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UK: Cannabis blamed for 'wicked' Jodi murder
John Robertson + Louise Gray The Scotsman
Saturday 12 Feb 2005 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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