court reports for thc4ms days 1-5

[elsie haze]

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THC4MS Trial - Day 1

THC4MS, Day One

Personae:
His Honour, Judge John Phillips presiding
Mr Grout-Smith for the Crown
Greg Hoare, for Mark Gibson
Andrew Ford, for Lezley Gibson (aka Lesley Jane Gibson)
Michael Davies representing Marcus Davies (no relation)

A large jury panel of 24 people had been assembled in the expectation that there might be a number of disqualifications, since the defendants are well known locally and THC4MS has received quite a lot of press attention. It was decided, therefore, to empanel the jury and then dismiss the jurors for the rest of the day, rather than keep them hanging around while the lawyers rehearsed points of law. In the end, only one bloke knew Mark. The all-white jury (where are the black people in Cumbria?) contains six men and six women.

Arguments between the three defence barristers and the Crown about the admissibility and relevance of evidence centre upon ground that has already been covered in a pre-trial ruling that Judge Phillips delivered back in March. The defendants contended that their arrest was an abuse of process on the part of the police who had previously led them to believe that they could operate with impunity, so long as THC4MS stayed within certain parameters (which they have been careful to do by only supplying bona fide MS sufferers).

Mark Gibson contended that he had two interviews with the police, one following some local publicity regarding his intention of opening a Dutch style coffee shop. The cops didn't think that was a very good idea. In the light of the Colin Davies Experience, Mark agreed! The second meeting, with DCI Whitehead, specifically concerned the operation of THC4MS. There are differences in their recollections of what exactly was said at that meeting, the only contemporaneous record of which was lost in the famous flood that closed Carlisle police station (with the consequence that the cops are now operating out of what looks like an old pub the town centre).

There are a couple of key phrases that it has been agreed were said by Mr Gibson to DCI Whitehead that both sides intend to invoke. The defence say that Mark was clear about his intention to continue supplying cannabis chocolate to MS sufferers in the belief that what THC4MS did was right and that they had a defence under the law (of medical necessity). Mr Grout-Smith said that the Crown is not suggesting that the defendants profited, or sought to profit, from their enterprise. However, "it is no defence. Even if you honestly and genuinely believe it is right and even if you believe it to be lawful, it isn't."

Since the defence can't rightly say what their arguments will be before they've heard the prosecution case, it was decided that Judge Phillips will rule on defence admissibility before the defence case starts, which best guesstimates reckon will be next Monday. In the meantime, the prosecution will present its case and the defence team will cross examine its witnesses and the judge will rule on what is and is not admissible as the case goes on. Since DCI Whitehead is bound to be the lead witness for the prosecution, I'm hoping that I'll see him writhe on the witness stand tomorrow, after such a dry day today.

Business was concluded before lunch time, but the judge suggested that the court should reconvene at 2pm in case there were any outstanding issues or, as some of the more cynical observers suggested, just to make sure that everybody could claim to have worked a full day. (Which certainly isn't fair on the defence counsel who are working for nothing.) Judge Phillips wound up by asking counsel if there were any other impediments to the trial starting at 10.30 tomorrow morning and quipping that he hoped not to hear the first objection at 10.31!

The court will not be sitting on Thursday because Mr Phillips has a prior appointment - something to do with Pearl Harbour Day? - and there's a strong rumour that His Honour is due to take up a new job next Wednesday, so one would expect a verdict before then. There's a chance the defence will kick off on Friday, but all the witnesses are booked for next week. It looks like the crucial days will be Monday and Tuesday next week, when the defence will be making its case, and it really would be encouraging to see as many medicinal cannabis users, carers and sharers as possible in the area

[elsie haze]

THC4MS Trial - Day 2

HC4MS, Day Two

It was good to meet Hvy Fuel, Bartman and Rex Mundi @ the court, on what was a pretty dull day's play. Before proceedings began, the judge said that one of the jury had stated that his daughter has MS, but counsel decided that that was no reason for that jury member to be disqualified.

Mr Grout-Smith, for the Crown, opened by describing how 33 packets containing cannabis chocolate had been apprehended in the sorting office @ Carlisle on January 25th, 2005. Each contained a 150g bar of chocolate containing approximately 2% cannabis, as stated on the label and confirmed by forensic analysis. One packet contained a cheque for £10 made out to THC4MS with a Post It note attached which explained that THC4MS was unable to open a bank account, so the cheque could not be cashed, but blank cheques, postal orders and stamps were all useful. As a consequence, Mark and Lezley Gibsons' home in Alston was visited by police on the morning of February 8th.

When Marcus Davies' home in Huntingdon was visited by police, some five months later on 18th June, evidence of three bank accounts in the name of his partner was discovered, along with a list of some 460 addresses of THC4MS clients. (Sadly, the details of the botched swoop on Marcus home were omitted as, comically, the cops first visited one of his clients - who owned the PO Box used by THC4MS - and then they raided his partner's mother's house, next door, before finally getting the right address on the third attempt.) Obviously, the time between the Gibson's arrest and the police visit to Marcus Davies' (not to mention the catalogue of errors before they reached the right house) gave Marcus ample time to lose any incriminating evidence, if there was any. As it goes, someone is driving up from Cambrigeshire with the relevant documents.

Grout-Smith repeated that, "the Crown does not suggest that this (making money) was their (the defendants') primary motivation." Nevertheless, there is an issue regarding finances and the omission of several pages in the bundle of evidence that Marcus Davies' barrister, also a Mr Davies, received from his original solicitor, who was sacked. Several pages are missing and that caused one of several delays today, while the lawyers went into a huddle. The relevant pages will be provided for tomorrow's session, when there will be further discussion of THC4MS finances.

The indictment against the Gibsons and Marcus Davies (which is in two parts because of the reclassification of cannabis that came into effect on 28th January, 2004) alleges that they conspired to supply cannabis over the period from January 1, 2004 to February 8th, 2005 (when the Gibsons were swooped).

Grout-Smith conceded that Lezley and Mark made no secret of what they were doing to police and claimed to have distributed 22,000 bars of cannabis chocolate to some 1,200 people (although Mark actually estimated the figure to be 33,000 and Marcus now reckons that THC4MS has sent about 38,000 bars to some 2,000 MS sufferers over the past six years). A 'conspiracy' is simply an agreement to do something that entails criminal activity. In this case, the defendants went further than just plotting, but had supplied a vast amount of cannabis over a period of years. They had not been charged with supplying cannabis because it would be 'too cumbersome' to list numerous individual counts of supply and so the charge of conspiracy had been used instead.

Grout-Smith told the jury that the defendants only supplied cannabis chocolate to people who provided evidence of their diagnosis of MS, and that they were not the "usual type of drug dealers". There's no doubt, he said, that they beleived they were alleviating pain. However, what they did is illegal. The law is occasionaly reviewed (not!) and there's an ongoing lively debate among doctors about the medicinal value of cannabis. However, he said, this court is not the appropriate forum in which to resolve such arguments. "The evidence will show that the defendants were aware of an element of risk in what they were doing and were hoping the authorities would turn a blind eye, but the abuse of the Royal Mail could not be ignored."

The Crown's first witness, Detective Chief Inspector Whitehead had been the Crime Manager of the North Cumbria region in 2005, but he's now moved on. He described the surveillance operation that ran from August to November, 2002 (not to be confused with any other surveillance operations). Cross examining for Mark, Mr Hoare asked Whitehead about whose decision it was to adandon Operation Marathon (or whatever the surveillance operation was codenamed). In fact it was Brian Horn, Chief Superintendent of North Cumbria Police at the time. Where is Mr Horn now? Not here, that's where.

On September 4th, 2002, the police had obtained a warrant and were all keyed up to come crashing in on the cannabis chocolate factory they had very good reason to believe existed at the Gibsons' premises in Alston. They'd acquired this knowledge through assiduous surveillance, but also because the Gibsons had told the world in several articles in the press, non of which DCI Whitehead could remember having caught when cross examined by Mr Davies for Mr Davies. But the planned swoop on the cannabis chocolate factory didn't happen when the strike force was stood down at the eleventh hour for 'operational reasons!'

Reviewing the situation in November 2002, the Super decided it was wasn't worth carrying on with the operation against THC4MS and tasked DCI Whithead with having a word with Mark Gibson, which he did on 10.12.02. This meeting was recorded and wasn't lost in the famous flood. Mark's POV, as stated at that meeting, was (1) that he intended to carry on making and distributing cannabis chocolate to MS suffers until such a time as a viable alternative medicine was made available and (2) not a court in the land would convict him for it because THC4MS acted through medical necessity, which was a defence proven in the British courts by cases including one against Lezley in 1999, when she was found Not Guilty of possessing cannabis, because it was medicinal.

Andrew Ford, for Lezley, teazed this out in his cross examination, asking, if Mr Horn had been concerned that the police should not be seen to be 'oppressive'? "No!" said Whitehead. "Lezley Gibson had already been prosecuted and found Not Guilty" said Mr Ford, asking if Mr Whitehead didn't agree that was "a barometer of local feeling"? DCI Whitehead agreed that it was. However, he thought his superior's decision was for strategic and resource reasons. He told Mark that what he was doing was not a high police priority. But priorities can change and the police can't ignore complaints...

The way it was at the back end of 2002 was that THC4MS could continue doing what they did so long as they kept within certain parameters, which they did for another two years, until January 25th, 2005, when something happened. Next on the stand came Alison Heather Lawson, a packet stamper at Junction Street sorting office in Carlisle, to tell exactly what. She originally said in her statement that she went to stamp this jiffy bag and it fell open, but on the stand she described the procedure whereby four sorters stamp 300 pieces of mail every 15 minutes and said that, actually, she'd already stamped the package and flung it into the appropriate sorting bin, when the contents fell out because it had not been sealed. The strip of tape covering the sticky strip that seals the jiffy bag had not been removed and the package had not been sealed. Where was this particular unsealed jiffy bag and its contents? Not in evidence in court today, that's where.

What was shown in court was an empty jiffy bag that had been sealed with seloptape, as were all the other 32 packages containing cannabis chocolate that were found at the sorting office that night (Mark Gibson told police one had been missed; he'd posted 34). Not only were these other packages sealed by their sticky flaps, but they were double sealed with selotape, because that is the way that THC4MS regularly sent out at least a hundred bars a week, not one of which had ever fallen open at the sorting office before. Of course Ms Lawson didn't open the package hereself, because that would be more than her job's worth and she's been in the job 13 years. She insisted that this jiffy bag had not been sealed and the contents fell out, clearly marked 'cannabis chocolate' - with a URL and a Box no. - and she "wasn't sure it was something that should be sent through the post". So, instead of sticking it back in the packet and sending it on its way, she called her line manager, David Robert Richardson, who was next up.

Mr Richardson told the court how he'd rounded up 33 similar packts containing cannabis chocolate and had opened non of them, because only the Police and Customs are allowed to do that, but he used a scanning machine to verify their contents.

DC Mark Johnson's evidence spanned the lunch break. He's a member of the Hi-Tech Crime Unit at Penrith, a specialist in the interrogation of seized computers and internet-related crime. His testimony gave a few comic opportunites for judicial incomprehension (URL? DNS? WTF?) but these were played with a straight bat by His Honour. DC Johnson copied the THC4MS web site onto a disc and printed out every page in full colour. The cross examination - particularly Mr Davies for Mr Davies - took him through the content of most if not all of those pages on which the THC4MS mission statment and conditions of service were repeated. The jury was told again and again that THC4MS provide cannabis chocolate exclusively to bona fide multiple sclerosis patients. It does say on the web site that THC4MS needs to cover its costs and a donation of £5 per bar was recommended, but it was not obligatory. There was no secrecy and no charge.

After the police man stood down, the Crown read a witness statement from Penelope Diane Wendell who trades as Penny Thornton, astrologer and business associate of Marcus Davies, who runs her web site, astrolutely-dot-com. Penny pays the rent on a POBox which, without her knowledge, Marcus was also using to collect mail for THC4MS. After that came a load of Admissions (evidence that's not disputed). Everything seized from the mail and from the swoops on Alston and Huntingdon was itemised and the forensic evidence, too. The jury was told that each bar of Cannabiz chocolate was intended to weigh 150g (actually 139-170g) and contain 3.5g (an eighth!) of powdered cannabis. Each bar was divided into 24 sqaures and the recommended dose was two or three squares of chocolate per day, so that a bar would last an MS sufferer 8-12 days (and might be the only medicine they needed).

And so we came to the end of a tedious day with the rain drizzling down outside in a glowering sky split by a searchlight full moon! I couldn't post @ Bar Solo last night, because I left it a little too late and the place was packed with boozers baying at the moon. Penny Thornton has told Marcus that Friday is going to be a highly significant day in his life,astrologically, and the way things are going it does look like that's going to be his day to give evidence.

The stuff about Marcus' bank accounts was a surprising because it wasn't included in theinformation that his barrister received when briefed, so this morning was the first he'd heard of it. Anyway, hopefully that should be sorted out in the first hour or so on day 3, when the prosecution case will be concluded and Mark Gibson will be called as the first witness for the defence.

The court won't be sitting on Thursay, but things do appear to be moving apace. It hardly seems like that the trial will be wound up on a Friday afternoon because of the temptation for the jury to rush its decision, so everyone can go down the metaphorical pub. So the Defence case will probably be concluded on Monday

[elsie haze]

THC4MS, Day Three

Frustratingly, day three started late and finished early. The start was delayed because Greg Hoare, Mark's barrister, was otherwise engaged in another court and because Mr Davies, Marcus' barrister, needed to familiarise himself with the evidence to be presented by the last prosecution witness, an accountant by the name of Christopher Jones. This is the geezer who added up all the receipts and whatnot he was given by the cops who raided chez Davies and came to the conclusion that Marcus was operating three bank accounts in his girlfriend's name, through which some forty grand had passed over a period of a little over two years. I tactfully omitted this information from my account of yesterday's proceedings because (1) the defence had not been properly informed of this witness and yesterday was the first they'd heard of it and (2) because it's a load of bollocks: Tara's got one account and twenty grand a year is not a massive income for a family with two children.

However, Russell Jenkins in The Times was not so scrupulous in his second hand report that appears on page 3 of today's paper. Although the jury are not supposed to read the papers, the Judge opened today's proceedings at nearly midday by advising them of some mis-reporting in the press. The Daily Mirror, in a stub headlined something snappy like, "Couples' Pot Chocolate", inaccurately reported that the Gibson's had 'sold' cannabis chocolate, but it should have said, 'supplied'. In fact, the Crown does not suggest that CannaBiz chocolate was ever sold. The Times' report refers to Tara's three bank accounts, which the Judge said could have been the result of some confusion with Mark Gibson, who does operate three bank accounts (business, personal, savings).

The one like Jeremy Grout-Smith, having presented a pretty miserable case for the Crown yesterday, rose to his elegantly shod feet to inform His Honour that the prosecution defence could not call its final witness, the incompetent accountant, Mr Jones, who will not be available until Friday morning. The defence cannot proceed until this accountancy issue is resolved and nor can the legal arguments be had, which Mr Phillips has agreed to adjudicate before the defence starts to put its case.

Mr Grout-Smith could do not more to advance the prosecution than read out further extracts from the Admissions enumerated yesterday, in particular the interviews conducted with Lezley Gibson and Marcus Davies, at the time of their respective arrests and subsequently. This took up the hour or so before lunch. Had you not known that Jezza G-S wasn't on their side, you'd never have guessed it from the extracts of Lezley's and Marcus's interviews that he chose to draw the jury's attention to.

He retold, in her words, how Lezley had gradually decided to go public about her use of cannabis after Mark had spent a week in Durham Gaol over a cannabis offence and had become progressively more militant. She described the cannabis chocolate-making process in detail, emphasising the scrupulous care they took to make it easy for MS patients to consume. The operation adhered to the highest standards of hygiene, in which Mark is formally qualified. Lezley said that Mark would not be involved in the medicinal cannabis issue, or in manufacturing and distributing the cannabis chocolate, if it were not for his wife's medical condition and her insistence upon carrying on providing effective medicine to people in a similar position.

In a second interview after Marcus had been busted, the police told Lezley that cannabis plants had been found at his house and asked her if he were growing them on behalf of THC4MS, in order to provide the active ingredient for the cannabis chocolate? Lezley said that most of the cannabis that THC4MS used was donated anonymously, so she couldn't say whether Marcus had ever sent them cannabis to put into the chocolate, but that she doubted it because Marcus was a medicinal cannabis user himself, although he doesn't have MS and isn't qualified to receive CannaBiz chocolate.

Finally, Mr Grout-Smith read from the transcript, Lezley said, "what we do, we do to help people, not to line our pockets. I do what I do because people ask me to. I don't ask them if they want to try some cannabis chocolate, they come to me. And I can do without this..."

The interview statements from Marcus Davies, when he was arrested in June 2005 and five weeks later at a second interview in Penrith, were similarly positive. Marcus described his role in running a PO Box for THC4MS, which was the first point of contact for clients, who had to request each and every cannabis chocolate bar by letter. Every week, Marcus would clear the PO Box and send a list of requests to Alston, along with any cash, stamps or postal orders. Cheques made out to 'THC4MS' were returned because they couldn't be banked and cheques with the payee line left blank were passed through his partner, Tara's bank account without her necessarily knowing what the money was for.

At a subsequent interview, Marcus said that for a period of between six and twelve months, he deducted ten per cent from any monies he handled for THC4MS as an administration charge and to cover his costs. He'd kept rudimentary but accurate accounts and a breakdown of THC4MS activity for one week in September 2003 was given: THC4Ms had received 39 requests for CannaBiz chocolate; £182 in 10 cheques, one of which was made out to L.Gibson; £130 in cash; £21 worth of postal orders and stamps to the value of £34.70.

Marcus was asked why he was growing cannabis at his home in Huntingdon and if it was intended for THC4MS and Marcus said, no, it was intended for him. He is also a medicinal cannabis user who suffers from epilepsy and diabetes, but he doesn't have multiple sclerosis and is not therefore eligible to receive THC4MS chocolate. He needed to grow his own cannabis to ensure quality - the strain he was growing was not your regular street skunk - and to get away from the 'scumbag dealers'. Mr Grout-Smith had Marcus repeat the phrase, 'scumbag dealers', as if to emphasise to the jury what Mr Davies is not! "I don't want anything to do with scumbag dealers," Marcus Davies told police.

Marcus discussed his role as the web-master of thc4ms.org, which domain is registered in his name and which he updates on instruction from Mark. He didn't know for certain where the cannabis chocolate factory was located, had never helped make the chocolate and had never even seen it being made. He had never received any CannaBiz chocolate from THC4MS because he isn't eligible to receive it. He had tried some once, when a bar of CannaBiz was returned to the THC4MS PO Box because it could not be delivered. Marcus had tried a few squares, but he wasn't fond of dark chocolate and he couldn't really tell if it had much effect, frankly, since he smoked quite a lot of cannabis anyway.

And that's it. That, substantively, is the prosecution case. The court is not sitting tomorrow and so now the jury has been sent away until Friday morning, when they will assemble at 10.30 to hear the evidence of the final prosecution witness, Mr Christopher Jones, who I guarantee is going to be torn to shreds in cross examination. This will take maybe an hour and a half. Then the jury are going to be sent away again while the lawyers and the judge have their legal confabulation. Oh, they can't wait. His Honour told the lads what case law he'd been digging into on Monday, tipping them the wink as to what they needed to study: Archbold/Blackstone on Conspiracy; the Anderson decision ("excellent scholarship from Lord Bridge" purred His Honour); Churchill (2) in Skye.

I won't be in court on Friday and I wouldn't understand the legal arguments anyway, but if any law students from Newcastle or Durham are reading this, you might consider getting yourself along to the Carlisle Court on Friday afternoon to hear the discussion that will ultimately determine what defence THC4MS will be permitted to present to the jury, starting next Monday. Then you can tell us all about it here!

So, we're back to the original timetable. The defence won't now start before Monday and is likely to last a couple of days, so a verdict probably won't come before Wednesday. Frankly, the prospects are looking pretty darn good. The prosecution have totally failed to make a convincing case that any of the defendants have done anything wrong. The jury must be thinking, 'is that it?' Now, they're going to wait 36 hours to be presented with a load of bollocks which is going to be flatly contradicted by a very competent defence team. Then they're going to have all weekend to consider the (lack of) evidence against THC4MS

[elsie haze]

THC4MS Trial, Day Four

Apparently proceedings today started late, at 11am, because Mr Jones the accountant was delayed in travelling up from London by the after effects of the famous Kensal Rise tornado that swept through North London yesterday. In the end, the defence agreed his evidence that Marcus' amalgamated accounts totalled some £39K over two years, which figure included his domestic income.

DC Mark Stevens, the arresting officer, then closed the case for the prosecution by testifying as to the circumstances of the arrest and summarising subsequent interviews. He said that Lezley admitted that she knew what she was doing was against the law, but Mr Ford, for Lezley, got him to admit that she also added that she thought she had a defence (of Medical Necessity). Most important was Stevens' reference to a doctor's letter he'd picked up, more-or-less at random from the THC4MS files, and which was shown to him in court. Mr Ford asked that it should also be shown to the jury, but Mr Grout-Smith, for the Crown objected. He presumably did not wish the jury to read this three line letter because it went further than confirming a client's diagnosis of MS and positively recommended the Cannabiz product. The Judge did not allow the letter to be shown to the jury, who must be wondering why?

Then there was a short break, during which it was decided that the delayed legal arguments should be delayed again, until after Mark Gibson has given his evidence. That way, they can ascertain from that he says what is and isn't admissible. Since Mark was not keen to give his evidence today and as there was a witness in a wheelchair waiting, the Defence case started with testimony from Wayne Miller.

Mr Miller, 36, from Penrith, suffers from MS, which has put him in a wheelchair and evidently affected his vocal chords, since his voice was frail. Basically, he was asked to confirm how the system worked, which he did. He contacted THC4MS and they wrote back, saying he needed proof of MS diagnosis before they could supply him. The final question from Mr Hoare - which he shouldn't have asked, but everybody heard the answer - was, "Did it help?" And the emphatic reply came, loudly and clearly, "Yes".

And that was that for today. The court rose at 12:30pm, with the Judge apologising to the jury for having kept them so late! On their way out of court, two members of the jury were overheard muttering about not being allowed to see the mysterious letter. So, the jury left today thinking abut a letter from a doctor that's mentioned in Lezley's evidence and in witness statements, but which they're not allowed to see. Some of them must be starting to detect a fishy smell!

The case resumes on Monday morning at 10:30am with Mark giving evidence and the legal arguments have again been deferred until afterwards. Mark's turn on the witness stand will be one of the highlights of this trial and may even be quite comical, since Mr Grout-Smith is bound to be up and down like a jack-in-the-box, objecting. Thanks to everyone who took a few moments to direct their thoughts toward this trial this afternoon. Sadly, we didn't scupper it, but - who knows? - it might have made some difference.

[elsie haze]

THC4MS Trial, Day Five, 11.12.06 (courtesy www.uk420.com)

Greetings from Carlisle, where it's farking freezing, yet lads walk around in t.shirts.
With scarfs. Polo shirts and wool scarves. Only in the North, innit?

Mark Gibbon, aged 42, went straight into the witness box this morning and his barrister, Greg Hoare, quickly dispensed with the issue of his previous record: four convictions for six offences of possessing cannabis between 1986 and 1994. Mark told how he met Lezley and they started going out in the mid-1980s and were married in 1990. Having observed the effect cannabis had on his girlfriend's MS after she smoked it socially with him and his mates, Mark looked around for supportive literature - of which there was not much that was easy to come by the the late 1980s - and gradually became convinced of a therapeutic connection between cannabis and MS.

Throughout the 1990s, Lezley became increasingly vocal in her advocacy of cannabis as medicine and eventually came into contact with Biz Ivol and Bill Reeve, two MS sufferers who lived in the Orkneys. (I say 'lived' because neither is still with us. Later in the day, when Lezley was giving evidence, she got quite choked about Biz and the way she died: each successive prosecution made her MS deteriorate and weakened her to the point that she wanted to die and threatened suicide. Lezley told me, what she really wanted to say was in court today was, "You killed her. The CPS killed my friend, Biz.") Biz had started making the cannabis chocolate for Bill, who lived on the next island, because he refused to smoke and began giving it to contacts she made by word-of-mouth.

When Biz Ivol's MS got so bad that she couldn't carry on making the chocolate, around 2000-2001, the Gibsons volunteered to take over. Mark is qualified in food hygiene and fully conversant with food manufacturing safety regulations, so he took charge of production. Lezley isn't able to be off too much practical assistance in producing the chocolate, but she took care of the admin. By that time, around 2000, there was plenty of research indicating...

Objection! Mr Grout-Smith for the CPS stood up. He was almost apologetic. Hadn't it been agreed that evidence pertaining to the medical efficacy of cannabis was irrelevant and inadmissible? Mmm? Mr Hoare went round another way, asking Mark Gibson about his status as an unqualified expert in cannabis and MS who has regularly appeared before student audiences as well as presenting evidence to the House of Lords Science & Technology committee in 1998 and addressing the IACM Conference. The International Association for Cannabis Medicine, he explained to his honour, is a group that includes all the world's leading academic authorities in cannabinoid medicine. Some of those doctors helped THC4MS design a questionnaire for their patients, the results of which are inadmissible to the jury in this case.This portion of mark's evidence concluded with him saying, "I have absolutely no doubt that cannabis alleviates some of the major symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis".

Mr Hoare then took Mark through the 'mechanics' of the operation. THC4MS preferred to use Green & Blacks organic chocolate, but couldn't really afford it, so apart from a period of around three months during which Tony Taylor of Tony's Holistic Centre in King's Cross was paying for it, they tend to buy own-brand plain chocolate from the supermarket, whichever has the highest cocoa content. (The didn't get into it - because it's probably irrelevant - but THC4MS reckon that the more cocoa fat there is in the chocolate - as opposed to vegetable fat - the better it works as a vehicle for cannabinoids).

THC4MS don't pay for cannabis, but had a couple of dedicated suppliers whom Mark would visit to pick up supplies, or occasionally growers who had contacted him via the internet send packages to his home address. They use 3.5g, on average, per bar. The street price of cannabis before Mark's arrest, 22 months ago, was around £6 per gram, but now it's about a tenner. (These facts are unrelated!) The court heard that each bar contained an eighth of an ounce of herbal cannabis, worth £18-30. Other expenses included the capital investment of specialist chocolate making equipment - a smelter and some moulds- from Belgium, a coffee grinder to powder the herb, foil and packaging, and postage. If CannaBiz were a commercial product, each bar would cost £35-40. But none of the people involved in THC4MS derived any direct financial benefit.

Mark Gibson met Marcus Davies at a conference in 2000, where he had spoken about THC4MS. As he left the platform, Marcus approached him and asked if he'd like a web site? Mark didn't really know what he was talking about, since he wasn't web literate at that point, but he agreed. Thc4ms.org was initially just one page, but it's grown! Before the web site, THC4MS relied upon word-of-mouth. After Lezley did nay press, they would receive letters from desperately ill people addressed to 'the Lady in Alston with MS". So, the web site made things a bit easier as people were able to contact THC4MS by e-mail.

Mark was asked about 2002, when he was twice "called in for a chat" with Inspector Whitehead about his cannabis-related activities. There was a hopeful atmosphere back then. Real change in the law at last seemed possible, with open debate on the medicinal potential of cannabis, to which THC4MS frequently contributed, and GW Pharmaceuticals was beginning trial with its Sativex cannabinoid spray, developed to treat MS spasm and to improve bladder control and appetite. The Dutch Experience in Stockport had inspired a Coffee Shop movement to consider opening Dutch-style cannabis cafes and the Gibsons had been invited to Holland to learn how it was done. After that was reported in the local paper, Mark was called in for a chat. DCI Whitehead left him in no doubt that a cannabis cafe was a very bad idea and to open one would result in his immediate arrest.

These two meetings with DCI Whitehead have already been the subject of a pre-trial ruling, to which reporting restrictions were attached. Mr Gibson and the police man have conflicting recollections of what exactly was said at that first meeting and if DCI Whitehead indicated that he knew about the cannabis chocolate and wasn't too bothered about it. What's agreed is that was certainly his stance at a second meeting, in December 2002, when Mark unambiguously informed the police man of his intention to "continue to supply cannabis chocolate to MS sufferers until there's a viable alternative available on the NHS".

If arrested, Mr Gibson said he would plead a defence of medical necessity and was pretty sure he'd be acquitted. In cross-examination, just before lunch, Mr Grout-Smith wondered is this really was a proper defence since surely no one had been acquitted of supplying cannabis on those grounds? Mark said he knew of at least six acquittals, including that of his wife, but actually the lawyer was probably right. Lezley hadn't been accused of supply and non of the cases reviewed under Quayle had resulted in acquittals, although the medical necessity argument had been considered in mitigation. After lunch, Mark mentioned Tony Taylor's importation charges, but Judge Phillips looked it up during one of the afternoon breaks and pointed out that he wasn't acquitted. he just got to keep his freedom.

Coming away from is second meeting with the police, Mark had formed the clear idea that it was OK for THC4MS to continue, but it had to be a bit more discreet or, as Mark put it, "less blatant". Because someone in Alston had evidently been complaining, Mark stopped taking packages of cannabis chocolate to the local post office and started doing a twice weekly run to the sorting office in Carlisle, some 30 miles away. The same sorting office in Junction Street where, a little over two years later, one of his packages was found to be open, which lead to this case. In order to stop quite so much mail to their home address, never mind the personal callers, Mark consulted with Marcus Davies, who agreed to set up a mail forwarding service. In fact, Marcus had access to a PO Box that belonged to another of his associates, so they used that to receive requests for chocolate and letters from Health Care Professionals, such as a patient's GP, their neurological consultant, or a qualified MS nurse working in a specialised clinic.

At this point the jury woke up and asked two pertinent questions about these letters. They hadn't been allowed to see a doctor's letter that was produced in court on Friday. Now they wanted to know to whom the doctors addressed their letters and if the contents of these letters specifically mentioned the cannabis chocolate. Since the letter wasn't allowed on Friday, THC4MS had brought in 1023 others, which were in a big pile on the desk in front of the bewigged barristers. In order to provide accurate answers, these letter were counted again and found to number 1036, of which 65 specifically referred to the cannabis chocolate. (All THC4MS required was a confirmation of diagnosis. Often, a patient would write to their GP, who would scrawl a confirmation and signature on the original in their barely legible doctors' writing). What was made very clear was that no chocolate was sent out without a doctor's letter first being received.

Mark Gibson described the care he took over sealing each package of cannabis chocolate in a Jiffy bag that was double sealed with 2" Selotape. So, yes, he was surprised that one had supposedly 'come adrift' (as Mr Hoare put it) in the Sorting Office. Such a thing had not happened before. Once, a packet was sent out with an address label and had been opened by the Post Office and returned to the PO Box. Marcus was furious! In order to prevent a recurrence, Mark got a rubber stamp with the PO Box details to stamp each package with a return address so they wouldn't be opened.

There was never any question of payment for the cannabis chocolate supplied by THC4MS and never any surplus funds. "We've never sold any chocolate at all. It's all been given free, on donation," Mark Gibson said, adding that many of their clients didn't make a donation and that most gave what they could afford, which varied. Almost by definition, people with multiple sclerosis live on disability benefits. Initially, THC4MS had suggested a donation of £1.50 to cover postage and packing, but that was later raised to £5.

Mr Grout-Smith asked Mark about his motivation, suggesting that he would have done what he did as a campaigner, in the conviction that it was right, irrespective of the law. On the contrary, Mark said, he was convinced that he had a defence under the law as it stood at the time. Grout-Smith pointed to an article in the Carlisle paper that appeared in July 2002, in which Mark was quoted as saying, "although those involved run the risk of being arrested, the work is too important to stop". "If I hadn't had a defence," Mark Gibson told the court, "I wouldn't have done it."

In closing with his client, Mr Hoare asked Mark a bit more about this and quickly found himself out of bounds. "I'd seen the results (cannabis) had on people who've got multiple sclerosis" he said and referred to several cases in which medical necessity had been... Objection! Mr Grout-Smith complained again. Obviously, it's not Ok to say that cannabis is necessary in any circumstances.

Mark Gibson's testimony concluded with Mr Hoare asking if, prior to his arrest in February 2005, he had thought he was committing a criminal offence? "No, never," he said, adding that he did not court arrest. Mr Ford, for Lezley, clarified their division of labour and reminded the jury of DCI Whitehead's advice to Mark Gibson in December 2002 that what he was doing was 'not a priority'. Mr Davies, for Marcus Davies, clarified the relationship between Mark and Marcus, who went to the same school at different times, but met for the first time in 2000. He went through THC4Ms policy and modus operandi, concluding, "What you were doing was designed to be lawful, as you understood the law to be." "Yes", Mark Gibson confirmed. "We worked within the law, not against it."

Marcus Davies suffers from Grand Mall Epilepsy and Diabetes. He is a medicinal cannabis user. But he hasn't got MS and so he doesn't qualify to receive CannaBiz chocolate from THC4MS. Marcus was given some funds, or permitted to take a percentage of money he handled on behalf of THC4MS as an administration fee. He agreed to use the PO Box for forwarding mail, in line with the police request to Mark to reduce the volume of mail being delivered to Alston. At first, Marcus simply forwarded the mail, unopened, on a weekly basis. Later, however, he took on a more secretarial and book-keeping role. From late 2003 he began opening and sorting the mail and processing any cheques through his partner, Tara's bank account.

At this point, the Jury asked what reason Mark had been given by Barclays when they declined to allow his to open a bank account in the name of THC4MS. Mark knew the bank manager pretty well. He wasn't having it on the ground that Barclays don't do Cannabis!

Finally, the judge was somewhat confused by Sativex. Mark explained how, although it was unlicensed in this country, it was available on a 'named patient' basis which meant that everybody involved in its supply: patient; pharmacist; doctor had to have a special dispensation from the Home Office to handle the stuff.

After Mark Gibson left the stand, we were expecting some protracted legal arguments. Instead, we got two MS patients in quick succession, both in wheelchairs. First was Helen Wallace from (sounded like) Wigton. It's ten years since she was diagnosed with MS. She read about THC4MS in Pathways, a magazine published by the MS Research Centre and began receiving a supply of their cannabis chocolate about two years ago after soliciting a letter from her doctor. She has never met the Gibsons and never been asked for money, but always donated something, whatever she could afford.

Michael Wood used to be a Solicitor, before he was diagnosed with MS in 1995. About five years ago, at the Trafford MS Therapy Centre in Manchester, he heard about THC4MS. Once he'd obtained a letter from his consultant, he began receiving a supply and usually sent a fiver and some stamps with every request. He "continued to get chocolate regularly because it had great benefits for my condition," Mr Wood told the court.

Still, no legal argument was forthcoming. Instead, Lesley Jane Gibson took to the witness stand. Lezley rehearsed the story of how her MS had curtailed her promising career in hairdressing (she beat Nicky Clarke in an apprentices' competition). Meeting Mark and his pothead mates, Lezley observed that, "when I actually partook, I didn't really notice my MS at all". She started using cannabis to control her MS and has "never taken conventional medicine". Early on, when she was in hospital, they tried her on anabolic steroids. Her weight doubled to 14 stone and she started growing a beard, but it made no difference to the MS. Since then, she's made do with cannabis and it seems to have kept her out of a wheelchair for 20 years, despite the dismal prognosis.

In 1989, Lezley was discharged over two counts of possessing cannabis. Sickened by the harassment and repeated run-ins with the law, she became increasingly militant. In 1995, she appeared on Kilroy, where she met 'Clare Hodges', the pseudonym of a medicinal campaigner with MS who had founded a British branch of ACT (Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics) and had been inspired to set up her own campaigning outfit, THC. (Colin Paisley, the former mayor of Carlisle, who stood for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance in Chelsea at the Portillo by-election, provided office space). In 1998, she gave evidence to the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee about her medicinal use of cannabis.

In 1999 Lezley was busted again and in 2000 she was acquitted. After the courts case, a lot of people got in touch. It was overwhelming. Production of CannaBiz chocolate at THC4MS increased to around 150 bars per week and they had about 1600 patients on their books. The Gibsons estimate that probably 2% of MS sufferers in the UK have contacted them. That entails a lot of administration, which was Lezley's area of responsibility. Finally, asked if she thought she was doing anything wrong, Lezley Gibson said, "I can't see how it could be wrong to help people to be well".

In cross-examination, Mr Grout-Smith made a half-hearted attempt to get lezley to confess that it was all a conspiracy since all three defendants knew what the others were doing and they were all in it together. Which called for a bit of, "Oh no it isn't", but Lezley's Pantomime spirit may have been waning. Instead, she took the cue to say, clearly, "Ill people should be allowed to take medicine and should not be taken to court for it". So there, Jeremy G-S, you heartless bastard. Really, mate, there are some jobs one just should not do and persecuting people for doing good is at the top of the list.

But anyway, what happened to the much-delayed legal argument? It's now been put off until before the closing speeches. When will that be?well, the judge did make a quip about telling the jury they may be required for another week! Tomorrow is Marcus' day on the witness stand, but it will only be half a day because Lezley's lawyer has a doctor's appointment in the afternoon.

Matthew Atha is standing by, but if some version of his IDMU report can be admitted as evidence, we'll be denied a personal appearance from the man himself on Wednesday morning to close the case for the defence. Then, maybe, they'll get to the legal arguments. Mr Phillips quickly listed some of the points the lawyers needed to consider: must all the defendants be either innocent or guilty, bearing in mind that a husband and wife cannot conspire together without a third party being involved?

Finally - at least, my last note - Mr Davies for Mr Davies remarked to His Honour that sooner or later someone was going to have to explain to the jury what is meant by this term 'medical necessity' that had been bandied about and why the 'medical necessity defence' no longer existed since the Quayle decision, some three months after the Gibsons were arrested. Judge John Phillips, who is never going to make it as a comedian, said with a smirk that was surely irrelevant since each of the defence barristers had assured him they were not running a medical necessity defence!

[elsie haze]

i just want to add, THANKYOU to whomever took time to write these reports, to keep the community up to date.

elsie haze x

[elsie haze]

THC4MS Trial, Day Six, 12.12.06 Courtesy www.uk420.com

Today was another short one in Carlisle Crown Court, where the indisposition of the Crown barrister delayed the start. Mr Grout-Smith has acute kidney pain! He went to the doctor this morning and he'll go again this evening. I doubt if any doctor is likely to divine the probable cause of Mr Grout-Smith's kidney infection, but for the past week he has subjected himself to psychic attack from all right-thinking people, who consider his complicity in the persecution of good people to be shameful at least and, at worst, downright fucking evil. Certainly, I have been staring at his back, occasionally muttering such oaths as, "you bastard!" Do let's us hope that Mr Grout-Smith isn't seriously ill, or that he doesn't become so seriously ill in the future that he requires cannabinoid medicine. Because that would be too poetic.

Finally, we trooped into court around 11:15 and first Marcus and then Mark were taken into a room behind the dock to be searched for drugs by a truly brutal looking gaoler whose shirt bore the logo of 'GSL', which I take to be some private security firm. Because they can't recruit real policemen fast enough and don't want to be liable for their pension funds, the British governbent has authorised, if not necessitated, the employment of Neanderthal thugs to do its dirty work. This one - ugly, with a low forehead and piggy little eyes - wore a 2" think leather wristband on one arm, like a cartoon dungeon master. His dunce''s cap was invisible.

Mr Davies, appearing for Mr Davies, told His Honour Judge Phillips he had intended to raise two issues. First, he was going to make an application to introduce the massive pile of 1036 doctors' letters into evidence so that the jury could read some of 'em. But now he wasn't going to do that. I don't know why he bothered to bring it up, I'm just telling what he said. Second, he had proposed to call a Mr Brown, a forensic expert from London, to testify about the street value of cannabis. Yesterday, His Honour said he couldn't see the relevance. This morning, Mr Davies said he was reminded that Mark Gibson had already testified as to the street value of cannabis and his testimony had not been challenged by the Prosecution, so it had been established that the CannaBiz chocolate bars given away for a suggested donation of a fiver contained an eighth of an ounce of herbal cannabis worth twenty quid on the street.

Mr Davies explained to Judge Phillips that his client's defence was that Marcus Davies conspired with the Gibsons to commit lawful acts and that he took care to stay within the law as he understood it. In order to do that, Marcus needs to establish what he thought the law was, which entails a description if not a discussion of the 'medical necessity defence' which has been alluded to several times in court. "In my submission," Mr Davies said, "the jury cannot understand Marcus Davies' state of mind, unless they are informed of the background," i.e.: that a defence of medical necessity had been used in English courts until the Appeal Court judges ruled in the case of Quayle, in May 2005, that medical necessity was no defence in English Law.

The judge pointed out that this information was already before the jury as it had been read into the record as part of Marcus Davies' arrest statement. "It should be before the jury, your honour," insisted Mr Davies. Judge Phillips assured him that it will be: he'll inform the jury about the Quayle decision and also that it came after the Gibsons' arrest (and soon before Marcus Davies was arrested, coincidentally or not). The judge said that Mr Gibson, in his evidence yesterday, had said some things on the witness stand that he probably shouldn't have been allowed to, but there had been no objection, and that he would be similarly indulgent of what Marcus Davies might say under oath. However, said Judge Phillips, "I am not going to allow the defendant to say what the law is."

Mr Gibson had referred to 'six acquittals' and Marcus Davies could do the same. However, Mr Gibson was erroneous in his assertion that Tony Taylor had been acquitted, or that anyone had been acquitted of charges of supplying cannabis on the grounds of medical necessity. (In fact, Tony Taylor withdrew his medical necessity defence and pleaded guilty in November 2003. But I was there and heard the Judge's summing up to a court full of medicinal cannabis users, many in wheelchairs. He said he acknowledged that Tony was not a drug dealer in the conventional sense of the term and that he refused to make Tony a martyr by giving him a custodial sentence.) Judge Phillips also said that he will reserve his position as to how he sums up the arguments and directs the jury until after all the evidence has been heard and the legal arguments have been had.

Mr Davies said that, as well as believing that he had a defence in law, his client also needed to show the jury that he sincerely believes in the therapeutic benefits of cannabis. Like the other defendants, Marcus Davies had submitted written evidence to the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee. When its 9th Report was published in 1998, Marcus downloaded and read it avidly and found that it confirmed his opinion that cannabis did have medicinal benefits, particularly in connection with multiple sclerosis. Therefore, it was necessary for Mr Davies' defence to draw the jury's attention to at least a couple of relevant passages in the Report.

Mr Grout-Smith, not wincing nearly enough as he climbed to his feet, said it was irrelevant. "The reason for the supply (of cannabis) is irrelevant and therefore the materials upon which (Mr Davies) formed his reason is doubly irrelevant." It was the view of the the Crown that such an admission would inevitably lead into the "vexed question of whether cannabis is good or not. And, in my submission, that's not what this trial is about." At which, the sly old judge, if I heard him right, remarked, "We haven't quite got around to deciding what this trial is about yet, have we?"

Grout-Smith, or 'Grouty' as he's no doubt known by the cons, said he couldn't allow the defence to quote passages of the HoL report out of context. Even on a first perusal of the document, Grouty said that that if Davies wanted to quote paragraphs 8.1 and 8.3 then para. 8.2 must also be included. He couldn't permit the defence to give the idea that cannabis is good because, only this morning, he read in The Times (no doubt while waiting in the doctor's surgery) that the 'largest research project conducted hitherto' had concluded that cannabis use had 'serious psychotic side effects'! "The public gallery is moaning (actually, I muttered, 'wanker') your Honour, but it is far from..." I didn't quite catch what happened next because I was concentrating on trying to make Mr Grout-Smith's kidneys explode. But I guess the judge said, right oh, we'd better get some copies of this Report made then and let's all have a butcher's.

So, then there's a break until 12:10. Judge Phillips told counsel he 'reserved the position' that a genuine belief that you're not breaking the law does not give you immunity from the law. Of course, he would say that because he is a Judge and therefore he thinks that the Law is what he says it is. Anyway, the relevant bits of the Ninth Report of the House of Lords' Science and Technology Committee were agreed to be paras 8.1/8.2, and 8.23, iv-vii). And then at last it's on with the show. The jury came in at last for curtain up at 12:15. Mr Ford, Lezley's barrister was going to have to shoot off at one, but agreed to linger for fifteen minutes longer, so that the court could get in a full hour-long session today.

Marcus took the stand and swore by Almighty God, as I notice everybody else has: all the jury and every witness, so far, apparently believe in an Almighty God who is outside of themselves and will smite them if they don't tell the Truth. At least Marcus used heavy dramatic emphasis when he said, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth. Because, of course, he is not going to be allowed to tell the whole truth. The English Law has decreed that the Whole Truth is no longer relevant when it comes to prosecuting seriously ill people for helping themselves to effective medicine. Because then the true nature of the Beast might be revealed. But I digress:-

Marcus began his testimony with an explanation of his medical conditions, the most serious of which are Grand Mal Epilepsy and Type One Diabetes with serious complications including neuropathy (leg spasms), necropathy (kidney pain) and retinopathy (blistering at the back of the eyes). Happily, however, he can control these conditions with cannabis. "I use cannabis because it works," he said. "It controls all my symptoms." That's why police found cannabis plants growing at his home when they swooped. They were for his personal use. "I am a medicinal cannabis user, but THC4MS can't really help me, so I help myself."

Mr Davies then read the agreed sections of the HoL Report. I didn't write it all down (it's online you lazy swine) but it included the recommendation that clinical trials with cannabis should be conducted as a matter of urgency and that alternative methods of administering cannabis to smoking should be sought. Like, you know, chocolate. Both Marcus Davies and the Gibsons had contributed to this Report in 1998, but they didn't now each other then. They met, as we've heard, in 2000, at a conference in Norwich (obviously the LCA annual conference, but nobody's said so).

When Marcus met Mark and offered to do a web site for THC4MS, he did ask if he might try some of their chocolate, but was refused because it is for MS sufferers only. Marcus Davies may be ill and he may use cannabis medicinally, but he can't have CannaBiz chocolate from THC4MS because it is intended exclusively for multiple sclerosis patients. "We're not able to help everyone who could benefit from cannabis, because the law would frown on that, but we knew we were on safe ground with MS," Marcus said. He then read then mission statement that has appeared on thc4ms.org since its inception. No, I'm not going to repeat it. It's still there: the one about carrying on supplying MS sufferers until the legal alternative become available in 2004. You know, that legal alternative that became available in 2004, but actually isn't available because the MHRA won't give it a license.

Marcus went on to describe his relationship with the Gibsons and Mark in particular: "9 times out of 10, Mark initiated changes on the web site... He knew how to write things and I knew how to publish them on the internet". Marcus had never played any role in the manufacture of CannaBiz chocolate. His role was to maintain the web site, for which service he certainly wasn't paid. "Money is irrelevant and has never been a consideration (in THC4MS)" said Marcus Davies, who lives on disability benefit, plus a pension.

In 2002, after he had been involved with THC4MS for a while, Marcus had a phone conversation with Mark in which he was told about a meeting Mark had with the Cumbria Police, who had suggested that THC4MS should not be so 'blatant' in their activities, so far as talking to the press was concerned, and that they should move their operation out of Cumbria. By using a PO Box address in Huntingdon, "we did what the Police advised," said Mr Davies. He took on a more secretarial and administrative role within the organisation for practical reasons but also in the conviction that, in the event of being prosecuted, he had a defence in law.

Mr Davies - or should I say, the Mr Davieses? - then moved on to the subject of THC4MS accounts. When THC4MS first started using the PO Box, Marcus emptied it twice weekly, putting the contents into silver Special Delivery bags and forwarding it North. But that was expensive and a bit daft. People might send chocolate, as a donation, but it cost more to send it on to Alston than it would cost to buy in Alston. So, it was agreed that Marcus should start opening and sorting the mail before sending it on, counting the money and clearing any cheques through his wife's bank account, which he did during the period from March 2003 until March 2005. For about six months during that time, by agreement, Marcus deducted ten percent of the value of the cheques he cashed to cover his expenses: the PO Box is located some 20 miles from his house and he needed to pay for petrol and parking.

Marcus Davies also set up his own grow and he may have used some of the money to buy lights and other equipment (he spent four hundred quid on hydro gear, but soon ditched it and went the organic route). But he never grew cannabis on behalf of THC4MS. The Davies family weekly income was detailed and Marcus was asked about additional income. He explained that Penny Thornton, the astrologer who paid for the PO Box, is a friend whose web site he maintains for free, out of friendship. Unable to work, Marcus's needs an absorbing hobby and he's found one in t'internet (and in his growroom. Sound familiar?). Finally, Mr Davies asked Marcus Davies about the suggestion that his domestic bills had been defrayed from THC4MS money. "It's rubbish!" said Marcus, indignantly. "We were told that we wouldn't be talking about bank accounts, but here we are..."

Mr Grout-Smith opened his cross-examination by deploying his favourite, if tired tactic of asking the defendant to admit their guilt. In this case, when Marcus declined to do so, Grouty expostulated, "Come on, don't disappoint me". Marcus said he didn't know where the cannabis chocolate was manufactured. Although he thought it might well have been chez Gibson in Alston, he'd never been there, had never discussed it with Mark Gibson, and could not say for certain. "Did you think he was selling bricks?" G-S asked. "He wasn't selling anything," Marcus shot back.

Having resoundingly lost that exchange and no doubt feeling a little bilious from the prescribed medication for his kidney infection, Jezza turned his attention to the growing operation that police discovered (and smashed up) at the Davies' home near Huntingdon. Asked why he was growing cannabis in three sheds in his garden, Marcus said, "It was necessary to do it for the good of my health. It works as well!"

"How do you take you own cannabis, illegally?" asked Mr Grout-Smith. Marcus said he smoked it or used a vaporiser. He said that the two grinders found at his home contained two different strains of cannabis, which he used to treat different symptoms. He said, "the THC supply of cannabis has nothing to do with me". He also clarified the position regarding Penny Thornton's PO Box: it's not hers. She pays for it, but Marcus is the registered keeper and the only one who has access to it. So it's his. The exchanges between Marcus Davies and Jeremy Gut-Ache were getting sharper as lunchtime loomed, but then the Judge called time.

Grout-Smith requires perhaps another fifteen minutes to conclude his cross-examination of Marcus Davies and make his poisonous insinuations and then Michael Davies may wish to spend another fifteen minutes repairing any possible damage sustained to his client's reputation. Which is to say that the defence needs another half hour or so to be concluded and then - hoorah! - we can at long last get to the legal arguments. In order not to inconvenience the jury too much - some of whom travel 40 or 50 miles from West Cumbria to the court - the judge suggested that the rest of Marcus evidence could be heard on Thursday morning, starting early (for them!) at 10:00am. That leaves all tomorrow for obtuse legal wrangling.

I don't want to miss the closing speeches and judges summing up. It will be particularly interesting to see if he directs the jury and, if so, in what direction. But that's not going to happen until Thursday and I'm booked on a train back to London tomorrow night. I'm going to leave it 'till lunchtime to decide whether to change my ticket and hang on for the verdict, because nothing seems certain. Mr Grout-Smith's kidney infection could get a lot worse overnight, or whatever. Tomorrow's legal arguments might collapse the whole case.

[ZeldaG.]

my god those are some good people there...

And to think that they could be locked up with some of the biggest pr**** in the country is so bloody horrible and its like this weird feeling of weakness as you can do fu** all about it. And thing like that make me see how stupid the prohibition laws are, its a tottally common sense sort of stupidity where you dont need to look hard for the stupidity factors... :-S

[elsie haze]

mark, lez and marcus, face a minimum 2 year, maximum 14 year prison sentance

peadophiles maximum sentance is 12 years

if you can be there

CARLISLE CROWN COURT 9AM FRIDAY 26TH JANUARY 2007

AND WRITE TO YOUR MP

PLEASE, EVERYONE

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I'LL DO IF THESE PEOPLE ARE SENT TO PRISON.. :(

[eil]

good luck i do hope the judge sees what they are doing as a much needed service to them in pain