MOTHER KILLS HERSELF AND SON, 5, WITH A BARBECUE

A mother killed herself and her young son while suffering from
psychotic delusions caused by her regular use of cannabis.

Anjun Cavanagh, who smoked two or three joints every night, locked
herself and five-year-old Dylan in a sealed bedroom where she lit a
disposable barbecue.

The pair were slowly poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes as they lay
surrounded by the boy's favourite toys.

An inquest revealed that 30-year-old Miss Cavanagh had become
convinced her son was being abused by his father as well as
fantasising that she had met Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra
Hindley and believing a 'device' had been hidden in household
electrical items to give her shocks.

Police found no evidence to press charges against the father and a
coroner said he feared a "psychotic illness characterised by a
complex delusional system" had been brought on by her drug abuse.

"There's a considerable body of medical evidence in the background
which indicates that cannabis use can either cause or trigger mental
illness," said Nigel Meadows.

The case is the latest to highlight the link between increasingly
highstrength varieties of cannabis and conditions such as
schizophrenia, fuelling calls for Labour's downgrading of the drug to
Class C to be reversed.

Police found the bodies of Miss Cavanagh and Dylan at her home in
Blackley, Manchester, in June last year.

The hearing in Manchester was told that police had interviewed
Dylan's father Paul Buckley, who was separated from Miss Cavanagh,
after she made the abuse allegations, but there was no evidence for
him to be prosecuted.

Mr Buckley said their six-year relationship had been 'volatile' and
that she had started drinking heavily and smoking "two or three"
cannabis cigarettes nightly.

He had seen her a fortnight before her death.

"She kept crying all the time, writing things down. She was acting
very strange - not the person I knew."

Miss Cavanagh's father, Philip, claimed that the police investigation
into the abuse allegations had not been thorough, adding: "She wasn't
getting any help. It was her only way out."

But Detective Sergeant David Turner said her claims had been fully
examined and Mr Buckley - who had co-operated fully with the inquiry
- - had been interviewed at length.

Mr Buckley told the hearing: "I never touched my son."

Psychiatrist Dr Linda Montague studied notes left by Miss Cavanagh
and concluded that she had become preoccupied by "the issue of sexual
abuse" and "probably believed she was sparing both of them
considerable pain and suffering".

Mr Meadows recorded a verdict that Dylan had been unlawfully killed
and that his mother took her own life.

He added that what she perceived as harm to Dylan "was clearly
something in her own mind".