Spice turned burglar ‘with no history of sex attacks or violence’ into barbaric rapist

The sadistic sex fiend who raped a mother and her 14-year-old daughter while high on Spice was exposed to the ‘zombie’ drug while in prison.

Career burglar Joshua Carney, 28, had just been released from a jail, which admits to having a major problem with Spice – a synthetic form of cannabis that has been known to cause psychotic episodes – when he barged into the family’s South Wales home.

He later told police he had consumed the drug and claimed he had no memory of the horrific attack on the terrified mother and her 14-year-old daughter.

Despite having 47 previous convictions, none of Carney’s prior offences had a sexual motive. But he was ‘intoxicated’ with the drug when he locked the mother and daughter inside their own home to put them through a sex ordeal described by a judge as ‘the stuff of nightmares’.

HIs defence lawyer argued the horrific crime was ‘out of character’ for Carney and that he was in a ‘chaotic condition’ at the time of the attack.

Experts say the street drug, which is composed of various synthetic molecules known as cannabinoids, alters the way receptors in the brain receive messages. 

They claim ‘violent outbursts’ and ‘unpredictable behaviours’ are possible when one is under the influence of spice.

Carney broke into his victims’ home and carried out the ‘grave, humiliating and degrading’ sex attacks just five days after he was released from jail. 

He had been incarcerated for eight years in 2018 at Cardiff Crown Court for a series of burglaries but was released early on licence this year. 

The Ministry of Justice would not confirm what facility Carney was released from but it is understood he served his term at the privately-run Parc Prison in Bridgend, South Wales.

An 2017 inquest into the death of a prisoner at the jail was told spice is rife there and a report by HM Inspector of prisons revealed inmates find it ‘easy or very easy’ to get drugs smuggled in.

Spice is a liquid chemical sprayed on to items taken into jail making it very difficult to detect. It is known as ‘bird killer’ because it kills time while ‘doing bird’.

Dr Simon Cotton, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, told Mail Online on Tuesday the side effects of spice are ‘unpredictable.’

The drug, which appears to be natural and plant-based, is sprayed with synthetic materials that – when bonded together – alter the way the brain responds to the substance, he explained.

‘A small change in a molecule can have a big effect on what the molecule does to the human body,’ Dr Cotton said. ‘All these different substances called spice have different impacts on the body.’

‘People are being offered these drugs by drug pushers. They don’t use proper packaging. People taking the drug don’t know if they’re getting the same chemical or dose every day.

‘The people marking these drugs haven’t done testing on them. They’re not interested in that. They want to make money.’

Carney told police ‘I’ve taken Spice’ when they arrested him in the garden of the family home in Cardiff moments after the horrific rape attacks on March 1 this year.

He was in such a state he needed hospital treatment and was slipping in and out of consciousness and unable to be interviewed by police.

Dr Cotton said it is possible that spice contributed to Carney’s aggressive behaviours, but he noted it is impossible to know if the drug led him to carry out the attack. 

‘We don’t which molecule or molecules were in the drug this guy took,’ the chemistry expert explained. ‘And he said he didn’t know.

‘Therefore, the effects can be unpredictable. Violent outbursts are possible – the effects of these things are unpredictable. We don’t know how this man’s brain was wired and if he had taken any other substances.’

The expert also noted that ‘spice is said to be a very big problem in the prison systems.’

‘It seems to be available in jails,’ he explained. ‘You see, from time to time, prison staff have supplied things to prisoners. 

‘As far as I know – the two main things prisoners want to get a hold of are drugs and phones. Maybe prison staff can be bribed. Prison staff form relationships with prisoners, that happens as well occasionally. It’s also possible for visitors to smuggle things into jails.

‘We don’t know what happened in [Carney’s] case. It’s possible. We don’t know how he got hold of this drug. We can assume he may have gotten it in jail. It’s widely reported that spice is a problem in jails.’

Carney, of Rumney, Cardiff, was jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 10 years on Monday after admitting 13 charges of rape, attempted rape and actual bodily harm.  He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. 

His victims are receiving counselling and have moved from their terraced house in a Cardiff suburb because it brings back horrific memories of their ordeal.

The mother was getting ready for work at 6.30am and her teenage daughter was asleep upstairs when Carney, a complete stranger to them, carried out his ‘random’ attack.

He pretended he had a knife and raped the woman downstairs while her daughter made a desperate 999 call from her bedroom.

Carney had been freed on licence from prison just five days earlier when he put the mother and daughter through a ‘grave, humiliating and degrading’ ordeal.

They feared for their lives as they were forced to watch as he took turns to rape them in an upstairs bedroom.

The schoolgirl victim had to take the morning after pill and anti HIV medication and now sleeps with a hammer under her bed, a court was told.

Her mother has been left haunted by the sight of her daughter’s white knuckles as she gripped her hand throughout the horrific rape.

Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett said: ‘The mother told Carney: ‘Do what you want to me, but please leave her alone.’

‘But he told the girl’s mother: ‘Watch me, look at what I’m doing to her,’ and said he was going to punish her for calling the police.

‘She held on to her daughter’s hand and she was lying there being raped in front of her mother.

‘The mother remembers the sight of her daughter’s white knuckles as she gripped onto her hand in pain.’

As he got dressed Carney and his victims saw blue flashing lights of police cars arriving. Fearing a hostage situation developing, the mother cleverly ushered him into the rear garden but rattled a key to let police know he was about to escape.

Mr Bennett said: ‘As two uniformed officers entered the garden she mouthed at them: ‘Please take him, I beg you – he raped us both.’

Bravely giving a victim impact statement at Cardiff Crown Court the mother said Carney robbed her daughter of her childhood and ruined her life forever.

She said: ‘I was a strong, independent woman with a lovely home. We no longer felt safe there.

‘I had to take eight weeks off work after the attack and I now suffer from panic attacks, recurring nightmares and flashbacks. I’ve lost two stone in weight since the attack.

‘I will never be able to erase from my memories the images of what he did to my daughter and what he forced me to watch him doing. It’s every parent’s job to protect their children and I was unable to do that.’

The teenage girl told police: ‘In the days after the attack my biggest fears were becoming pregnant or catching a disease.

‘All I really want is normality again but I now sleep with a hammer in my bedroom.’

Christopher Rees, defending, told the court: ‘This offence was out of character – he has been a career burglar. There are no previous sexual offences in his antecedence.

‘He has not used violence or had a sexual motive prior to the current offence.

‘He was at the time in a chaotic condition, he was dishevelled with no shoes on his feet and blood coming from both ears.

‘It was not planned, it was a random attack while intoxicated.’

 He also said Carney was ‘wracked with guilt and disgust’ and wakes up every day wanting to kill himself.

‘No words will ever undo the terrible crimes he’s committed,’ he added.

Carney showed no emotion as Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke branded him a danger to adult women and young females.

She told him: ‘Your offending was horrific – the stuff of nightmares. You told the daughter that one of the rapes was punishment for phoning the police.

‘These were deliberate and sadistic acts to satisfy your sexual perversions.’