Daily Mail | 17th March 2023
Drug addict Jake Drummond, 33, who would smoke 10 or 15 cannabis spliffs a day, fatally shook and hit 15-month-old Jacob Lennon early on August 27 2019, leaving him with a face like a ‘panda’, the Old Bailey heard.
Tag: England
‘I’ve murdered four people’: Chilling moment ‘truly evil’ boyfriend is arrested after murdering his pregnant partner, her son, 13, raping and killing her daughter, 11, and bludgeoning her friend to death – as he is given a whole life term
Daily Mail | 21st December 2022
The court heard Bendall had a meeting that day with a court-appointed drugs supervisor, who felt he was not under the influence of drink and drugs.
Bendall told the supervisor he was abstaining.
By 7.40pm, the defendant was out and phone records ‘make clear he was buying and smoking cannabis.’
Dad high on weed and monkey dust ‘tried to throw his daughter out of upstairs window’
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’.
Terrifying moment ‘Terminator’ Tube attacker starts wild Underground machete attack as he swings blade at commuter he had never met is revealed as he is convicted of attempted murder
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
Manchester Arndale attack: Man who randomly assaulted five people in shopping centre with knife sentenced
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.
Nelson man psychotic after years of taking cannabis and cocaine killed his dad
Lancashire Telegraph | 3rd December 2021
The court heard how Walker, who was a habitual cannabis and cocaine user, first taking the class B drug aged 11, and later aged 25 beginning to use the class A stimulant, had been sectioned in April last year, just weeks before he killed his own father, due to erratic behaviour caused by a withdrawal from prescribed anti-depressants and an adverse reaction to lockdown restrictions, which had left him paranoid.
Cannabis addict obsessed with serial killings who stabbed two elderly women jailed
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’.
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
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
Prolific cannabis smoker and dealer stabs to death prolific cannabis smoker and dealer who stole his scooter
A dismal case that reeks of cannabis: Three men guilty of killing teenager Brandon Regan – trial updates
“Steven Jones suffered no injury. He was never struck a single blow. He stabbed Brandon Regan with a knife four times, in his own evidence as hard as he possibly could, and the final blow in the middle of the back broke the rib.”
Murderer jailed for life after ‘frenzied’ baseball bat attack on ‘brother’
16 May 2019 | Bristol Post |
Dr Tomison said Osman admitted using a lot of cannabis as well as the drug spice.
A man has been jailed for life after murdering his friend in a ‘frenzied attack’ with a baseball bat in an Easton flat last year.
Mahamud Osman, 38, of Perry Street, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 14 years before being considered for parole at Bristol Crown Court this afternoon (Thursday, May 16) following a week-long trial.
He was arrested last year after police were called to an address in Pirie Court, Perry Street shortly before 1.45pm on November 11, 2018.
The following day Avon and Somerset Constabulary confirmed a man, later named as 40-year-old Hassan Hagi, had died at the scene.
Officers and paramedics found Mr Hagi in the living room of the flat and one officer attempted CPR, however it is thought he was likely to have been dead since the previous evening.
It was revealed during the course of the trial, which began on May 7, that Osman and Mr Hagi had been like ‘brothers’ and the pair had been drinking together over the course of a three-day period.
However the jury heard how on the night in question an argument had allegedly broken out between the two, which had quickly descended into violence.
In his evidence Osman – who was suffering from alcohol dependence and PTSD as a result of his early life in Somalia – had claimed he was acting in self-defence, however this claim was rejected by the jury.
The jury, which had retired to consider its verdict at noon yesterday, returned a majority 11-1 guilty verdict shortly after 2pm today.
During his sentencing remarks, The Honourable Mr Justice Murray described how the ‘savagery’ of the attack meant Osman’s has surpassed the 15-year starting point for imprisonment, and stated that Osman’s delay in calling the police following the attack were aggravating factors in the case.
Following the violent assault on Hagi, Osman apparently made no efforts to clean the flat and only called police some 13 or 14 hours later.
Justice Murray described the incident as a ‘frenzied attack’, in which Osman had struck Hagi some 60 times – breaking all of his ribs and even bruising his heart.
Upon sentencing the judge said: “It may be the case that you will never be released again.”
Mr Hagi’s family have today released a moving tribute, following Osman’s conviction.
They said: “We are still at a loss and deeply saddened by the loss of Hassan.
“This trial may be over today, but our pain and the nightmare of losing Hassan to this horrific murder is far from over.
“We cannot imagine the pain and the suffering of this loss has caused to our parents and indeed, we cannot and will never comprehend the amount violence and physical trauma that Hassan suffered in the hands of this evil man.
“Hassan was a very kind, gentle and extremely generous soul. He had a tremendous impact on our lives, especially in the lives of his much beloved younger cousins, whom he had spent a great deal of time and care.
“His life was taken away from us and nothing will ever fill the void that it has left behind.
“We love Hassan and he was very much loved by everyone. We pray that when justice is served, it will prevent this evil man from committing another heinous crime again.
“Hassan was an honest, respectful and very charismatic person. We will miss him more than words can ever express.”
DI Neil Rice, of the regional major crime investigation team, said: “This has been a distressing ordeal for Hassan’s family who’ve had to listen to evidence about the brutal attack on him, carried out by Osman.
“We’re thinking of them at this incredibly difficult time and thank them for their help, patience and understanding while we investigated this terrible crime.
“This conviction is the result of a detailed inquiry by regional investigators, neighbourhood officers, forensic experts and scenes of crime officers.
“On behalf of all the staff involved I’d like to thank the witnesses who’ve provided statements and those who bravely gave live evidence during the trial.
“I also want to thank the local community for their support and patience during the initial days of our investigation when roads were closed and access was restricted as we gathered evidence.”
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/man-sentenced-life-imprisonment-after-2876064
The attentive reader will notice that the above article does not contain the quote at the top of this blog post. For that, one has to read the Bristol Post‘s updates from the trial, here: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/live-court-easton-murder-trial-2839626
You can see the problem with this. As in hundreds of other cases, the final news report does not mention that the perpetrator of yet another act of ‘frenzied’ and psychopathic violence had smoked copious amounts of cannabis.
Blood-drinking son admits stabbing mum to death after claiming he’d ‘died for the Devil’
Gazette Live | 12 July 2019 |
The mother and son both had difficulties with drugs and mental health, his disorder seemingly brought on by cannabis and cocaine use in his teens.
A mentally ill man stabbed his own mother to death in their home.
Ian McKenzie, 34, killed his mother four to six days after he stopped taking potent anti-psychotic medication which kept him stable in the community.
The troubled son, who has paranoid schizophrenia, walked into Middlesbrough police station with a friend and confessed to the killing on March 20.
He said he attacked her after she refused to forgive him for stabbing her neck, and drinking her blood, when he was 16.
His mother Alison McKenzie, 55, suffered stab wounds to the head and neck, one of which severed the jugular vein, at their home in Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough.
The killer claimed he had took his own life by jumping off a bridge in front of a train the previous day, but had “come back to life”.
“He couldn’t understand why she’d not come back to life,” said prosecutor Nick Dry.
“He said he’d died for the devil, put his mother out of her misery and everybody in his head had been telling him to do it.”
The mother and son both had difficulties with drugs and mental health, his disorder seemingly brought on by cannabis and cocaine use in his teens.
He heard voices, had drug-induced delusional thoughts and was admitted to a mental health facility from 2006 to 2009.
By January this year he was thought to be stable and posing low risk, but stopped taking his medication and started having delusional and violent thoughts days before the killing.
He denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The Crown accepted his plea following unanimous agreement between three psychiatrists.
McKenzie, of Ingram Road, Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough, appeared at Teesside Crown Court via video link to the town’s Roseberry Park hospital.
Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, gave him a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.
He can only be released by agreement of the Home Secretary or a mental health review tribunal.
Psychiatrist Dr Christopher Green told the court: “I can’t see Mr McKenzie being released from hospital in the foreseeable future.”
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/blood-drinking-son-admits-stabbing-16575724
Guilty of murder: Stephen Charlton convicted of strangling Middlesbrough mum
Gazette Live | 29 Apr 2019 |
“I wasn’t going to get tablets… I had cannabis.”
Natalie Saunders died following an “orgy of violence” during which she received over 50 separate blows to her body and 85 injuries, the trial heard.
Charlton, 24, of Finsbury Street, Gresham, Middlesbrough, had denied murdering her at her home in Tomlinson Way, Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough…
The prosecutor says the couple spent the day together on October 6. That evening they went to Grove Hill where cannabis and probably diazepam were bought… Stephen Charlton told him [clinical care assistant Stephen Bell] they had taken 10 diazepam tablets, he had been smoking weed since 8pm the previous evening as well as drinking vodka and bottles of lager…
Makepeace [prosecuting]: “How are you going to get your tablets?”
Charlton: “I wasn’t going to get tablets… I had cannabis”.’
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/guilty-murder-stephen-charlton-convicted-16141926
Andrew Timney convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years after death of Jason Dean
Gazette Live | 28 May 2019 |
Results from Timney’s blood tests, carried out 18 hours after the incident, showed the use of cocaine, cannabis and the sleep-inducing drug zopiclone.
A man accused of killing his neighbour has been locked up for 14 years after a jury convicted him of manslaughter.
Andrew Timney had denied murdering 43-year-old Jason Dean in what the prosecution described as a “sustained attack” in the victim’s Bankfields flat.
Mr Dean was found unconscious in a communal corridor with fractured ribs, cuts, bruises and internal bleeding. He died despite attempts to resuscitate him.
Timney, of Brackenfield Court, Bankfields, Eston, said he thought Mr Dean was “messing about” when he suddenly collapsed.
He told jurors he heard a “bang or a thud” and saw his neighbour lying on his back in the doorway outside his kitchen.
After a two-and-a-half week murder trial, the jury retired to begin its deliberations on Friday afternoon at Teesside Crown Court and returned to deliver a verdict on Tuesday.
Timney, 30, was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury and jailed for 14 years by the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/live-updates-man-goes-trial-16238003
Cannabis and gang rapes
As in cases of ‘Islamic’ terrorism, the matter of cannabis in cases of gang rapes of young girls (I try to avoid the awful word ‘grooming’) is often overshadowed by polemical discussions on race, religion and immigration. This is as true in the following recent case from Huddersfield as in any other: ‘All the evidence that led to pair being found guilty of abusing Huddersfield grooming gang victim’. Nevertheless, I shall point out that at least one of the two defendants smoked cannabis, though you’ll have to scroll to the end of the article and wait for several days of evidence to load before finding it:
The complainant said Akram was a drug dealer, but he denied that he has ever been a drug dealer.
Asked about a text he sent her about money, he said it would have been to buy cannabis.
He said he had been smoking cannabis for a number of years at that point.
Benefits Street star shouts at judge ‘that is absolutely sound’ as he’s jailed for murder
Manchester Evening News | 20 June 2019 |
Maxwell portrayed himself as a ‘King of Kids” who smoked a bong for breakfast, showed off his cannabis stash for the cameras and turned up late for court in the first episode of the controversial 2015 TV series.
Benefits Street star Neil Maxwell told a judge “that is absolutely sound” as he was today jailed for his part in a murder.
Maxwell, 40, from North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, has been sentenced for life with a minimum term of 30 years over the death of Lee Cooper.
Mr Cooper was brutally kicked, stamped on, stripped naked, slashed and bludgeoned to death in a “rampage of violence” shortly before Christmas, the court heard.
The victim, 43, suffered 114 injuries including multiple skull fractures, bleeding and swelling to the brain and 24 puncture wounds to his back.
Maxwell appeared in the dock alongside Luke Pearson, 19, from Parkfield, Stockton, who was also found guilty of Mr Cooper’s murder, reports Teesside Live.
Maxwell, who was thrust into the spotlight on Channel 4’s Benefits Street as a tattooed skinhead, had initially denied the murder of Mr Cooper, but dramatically changed his plea last week.
Pearson denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was found guilty by a jury on Monday. He was today jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years.
Both will have time already spent on remand counted towards their sentence.
The pair received six years for a separate wounding charge, and 18 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) linked to violence carried out in the hours up to the murder. These sentences will be concurrent.
As Judge Ashurst explained the sentences, Maxwell shouted from the dock: “F*** licence, I will just do the 30 years, no problem. No problem.”
Maxwell continued: “That is absolutely sound, that will do me.”
There were shouts of “scumbag” from the public gallery as he was led away.
Earlier in court, Pearson shouted from the dock: “Just put me away for 30 years, f*** it.” as his previous convictions were listed.
Maxwell had also shouted from the dock following an impassioned victim statement from Mr Cooper’s sister Louise.
Turning to both men, she said: “Those two individuals who have sat in the dock and shown no remorse or regret.
“They’re not men, or even human. Not even animals are that sadistic and callous as they have shown to be through the brutal murder of Lee.”
She continued: “You both mutilated him into something that no person should ever have to see.”
Maxwell shouted: “I have shown remorse. Put me in jail for as long as you like, but don’t give this poor lad (pointing at Pearson) as long. I started it.”
Mr Cooper was attacked with weapons including hammers, a craft knife, a spiked knuckle-duster, a half-brick and a TV stand, the court was told.
The Crown said the eight-minute attack on December 23, 2018 was “the endgame of a simmering feud” after Mr Cooper was accused of an assault on the pair’s friend.
Meanwhile, Maxwell portrayed himself as a ‘King of Kids” who smoked a bong for breakfast, showed off his cannabis stash for the cameras and turned up late for court in the first episode of the controversial 2015 TV series.
In reality, he was a sadistic thug with a long history of violence who slashed victims across the back as a ‘warning’.
Both he and Pearson were filmed on police cameras after their arrest, with Maxwell bragging about the horrific murder.
The jury was shown disturbing footage in which Mr Cooper sustained horrific injuries, filmed by a nearby security camera.
The “feud” between the three men resulted in injuries to Mr Cooper, which an ex-Army doctor described as the worst he had ever seen despite four tours of Afghanistan.
Mr Cooper’s family said they had lost a ‘much loved son, brother and uncle’ to two men who tried to hide behind legislation to avoid a murder conviction.
“But the judge and jury saw through this,” they said.
Det Ch Insp Matt Murphy-King, of Cleveland Police, said Mr Cooper was victim of a sustained and brutal murder in the middle of a residential street.
“In my years as a detective I have never dealt with such a horrific incident,” he said.
“They have shown no remorse and have subjected Lee’s family to the horrific details of his death played out in open court.”
Maxwell had initially claimed he was in fear of serious violence which caused him to lose control. But that defence was denied him by the judge, and he admitted murder after the trial began.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/benefits-street-star-shouts-judge-16462893
Killer’s chilling promise to victim
Southern Daily Echo | 19 Dec 2002 |
Stephanie Hancock was a teenager at school when she first set eyes on Philip Caswell – but little did she know that his cannabis addiction would eventually kill her.
“IF I can’t have you no-one will.”
That was the chilling promise made to Stephanie Hancock, 22, by her partner Philip Caswell, who yesterday admitted her murder.
She was strangled, battered and stabbed at her Hampshire home. Winchester Crown Court heard how Caswell, 31, was unable to accept their relationship had ended. Days before the murder he told a friend that he would “probably kill her”.
He fulfilled his promise on July 22 by murdering Stephanie as she slept at their home on Pegasus Close, Gosport.
The court also heard how Caswell suffered from a personality disorder because of a long-term dependence on cannabis.
In handing down a sentence of life imprisonment for murder, the judge, Mr Justice Poole, said: “You suffered abnormality of mind associated with cannabis abuse but it was not abnormal enough to impair your responsibility for carrying out the killing.”
STEPHANIE Hancock was a teenager at school when she first set eyes on Philip Caswell – but little did she know that his cannabis addiction would eventually kill her.
At the age of 15, while she was a pupil at Brune Park School, she first set eyes on the then 23-year-old and was smitten.
A year later, in 1994, Stephanie moved with her parents, Caroline and Steve, to Banbury in Oxfordshire – and Caswell followed.
Last year the couple returned to the Hampshire town where they first fell in love and set up home in a housing association flat in Pegasus Close, Gosport.
Neighbours described the pretty 22-year-old as a devoted mother. But all was not well in the couple’s seven-year relationship.
Stephanie confided in close friends she wanted Caswell to leave – but he would not go.
He told her that if he could not have her, no one would.
In the early hours of Monday, July 22, this year he kept to his promise by brutally killing her as she slept. Yesterday, a weeping Caswell, 31, pleaded guilty to murdering the Royal Naval officer’s daughter by strangling and battering her in their bedroom.
It emerged at Winchester Crown Court that Caswell’s cannabis addiction – he had smoked the drug every day since the age of 17 – had worsened his personality disorder.
Anthony Donne QC, prosecuting, said unemployed Caswell was unable to accept that his girlfriend wanted to end the relationship.
On the fateful day, Caswell punched her, smashed her head against the wall and strangled her with a cord.
He then went to the kitchen, got a knife and stabbed her four times in the back.
Mr Donne QC added that Caswell’s mother had described him as “very selfish” with a “foul and violent temper.”
He told the court that evidence showed a history of violence in the relationship.
Towards the end, Stephanie told Caswell she was going to end the relationship, but every time he started crying.
“She woke up and found the defendant looking down on her and snarling ‘I am going to kill you'”, said Mr Donne QC.
“About a week before the death the defendant and a close friend went out together for a bike ride.
“When they stopped the friend realised the defendant was crying and asked what was wrong. Caswell turned to him and said: ‘If I can’t have her no one will.’
“Asked what he meant by that the defendant said: ‘I will probably kill her.'”
A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was strangulation. Today Caswell is starting a life sentence for the gruesome murder.
Stephanie’s sister Shona Hancock, 20, who lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire, said the family was satisfied with the result of the court case although they realised Caswell could be free in little more than ten years.
Shona said: “We are glad it is all over and Stephanie can now rest in peace.”
Caswell also admitted assault causing grievous bodily harm on a boy who cannot be named for legal reasons. He denied the attempted murder of a girl, who also cannot be named.
Nick Atkinson, mitigating, said Caswell had smoked cannabis almost every day since he was 17.
He said the constant drug abuse had worsened an anti-social personality disorder.
“It continued to maintain him in an unreal cloud of existence,” said Mr Atkinson, who added that Caswell suffered from low self-esteem and poor coping skills.
Sentencing, the judge, Mr Justice Poole said: “She died of strangulation. Your reaction was that you felt relief and felt you had done her a favour. You had not done her a favour.
“You suffered abnormality of mind associated with cannabis abuse but it was not abnormal enough to impair your responsibility for carrying out the killing.”
The judge ordered a not-guilty plea to be entered on the attempted murder charge of the boy.
He said the similar charge against the girl should remain on file.
After the case neighbours spoke of their shock that something so awful could happen in their quiet cul-de-sac.
Telesales operator Greg Heaton, 17, who lived on the top floor of the block of flats had become a close friend with Caswell.
“I can’t believe what happened. I would not expect him to do that to his girlfriend.
“I remember I used to take their shopping in and spend evenings round his flat.
“They seemed to be getting on all right. Stephanie was a nice lady, always smiling. I’m sure she will be missed.”
Cara MacDowall, spokeswoman for the UK’s leading drugs charity Drugscope, said: “While the vast majority of cannabis users use the drug with no long-term detrimental effects it’s important to remember that for some, cannabis can be a harmful drug that can lead to panic attacks, paranoia and confused feelings.”
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/5600053.killers-chilling-promise-to-victim/
Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychotic violence in the UK and Ireland 