This thread is very interesting and without repeating too much what others have already said, I would like to add that the number of 'eyebrow raising' coincidences about Luke Mitchell, none of which had believable explanations was astounding. He must certainly be the unluckiest person on the planet if he's innocent.
Firstly, the speaking clock hogwash. The last time I phoned this was in 1978 and I didn't even know it still existed until this case. Regardless, claiming to have phoned the speaking clock when you are in a house when the exact time can be seen on laptops, clocks and TV news channels is laughable. Not only that, WHO phones speaking clocks in the middle of cooking? Right, I better watch these pies don't burn and make sure the spuds aren't too hard......oh wait I better phone the speaking clock!! It has been claimed by S.Lean that LM phoned this speaking clock habitually.......there was NO EVIDENCE provided in Court of previous calls to this, none, zero, nada. Thus it would not be unreasonable to assume he was NOT in the habit of phoning it. This alibi of 'being at home cooking dinner' also sounds laughable. It doesn't even sound credible, it sounds like the worst excuse you could make up for not being outdoors. That's why Shane changed his statement, he was told to invent the 'cooking dinner' fable by Corrine. A load of utter HOGWASH. The reason LM phoned the speaking clock could be deduced by an 8 year old.......... he was OUTDOORS and in a place where there were no clocks, shops or people where he could check the time. He was in the woods and needed to know exactly when Jodi would arrive.
Now, onto what makes LM the unluckiest man on the planet.........the odds of all these having an innocent explanation would be into millions.
1. Jodi went missing and was killed when she was on the way to meet HIM, not when she was going anywhere else. Isn't that strange.
2. Mitchell owned a knife but after the murder, his knife 'just happened' to be MISSING.
3. Mitchell made no attempt to find out where Jodi was the whole night after she apparently failed to appear, despite the fact he KNEW she was not allowed to walk up that path alone. That factor proves those who say 'oh he was 14 and maybe didn't bother' are just deluding themselves.
4. The 2 young people seen at the Easthouses end of the path were Mitchell and Jodi. To suggest the Police would not have traced those 2 if it was NOT them, in a town with a population half the size of Castlemilk in Glasgow is laughable. More so after 16 years, they still haven't been traced.
5. Any criminologist would state that due to the nature of this murder, the perpetrator would be highly likely to strike again. There's been no similar murders in that area or even in Scotland since this one. How coincidental. Remember the Bible John murders stopped for 18 months? They stopped at the same time Peter Tobin was in jail. Mitchell has been in jail for 16 years which is why no similar murders have occurred (obvious).
6. Mitchell told a witness 'Jodi would not be coming out tonight' after the time of the murder, despite not apparently knowing where she was.
7. A discarded knife was found years later not too far from where the murder was which had the name 'Luke' inscribed on it. What a strange coincidence that the only knife found up until then just happened to have that not particularly common name on it.
8. Mitchell's knife pouch had 666 scrawled on it with that message about Jodi. That in itself speaks volumes.
9. Corrine bought him another knife (despite being a suspect) to replace the missing one.
10. Corrine assisted him to attend a tattoo parlour knowing he had fake ID and was under age, to have a Satanic tattoo done, a skull with flames shooting out of it. She also pointed to it and said.....'that's him' !!
11. A paramedic who attended the murder scene stated in Court that Mitchell was the only person present who was not upset. He was sitting texting on his phone looking perfectly calm.
12. Mitchell has never shown any emotion in 16 years, not even a shout on the way in and out of Court proclaiming he's innocent.
13. He was described by one Appeal Judge as 'an unsympathetic individual'. Assumably because he's sat there looking unperturbed or unfazed every time and never expressed an ounce of emotion.
14. Mitchell demanded Satanic books be sent to him in Shotts Prison in 2014.
I've read SL's book and yes there were issues with the Police investigation, but the amount of circumstantial evidence against Mitchell is overwhelming. That's why a 6 week trial took a Jury only a few hours to reach a verdict. I would also like to vote the alibi of 'at home cooking dinner' as the cheesiest most laughable pile of hogwash ever produced for an alibi. It's the sort of excuse that would produce raucous laughter at a stage show. Woeful attempt.
All of the above points to 1 thing only, which is why all appeals were refused.