The family of a diabetic woman who died after developing mental problems while undergoing a cannabis-based treatment have called for trials of the drug to be halted. A coroner decided yesterday that Rene Anderson's reaction to the drug Sativex was a "significant contributory factor" in the onset of the illness which killed her. Mrs Anderson, 69, a retired supermarket worker, was taking part in a trial to determine whether cannabis-based treatments could help relieve the effects of diabetic neuropathy which caused nerve pain in her hands and feet. [continues 271 words]
Three policemen accused of the manslaughter of a heroin addict who died from hypothermia in a field after being freed from custody were cleared by a court yesterday. Sgt Andrew Hickinbottom, Pc Ian Clark and Pc Andrew Wood walked free from Hull Crown Court after a jury was ordered to find them not guilty. They are currently suspended from the Lincolnshire force and could face discipline and complaints procedures arising from the case. Michelle Wood, 25, was released on the boundary of a neighbouring force, five miles from her home in Grimsby, on a freezing January night with no money or mobile-telephone. [continues 729 words]
A retired restaurateur has admitted raising a kitty with other pensioners to buy cannabis which she used in her recipes for "medicinal purposes". Patricia Tabram, a grey-haired grandmother, turned to the drug in an attempt to offset the effects of tinnitus, mild depression and pains after a car crash. She began using it in soups, cakes and hot pots in her country kitchen and introduced others to the secret ingredient. Police raided her stone-built cottage in the village of Humshaugh, near Hexham, Northumberland, after a tip-off. [continues 531 words]
RAY MALLON, the detective credited with pioneering "zero tolerance" policing in Britain, was required yesterday to resign after 27 years' service. He admitted 14 disciplinary charges last week after being suspended for four years on full pay from his £50,000-a-year superintendent's post with Cleveland Police. Mallon, 46, will retain his pension rights providing an income of about £30,000 a year in four years' time if no lump sum is taken. He will now be a candidate for Middlesbrough's first elected mayor in May, something he could not have done as a serving police officer. [continues 572 words]
Ten drug traffickers who imported cocaine from South America received jail terms of between six and 20 years yesterday. They were members of a gang that initially used motorcycles to carry the drug from the Continent into Britain but later changed to four wheel-drive vehicles that were carried by ship to mainland Europe. Leeds Crown Court was told that special compartments were welded inside the wheel hubs of the vehicles into which Columbian cocaine with a street value of pounds 20 million was hidden after being vacuum packed. The racket was uncovered when members of a 40-strong Customs operation, codenamed Tablecut, stopped two of the gang in a Land Rover at the Channel Tunnel. More than 30 kilos of cocaine were found in each wheel. [continues 237 words]
A TEENAGE soccer player who partnered Michael Owen in the England youth team was put on probation yesterday for dealing in heroin. Jamie Burt, 19, who played for Newcastle United's junior side, was described as having become almost a local hero through his performances on the field. Four years ago he provided the pass which allowed Owen to score his country's winning goal against Brazil's youth side. But while Owen went on to the World Cup, Burt descended into the murky world of drugs and became an addict, Durham Crown Court was told. His career ended as he became hopelessly hooked on heroin. [continues 260 words]
A THREE-YEAR-OLD girl was taken to hospital after swallowing cocaine she found in a refrigerator in the garden of her home. She told her mother she had licked the white powder thinking it was sherbert. Tests at Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary, where the girl was treated, confirmed the substance to be cocaine. The girl's 30-year-old mother believes that drug dealers had hidden the cocaine in the old refrigerator at the family's home in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne. [continues 129 words]
A TOTAL of 286 individual allegations are being investigated against 39 detectives in a squad credited with cutting crime through "zero tolerance" policing. The scale of Operation Lancet, set up a year ago to investigate Middlesbrough CID, was disclosed by the Police Complaints Authority. Last year, the department attracted praise from Tony Blair and Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, and Michael Howard, his Conservative predecessor. Its high profile owed much to the publicity offensive of Det Supt Ray Mallon, who pledged to resign his post as head of the department if he failed to cut crime by a fifth in 18 months. His zero tolerance approach, used successfully in America, involved targeting house burglaries and anti-social crimes and brought stark results in reducing offences. [continues 425 words]
A SENIOR detective whose "zero tolerance" approach to crime earned praise from the Prime Minister was suspended from duty yesterday during an investigation into the running of his department. Det Supt Ray Mallon, 43, head of Middlesbrough CID, is being investigated over allegations relating to the leaking of information and possible criminal conduct. Two of his officers were suspended in October as part of an inquiry into corruption, codenamed Lancet, over claims that heroin had been supplied to prisoners in exchange for confessions. [continues 625 words]
