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Boy on skunk cannabis butchered a grandmother
Last updated at 11:37am on 03.04.07A teenager who was crazed by high-strength cannabis butchered a grandmother after 'voices in his head' told him to stab a woman.
Ezekiel Maxwell, a paranoid schizophrenic, launched the horrific attack after years of smoking super-strength 'skunk weed'.
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Left: The Killer: Ezekiel Maxwell, Right: The victim: Grandmother Carmelita Tulloch
The 17-year-old claimed 'gangster voices' from the ultra-violent computer game Grand Theft Auto had set him on a mission to stab a black woman.
He is the second teenage cannabis addict in a month to be found guilty of killing others after smoking the substance. Thomas Palmer, 18, was jailed for life for murdering his two friends with a hunting knife near their homes in Wokingham, Berkshire.
Maxwell prowled the streets with a kitchen knife until he came across Carmelita Tulloch
Maxwell prowled the streets with a kitchen knife until he came across Carmelita Tulloch as she walked to her job at a photocopying firm.
He stabbed her seven times, leaving her to die in a pool of blood as he fled home to his family. The case highlights the dangers of the highly potent 'skunk'.
The number of under-18s treated for smoking the drug has doubled to nearly 10,000 in a year and medical experts said the link between it and mental health problems is now impossible to ignore.
Maxwell attacked 51-year-old Mrs Tulloch on September 5 last year after a night smoking skunk and playing Grand Theft Auto.
He believed he was one of the principal characters called Carl Johnson, who carries a knife in the Playstation game, Croydon Crown Court was told.
Judge Warwick McKinnon said it was "a vile and quite senseless killing of an entirely innocent woman".
Simon Denison, prosecuting, told the court: "Maxwell had been planning to stab a woman for seven days, it had to be a black Afro-Caribbean woman. He didn't know why he had done it, he just had to do it."
"He described the voices as taking over his thoughts and his body. They made him do things like cut his hair so he looked more like a gangster.
"Maxwell said in the months before the killing he was playing Grand Theft Auto to the exclusion of anything else.
"He had smoked cannabis the night before, he took a knife from the kitchen and went out to stab someone. After he stabbed Mrs Tulloch he ran home and told his mother what he had done.
"The psychiatric assessment is that he is a great risk to others and will be for many years."
Maxwell lived 500 yards away from Mrs Tulloch on the same housing estate in Kennington, South London. He attacked her within five minutes walk of her home.
The youngster started smoking cannabis and skunk as well as taking cocaine at 14. He had previously been given cautions for possessing cannabis and has two convictions for mugging and assault.
Maxwell said he started hearing voices after smoking the drug and was referred to a psychiatric team by his GP in June last year.
He was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and his case was reviewed four times. It was due to be considered again the day after he attacked Mrs Tulloch.
Instead, Maxwell went to a police station with his uncle and solicitor and handed himself in. He told officers: "I am given medication for my head and eyes, I don't know why I have been told to take this medication. I have not taken it for two weeks.
"On September 4 I played Grand Theft Auto until late. When I got up I felt a bit unhappy and aggressive. "I went out of the house at about 10am."
"I have a knife with me. I didn't know why I had a knife, I saw a woman, I stabbed her with the knife, I stabbed her three times, there was a lot of blood. After I stabbed the woman I ran home."
Inspiration: Maxwell was obsessed with violent computer game Grand Theft Auto
Maxwell has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday he was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Paul Jenkins, chief executive of mental health charity Rethink, said: 'While there can be several triggers for mental illness, we know that if used by people under 18, cannabis doubles the risk of psychosis.
Professor John Henry, a clinical toxicologist, said: "People are beginning to realise that cannabis is not the puff and relax substance that people used to use."
Studies show there is an increased instance of schizophrenia in cannabis users, in some people as much as a ten-Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of mental health charity SANE, said: "This has all the hallmarks of similar stories where a paranoid schizophrenic has not taken medication but has used cannabis.
"Cannabis, especially skunk, can act as a trigger to psychotic relapse in which someone may lose touch with reality and become a serious risk to himself and others.
"We expect the inquiry into this case will reveal the same faultlines underlying many of the 55 homicides involving mental illness each year."
Mrs Tulloch, a receptionist, was married to Prince, 42, and had two adult daughters, Claudia and Andrea, from a previous marriage and a threeyearold granddaughter called Tianna.
Her sister Carol Smith said: "Someone has to take responsibility, how can he commit a crime like that and no one is responsible?
"There need to be regular check-ups for people like him."
Reader views (13)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
And what of all the people attacked by thugs every weekend who are high on the country's legal drug of choice: alcohol. Why is "Professor" John Henry and likeminded individuals not calling for a reclassification on alcohol, as clearly for some it is not a relaxing drug: inducing violent, manic episodes resulting in countless murders. Complete and utter hypocrisy.
The number of people who commit violent crime while under the influence of alcohol far supersedes those who have done so after taking cannabis. Alcohol is hardly a "relaxing" substance either. But as soon as someone--who was obviously suffering from severe mental illness to begin with--admits to being a cannabis smoker that automatically becomes the triggering factor behind his crime. Perhaps the fact he hadn't taken any of his prescribed medication for two months had more to do with it.
- Jonathan, Glasgow, Scotland
I have smoked cannabis for 14 years, I have played Grand Theft Auto continuously and have had several bouts of psychosis. I have not killed or seriously injured a single person. I cannot honestly say that my cannabis use has caused my mental health problems. There have been occasions that if I had NOT smoked cannabis, I would have become psychotic. I have also found that cannabis reduces the unpleasant side-effects caused by antipsychotic medication, such as muscle stiffness and shaking. The last time I had a psychotic episode, I had not smoked any cannabis for a long time. Indeed, there is some evidence that cannabidiol, a constituent of cannabis may act as an antipsychotic. Anyone with any understanding of science should know that correlation does not imply causation. I think that this case is more due to the failings of the mental health system to monitor patients in the community. My local NHS trust has decided to shut approximately half of the wards in its mental hospitals, and decided to treat patients in their homes. I feel this is a terrible mistake since vulnerable people at risk to themselves or other people cannot be monitored around the clock, and may not be able to find a bed in hospital when they need one.
- Nick, Basingstoke
Why does the headline to this story only mention 'Skunk'?
Reading the whole piece suggests that 'failure to take medication', 'grand theft auto violent computer game' and 'cocaine' could also have been in the headline.
The current rash of 'skunk' stories and the hype surrounding the supposed 'super strength' of 'skunk' are serving no one except those who want to keep our eye off the ball. Alcohol causes violent crime, tobacco causes premature death, services for the mentally ill are not all they could be, violence as a means to an end is portrayed as entertainment and employed by governments to implement foreign policy. Blaming 'skunk' for the tragic death of this unfortunate woman is an insult to her memory.
- Ross, Norwich, Norfolk
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