Pubdate: Sat, 12 Feb 2005
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 2005
Contact:  http://www.scotsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/406
Authors: John Robertson, and Louise Gray
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CANNABIS BLAMED FOR 'WICKED' JODI MURDER

CANNABIS is not a harmless recreational drug and may have played a role in 
the murder of schoolgirl Jodi Jones, a High Court judge said yesterday as 
he sentenced her killer to life in prison, with a minimum of 20 years.

In comments which have fed the debate over the safety of cannabis, Lord 
Nimmo Smith said he believed that, in some instances, cannabis can 
"seriously damage the mental processes of those who habitually consume it".

Giving Luke Mitchell the longest sentence ever passed on a youth in 
Scotland, Lord Nimmo Smith added: "I think it [cannabis] may well have 
contributed to your being unable to make the distinction between fantasy 
and reality, which is essential for normal moral judgments, and that this, 
along with other factors I have mentioned, may have meant that when you 
killed Jodi you were unable to recognise what a truly wicked deed this was."

The judge's comments triggered strong reactions from those on both sides of 
the cannabis debate, with the Tories calling for the reversal of the drug's 
reclassification.

Lord Nimmo Smith told Mitchell, 16, he believed cannabis was one of four 
factors that might have caused him to slit Jodi's throat and mutilate her 
body. The other three were the teenager's interest in satanism and in the 
rock star Marilyn Manson and by a character trait of a lack of emotion.

Lord Nimmo Smith said he thought Mitchell's interest in satanism was a sign 
that he found "evil attractive" and thought "there might be a kind of 
perverted glamour in doing something wicked".

The judge conceded that he could not fathom why Mitchell, at the age of 
only 14, had committed one of the country's worst murders. "Perhaps you do 
not even know yourself," he told the teenager.

Mitchell was convicted three weeks ago, by a majority verdict, of murdering 
Jodi, 14, his girlfriend, on 30 June, 2003, by striking her repeatedly with 
a knife in woods at Roan's Dyke path, a short-cut between their homes in 
the Newbattle and Easthouses areas of Dalkeith, Midlothian.

Lord Nimmo Smith was required by law to impose a life sentence which, for 
someone of Mitchell's age, is described as detention without limit of time. 
Also, he had to fix a "punishment part", the period that must be served 
before a murderer can even be considered for parole. In Scotland, 18 years 
had been the longest punishment part imposed on a teenage killer. Adults 
have received up to 30 years.

Lord Nimmo Smith said that nothing in background reports on Mitchell would 
have led anyone to think he was liable to commit such a serious crime 
although, with hindsight, aspects of his upbringing may have contributed. 
Without specifying those, the judge moved on to several points which had 
occurred to him.

"Over the past months, you have appeared before me on more than 50 separate 
occasions. On none of these do I recall having detected any sign of emotion 
in you.

"While this may not mean much in itself, it fits with evidence from other 
sources of a striking lack of emotion on your part. It may be that a lack 
of emotional response made you more readily able to inflict harm on 
others," said the judge.

"Your lack of emotion may account for the callous charade in which you 
pretended to help search for Jodi, and inflicted on members of her family 
the pain of the discovery of her body.

"I do not think that your interest in satanism can be ignored as mere 
adolescent rebellion. I think it is a sign that you found evil attractive 
and that you thought there might be a kind of perverted glamour in doing 
something wicked.

"I remain of the view that this is one of the worst cases of murder of a 
single victim to have come before this court in many years. If you were 
older, I would have no difficulty in deciding that the seriousness of the 
offence merited the imposition of a punishment part among the longest that 
there have been. It is only your age that has led me to decide that a 
lesser period will be appropriate ... 20 years."

The defence counsel, Donald Findlay, QC, said that, in spite of the jury's 
guilty verdict, Mitchell continued to plead his innocence, and an appeal 
would be sought. "As long as that young man maintains to me he did not kill 
Jodi, the fight to clear his name will go on," Mr Findlay said. He had 
submitted that the Luke Mitchell he knew was not the Luke Mitchell who, the 
jury said, committed this awful crime.

"He is intelligent and I have never found him other than courteous and 
respectful ... a polite, charming and actually quite entertaining young 
lad," Mr Findlay said.

Last night, politicians and drugs campaigners said Lord Nimmo Smith's 
warning on cannabis should be heeded.

Annabel Goldie, the Tory justice spokeswoman, demanded a reversal of the 
reclassification.

She said: "Maybe all those who have claimed that cannabis was a harmless 
drug will sit up and take notice of Lord Nimmo Smith. Maybe, too, the 
Labour government will think again about the ridiculous reclassification of 
cannabis. The Tories have pledged to restore it as a class B drug should we 
win the general election."

Alistair Ramsay, director of Scotland Against Drugs, said the judge's 
comments highlighted the danger. "It has been known for some time that the 
strength of cannabis available on the streets can produce paranoia which 
will often have unfortunate consequences," he said.

But John Arthur, the manager at the drug abuse support centre Crew 2000, 
said adults should not "demonise" cannabis.

He pointed out the drug was used by around three million people in the UK 
with relatively few harmful consequences, while alcohol consumption has 
risen four-fold, causing more violence on the streets.

The Home Office insisted an information campaign, which coincided with the 
reclassification of cannabis, informed the public about the changes to the 
law. A spokesman said: "In particular, it focused on ensuring that young 
people are aware that cannabis will remain illegal and that it is harmful."
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