brotherton had taken revenge on Mr Smith, of Friary Crescent, Rushall, because he had “grassed” on him to police.
Mr Smith had given the homeless, unemployed Brotherton a bed for the night and he repaid his kindness by stealing property including a Playstation and games from his flat.
“He showed you nothing but kindness and you simply helped yourself to his property,” said the judge.
Brotherton, he added, had been smoking strong cannabis when he hatched his plot to get even and that had clearly affected his thinking.
John Attwood, prosecuting, told the court how Mr Smith’s life had been ruined by the terrible attack.
He said Mr Smith had enjoyed gardening, fishing, cycling and dogminding but was now unable to fend for himself.
He cannot feed himself or even wipe his own nose and his movements have been restricted by the burns he suffered.
“He cannot go anywhere without people staring at him. The district nurse has to go in every day to treat his wounds,” said Mr Attwood.
“He is very frustrated because he cannot do the things he wants to do. His sleep is disturbed, he gets flashbacks and he suffers bad dreams.”
Brotherton, of Lichfield Road, Walsall, had denied attempted murder but was convicted on a unanimous verdict by the jury at the end of his eight-day trial.
Brotherton, who has 37 previous convictions, maintained in court he was not responsible for the attack and was with friends smoking cannabis.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/fire-torture-maniac-is-sent-to-jail-40879
Voodoo worshipper on skunk who stabbed his fiance in the head blamed ‘a spell’
Daily Mirror | 28th Sep 2019 |
Cannabis user Andrew Hunye claimed he was ‘under a spell’ when he attacked his partner at their home in east London
A voodoo worshipper who claimed he was under a spell when he stabbed his fiance in her head has been jailed.
Cannabis user Andrew Hunye, 33, almost killed Tessie Adeyemi when he attacked her with a kitchen knife after he had been smoking skunk at the couple’s home in Chadwell Heath, east London.
Wood Green Crown Court heard the victim heard him shouting at himself in the kitchen where she found him lying naked on the floor “speaking in tongues”.
He stood up, pointed at the ceiling, then gestured at her and said “I am God and you are the devil” before grabbing a knife from another room and stabbing her three times in the neck and the back of the head.
Afterwards he went out onto the communal landing and did a dance of celebration before returning to their flat for a quick shower.
Ms Adeyemi fled the flat and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The pair, who had booked tickets to Nigeria and Dubai to celebrate their wedding, were both religious and believe the knife attack was caused by a voodoo spell.
Ms Adeyemi, who suffers from from facial paralysis since the attack, was supportive of Hunye throughout his trial and told the court they had a ‘good relationship’.
Hunye said in evidence: “I was not in a right state of mind, I had lost my mind, I was hearing voices.”
Psychiatrists told the court Hunye was not suffering from mental illness.
Judge David Aaronberg told him: “You and Ms Adeyemi have strong religious beliefs.
“You are both devoted Christians, you also both have traditional Nigerian beliefs regarding Voodoo or Juju.”
But the judge added: “English law does not recognise the concept of possession by an evil spirit”, he said.
He said that instead the attack resulted from “a combination of the beliefs and the consumption of skunk cannabis”.
He added: “If the defendant believed in it it might have impacted how he acted that day.”
Hunye denied any wrong doing but was convicted of attempted murder and jailed for 12-and-a-half years.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/voodoo-worshipper-skunk-who-stabbed-20320465
Residents raised fears over killer McIntosh, months before attack on Dundee woman Linda
Dundee Evening Telegraph | 23rd August 2019 |
“People were very worried – McIntosh was behaving in a very strange way that was drawing attention – including smoking cannabis in the garden at 4am.”
Residents in the tiny village where murderer Robbie McIntosh was released on home leave have revealed they warned authorities he would strike again – three months before his brutal attack on Linda McDonald.
Locals in Bridgefoot aired their fears at a meeting of Strathmartine Community Council in May 2017.
They also spoke to two local councillors, Craig Fotheringham and Beth Whiteside, asking the elected officials to intervene on their behalf and prevent the killer being released back into their community.
Some residents even admitted to being so worried at the time of McIntosh’s release that they stopped going for solitary walks and some women even began taking self-defence classes.
McIntosh was on day release from prison at the time of the violent attack on Ms McDonald, as he served a life sentence for stabbing dog walker Anne Nicoll to death on the Law in 2002 when he was just 15.
He was allowed out of prison on home leave and stayed with his mum in her flat in Bridgefoot in May 2017.
During that time his presence was closely monitored by concerned locals.
Now the community council has broken its silence on McIntosh’s presence in Bridgefoot at the time of his attack on Mrs McDonald, following news the victim’s wait for a significant case review has been extended even further.
And a spokesman for the council revealed: “People were very worried – McIntosh was behaving in a very strange way that was drawing attention – including smoking cannabis in the garden at 4am.
“His presence was discussed at the meeting and we asked if anything could be done to monitor his activities and behaviour. The community police officer present advised us there was nothing the police could do as McIntosh ‘hadn’t done anything’.
“People were very worried and we were being told the police had no powers to do anything.”
The spokesman added: “Our fears were justified. When we heard about the attack on Mrs McDonald there was widespread horror.Locals were left horrified when McIntosh carried out his attack on Mrs McDonald.
“We had flagged up our concerns about him three months previously but no action was taken and he was able to strike again.”
Residents had also brought the issue up with Councillors Whiteside and Fotheringham before McIntosh’s second attack took place.
Ms Whiteside said: “I was approached by a few constituents over their concerns that McIntosh was being left free to roam locally.
“I raised the matter with Angus Council and received an assurance he would be closely monitored.
“I had to accept that. Unfortunately, as we now know, he was not being monitored and was able to carry out his horrendous attack.”
Police Scotland declined to comment until after the SRI is published.Mr Fotheringham, who was also at the community council meeting in May 2017, added: “I’m aware Councillor Whiteside raised the matter and received assurances.”
Vincent Fuller: White supremacist car park stabbing ‘terrorist act’
BBC News | 10 Sep 2019 |
After the attack he tested positive for cannabis and alcohol and told detectives he had drunk a large bottle of cider and three cans of strong Special Brew lager.
A white supremacist who stabbed a teenager in what a judge described as a “terrorist act” has been jailed for more than 18 years.
Vincent Fuller, 50, attacked Bulgarian Dimitar Mihaylov in Stanwell, Surrey, a day after a gunman attacked mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Kingston Crown Court heard Fuller, who admitted attempted murder, had set out to kill Muslims.
Fuller denied a terrorist motive but Judge Peter Lodder QC rejected this.
On the night of 16 March, Fuller “roamed the streets” in a violent rage “looking for a target”, the court heard.
He initially armed himself with a Chelsea FC-branded baseball bat and went on the rampage.
During the spree he tried to force his way into a house, swung the bat at cars and was heard shouting racist abuse.
‘You’re going to die’
After the bat broke in half, Fuller returned home and armed himself with a knife.
He then approached 19-year-old Mr Mihaylov, who was parked outside a branch of Tesco with his friend, and stabbed him through the open window.
The court heard Fuller had twice shouted “You’re going to die” and plunged a large kitchen knife towards his victim’s neck.
Mr Mihaylov suffered defensive wounds to his hands, and the knife clipped his neck, the court heard.
“It was only by chance he was not killed,” said Judge Lodder.
Several witnesses heard Fuller screaming abuse during his “rampage”, including one who reported him saying: “All Muslims should die. White supremacists rule. I’m going to murder a Muslim.”
In a Facebook post just before the spree, Fuller praised alleged Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant, adding: “I am English, no matter what the government say kill all the non-English and get them all out of our of England.”
Judge Lodder told Fuller he was “motivated by the cause of white supremacy, and his personal anti-Muslim sentiments”, adding: “This was a terrorist act.”
“I find that it was your purpose to strike fear into the heart of people you described as non-English, in particular Muslims,” he said.
The judge added: “It is immaterial that there is no evidence that you were a member of, or subscribed to, to any particular group or organization.
“In my judgement a terrorist-related offence may be committed by a person acting alone, on his own initiative, and without any significant planning.”
In a police interview, Fuller, who has a British bulldog tattoo, denied being racist and said he could not remember what he had done.
After the attack he tested positive for cannabis and alcohol and told detectives he had drunk a large bottle of cider and three cans of strong Special Brew lager.
But the judge said a blood sample taken after the attack showed that Fuller – a regular drinker – was not intoxicated to a high degree.
Fuller, of Viola Avenue, carried out his attack the day after the murder of 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand by a white supremacist, who livestreamed most of the shootings online.
A video excerpt of the Christchurch massacre was found on Fuller’s mobile phone, the court heard.
‘Extreme right-wing view’
Fuller had previously admitted further charges of carrying a weapon, affray and racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
He was jailed for 18 years and nine months on Tuesday, with an additional five-year extended sentence.
Outside court, Supt Andy Rundle, from Surrey Police, said it was clear Fuller had become radicalised and developed “an extreme right-wing view”.
Det Ch Supt Kath Barnes, head of counter-terrorism at Policing South East, said Fuller was “clearly an incredibly angry and dangerous individual who went out of his way looking for someone of non-white appearance to attack”.
‘I will kill you all’ – what Sheffield machete attacker yelled inside McDonald’s as people fled in terror
The Star | 23 Aug 2019 |
[T]he defendant had come to the UK with his father and was ‘doing well’ until he fell in with the wrong crowd and started taking cannabis and then spice.
Daouda Sy sent terrified shoppers fleeing in fear of their lives, believing they were in the midst of a terrorist atrocity, as he launched the unprovoked attack on High Street, Sheffield, on the morning of January 31 this year.
The 21-year-old, of Wensley Street, in Grimesthorpe, was today jailed for 12 years after he admitted wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how he had been high on spice, a synthetic form of cannabis, that morning when he went into the city centre intent upon attacking someone with the ‘murderous’ weapon, which had an 18-inch curved blade.
Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, told how Sy was walking past a busy bus stop on the High Street at about 9.30am when he made eye contact with a 47-year-old man waiting there and shouted ‘you don’t believe in God’ before drawing the machete and stricking him powerfully over the head, leaving him with a two-and-a-half inch gash above the ear.
The terrified victim, who was bleeding heavily, fled into the neighbouring branch of McDonald’s along with other ‘hysterical’ bystanders.
Sy followed them inside still brandishing the weapon, which he banged on a handrail, and shouted ‘if you don’t believe in God… I will kill you all… you best believe in Allah’.
He then calmly turned and left the store before crossing the road and walking down the street towards the Fitzalan Square tram stop, holding the machete by his side, until he was tackled by police who were on the scene within about 90 seconds and ordered him to drop the weapon, which he did, before pinning him to the ground.
Mr Sharp described how Sy, who was born in Guinea and came to the UK aged 18 with his father, had previously been arrested for brandishing an axe on High Street, Sheffield, on March 29 last year, for which he was sentenced to a 12-month community order.
The court also heard how the defendant had been arrested and released under investigation over allegations that he was in the street carrying two machetes on December 8, 2018.
Sentencing Sy for what he described as a ‘truly wicked attack’ with a ‘murderous weapon’, Judge Jeremy Richardson, the Recorder of Sheffield, said: “Not only was the victim injured as a result of your actions, ordinary members of the public who were in the city centre that morning were utterly terrified by your conduct.
“Those involved thought they were in the midst of a terrorist outrage and, having seen the DVD recording of the incident, I can wholly understand why they were utterly terrified.”
He continued: “Your intention that day was as clear as clear could be, and that was to attack anyone in the city centre.”
He added that it was highly likely the secretary of state would order Sy’s deportation back to his native country.
Sy, who was wearing a grey Gucci jumper and sat during the judge’s remarks with his hands clasped to his mouth, as if in prayer, said as the sentence was revealed ‘I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry’.
A video played in court showed panic-stricken members of the public scurrying into McDonald’s, followed by Sy, who was later seen to emerge and walk calmly away.
Mr Sharp said: “McDonald’s was busy that morning and numerous witnesses spoke about their terror at seeing the defendant speaking and behaving as he did.
“More than one thought a terrorist incident was taking place and that the lives of many wer [sic] in danger.
“One person was hyperventilating and had to use a paper bag to allow her to breathe. Several McDonald’s staff had to be sent home suffering from shock.
“The general reaction can be summed up by two witnesses who were inside McDonald’s.
“One said ‘I think the most terrifying part of this is that he could have attacked anyone and we were right there’.
“Another, who had run away and hidden in the toilets, said ‘I thought I was going to walk upstairs and find everybody dead’, while a third said ‘I honestly felt like I was going to die in a massacre’.”
The court heard how Sy was made the subject of an interim hospital order and admitted to Wathwood Hospital but psychologists concluded there was ‘nothing mentally wrong with him’ and his behaviour that morning was ‘wholly induced by his consumption of spice’.
Errol Ballentyne, defending, told how Sy could not remember anything from that morning and was ‘contrite’ and ‘full of remorse’.
He said the defendant had come to the UK with his father and was ‘doing well’ until he fell in with the wrong crowd and started taking cannabis and then spice.
He told how Sy had been the victim of racist chants from residents after moving to a council home and was himself the victim of a machete attack at a local shop on December 8 last year in which his hand was cut to the bone.
He claimed it was after this that the defendant had started arming himself for his own defence.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Sharp said: “Daouda Sy was a regular user of the street drug spice and was well aware of the effect it had on him, having already been prosecuted for brandishing an axe whilst under its influence in March 2018.
“This was an entirely unprovoked and vicious attack, and it is only by great good fortune that the consequences were not more serious still.
“Sy also put many bystanders in genuine fear of their lives that day through his actions. He is clearly an unstable individual when under the influence of drugs. The sentenced passed today underlines the gravity of his offending.”
Sy was sentenced to 12 years in prison for wounding with intent, two years for possessing an offensive weapon and 12 months for breaching the community order issued following the earlier offence, with all sentences to run concurrently.
He was also charged with a third count of affray, which was left to lie on file.
Man jailed after skunk-induced attack on vulnerable man with whiskey bottle
Gloucestershire Live | 9 Sep 2017 |
“It is an illustration of the dangers of smoking cannabis.”
Martin Francis has been jailed for ten years after hitting a vulnerable man over the head with a whiskey bottle in his own home in a drug-induced random attack.
Francis, 41, described as a ‘quiet and gentle family man’, assaulted Akinjide Otuneyinwa after taking some strong skunk cannabis, Gloucester crown court was told.
Mr Otuneyinwa, who is in his sixties and has an electric pump attached to his heart, was hit over the head twice with the bottle and kicked by Francis.
At the trial last month father of four Francis, of Great Western Road, Gloucester, was convicted by a jury of wounding Mr Otuneyinwa with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on September 23 last year.
Mr Otuneyinwa was having supper and watching TV when Francis walked into his house in St Philips close, Hucclecote.
The householder was shocked to see Francis pick up a whiskey bottle, walk over to him and hit him over the head.
Mr Otuneyinwa fled the house and ran onto his driveway while his shocked five-year-old son watched on.
Francis chased after him and hit him again with the Jack Daniels bottle, knocking him to the ground and then kicked him.
Mr Otuneyinwa managed to get to his feet and flee to the home of neighbour Jean Young.
Bleeding profusely from a gash on the back of his head he smashed a pane of glass in her front door in his desperation to get help.
On Friday, dreadlocked Francis was back in the dock for sentence and his barrister, George Threlfall, urged the court not to pass as long a jail term as the 9-16 year bracket in the sentencing guidelines suggested.
“This is an unusual case because the defendant is not a man who is habitually given to violence or going into peoples’ houses,” said the barrister.
“I think I can say as a matter of common sense that this offence was drug related, without a shadow of a doubt.”
Judge Jamie Tabor QC said he agreed, with the evidence at the trial showing Francis was agitated, disturbed and incoherent that day.
He said the scenario appeared to be that on his way to visit a poorly cousin in St Philip’s Close, Francis had witnessed a road accident and had been so disturbed by it he stopped and smoked some cannabis which he found to be unusually strong.
He then arrived at his aunt’s house, was upset by the condition of his cousin, and went out to smoke again – before wandering into Mr Otuneyinwa’s home by mistake.
Mr Threlfall said “He had smoked some skunk on route to his aunt’s house.
“It was stronger than he was used to and clearly took him by surprise – it ambushed him and destabilised his equilibrium.
“It is an illustration of the dangers of smoking cannabis.”
Francis was ‘deeply and genuinely remorseful’ about what he had done, the barrister said.
“Everyone who knows him speaks of him as a gentle, kind and loving partner and father. His relationship with his partner is solid and will endure the long separation while he is incarcerated.
“He is absolutely determined to stop smoking cannabis and to take advantage of the time in prison to overcome his dyslexia and learn to read.”
Sam Small, prosecuting, said Mr Otuneyinwa and his family had been so traumatised by the incident that they feel they will have to move house before Francis is released from prison.
Jailing Francis for ten years the judge told him “Mr Otuneyinwa’s life has been turned upside down by this. He has installed burglar alarms and bought himself a dog to protect himself and his young boy who was in the house at the time and was aware of something terrible taking place.
“Your childrens’ [sic] lives and indeed your partner’s life and your own have also been transformed – all because you decided to continue to break the law and smoke this drug.”
Francis blew a kiss to the public gallery before being taken to the cells.
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/man-jailed-after-skunk-induced-450245
Grandson jailed for brutal attack on pensioner
Yorkshire Evening Post | 19 Jan 2008 |
She challenged him about smoking cannabis and he responded by putting a chain on the door, turning out the lights and attacking her.
A PENSIONER was chased from room to room by her grandson in the home they shared and beaten so violently her face had to be repaired with metal plates.
Craig Wassell, 29, has been given a minimum jail term of three-and-a-half years but has been warned by a judge that parole officials are unlikely to release him while victim Audrey Downs is still alive.
Mrs Downs, 71, had brought up Wassell from birth and they shared a bungalow at Brinsworth, Rotherham.
She challenged him about smoking cannabis and he responded by putting a chain on the door, turning out the lights and attacking her
Prosecutor James Baird told Sheffield Crown Court: “He grabbed her by the throat, knocked her to the ground and punched her about the face and head.
“The argument spilled into the lounge. She feared for her life and fled into the bedroom. He followed her into the bathroom and repeatedly punched her to the face and top of her head.”
Wassell eventually put her on a settee but then smashed her mobile telephone and television before calling an ambulance. The crew found the kitchen ransacked and splattered with blood.
Mrs Downs spent two weeks in hospital and needed operations to repair fractured eye sockets, cheekbones and jaw.
“Her face is disfigured and she has an impaired sense of smell and taste, with blurring in one eye,” said Mr Baird. “Although she loves him she is in fear of him. The attack has caused enormous emotional stress.”
Wassell has admitted causing grievous bodily harm and Judge Roger Keen imposed a minimum sentence of three-and-a- half years before a parole board can consider his release.
Wassell had claimed his grandmother inflicted the injuries herself because she wanted him out of the bungalow.
In mitigation, his lawyer Simon Reevell said: “It is an incident which arises from difficulties in the relationship between two individuals. It is made worse because the idea of a young man attacking his grandmother is abhorrent to anybody.”
Husband slashed his pregnant wife because she hid his drugs
Birmingham Mail | 11 Aug 2014 |
A husband slashed his pregnant wife with a Stanley knife and sprayed aftershave in her face because she hid his drugs stash.
Haroon Ashraf attacked wife Neelam at their Bordesley Green home during a row over missing bags of cannabis.
Jurors heard he slashed at the mum, who was nine weeks pregnant, while their one-year-old son was just a few feet away.
She was left with a deep wound to her arm which she’d raised to protect her face.
At Birmingham Crown Court, Ashraf, 24, now of Gilberthorpe Street, Rotherham, had denied charges of wounding with intent and assault by beating.
But a jury of four women and eight men took just one hour and 13 minutes to find the former factory worker guilty following a three-day trial.
They had heard Neelam had hidden the bags of cannabis she found on February 8 because she objected to her husband smoking the drug.
Two days later Ashraf subjected her to a three -hour attack in which he pulled her hair, slapped her, sprayed aftershave in her face and throttled her.
Then, on the morning of February 15, following a night of drinking, he used the knife on his wife of three years after she still refused to hand back the drugs.
Closing the case for the prosecution, Paul Whitfield told the jury: “The consequences could have been permanently disfiguring.
“He approached her and slashed at her.
“If she had not put her arm up she would have looked very different today.”
During the trial it was heard that Neelam and Ashraf had argued over his use of cannabis and his drinking in the run-up to the attack.
Neelam told the court after the knife attack she knew she had to contact police.
Giving evidence, she said: “I was really angry because I never knew he would do something like that. I have my son to think about, anything could have happened that day.”
Ashram had denied the charges, saying Neelam attacked him with a knife and stabbed herself in the arm.
He also denied the assault on February 10.
Ashram was released on bail until September 19 when he was warned by His Honour Judge Murray Creed a custodial sentence was almost inevitable.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/husband-slashed-pregnant-wife-because-7592178
Schoolboys recorded themselves brutally assaulting shopkeeper in sickening racist attack
Liverpool Echo | 8 Mar 2017 |
Julian Linskill, defending the other 16-year-old, said the attack came after they smoked £90 of cannabis.
Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychotic violence in the UK and Ireland 