Infamous singer linked to controversial cases

THE Jodi Jones case is the latest in a line of controversies Goth rock star Marilyn Manson has been drawn into.

Luke Mitchell was a fan of the American musician and during the trial, the prosecution attempted to paint the picture that Manson's work was connected to Jodi's killing.

It has also been claimed the teenagers responsible for the Columbine High School massacre in the USA regularly listened to his music.

Since Ohio-raised Manson, aka Brian Warner, and his band made their mainstream breakthrough in the mid-1990s, he has been consistently targeted by moral and religious groups.

A Manson DVD,

The Golden Age of Grotesque, bought by Mitchell, was shown to the court.

The video showed two girls tied together near a track and struggling as hoods were placed over their heads.

Manson's paintings of the notorious Black Dahlia murder of a 1940s Hollywood actress were also shown to the jury.

Manson's work has attracted a cult following, including many disaffected white suburban teens.

As his band's infamy grew, US Senator Joseph Lieberman once said it was "perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company". Following the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999, Manson was forced to defend himself after his music was linked to the shootings.

Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, who killed 13 people at the Denver school before shooting themselves, were believed to have been Marilyn Manson fans.

At the time, Manson said: "The media has unfairly scapegoated the music industry and so-called Goth kids and has speculated with no basis in truth that artists like myself are in some way to blame."