I heard that when Judith lifted Jodi’s grounding on that fateful day on 30.06.03, Luke and Jodi had exchanged a series of text messages between 1630-1638 hrs that were never retrieved (Jodi had used Judith’s phone as hers was broken and Luke used his own mobile phone). It’s a great pity these texts were never retrieved, as they could’ve contained crucial evidence such as the young couple’s meeting up arrangements for the evening (I think a common arrangement between them previously was, as some of you have already mentioned, Luke and Jodi meeting halfway between easthouses and newbattle path/shortcut (about a 900 metre-long secluded path of woodland and open fields) and hanging around the easthouses area thereafter. But, according to Luke, they had agreed to meet up at the newbattle end of the path that evening (of course, he could be lying, but if that was the arrangement it could perhaps explain why the texts were deleted, since Judith didn’t approve of Jodi walking that long path to Luke’s alone (as I said, I think the path is about a 0.75 Miles (900 metres, according to the info on Luke’s online appeal Scots court documents) and is secluded woodland with open fields on both sides, so her mother’s concerns were entirely justified, and this is perhaps why Jodi may have deleted those texts from her mother’s phone so as not to worry her that she was planning to walk up alone to meet Luke at the newbattle end of the path; or maybe they had been arguing via texts — another possible reason for them being deleted).
Now, this is where it gets interesting. (As I said, this is why it would’ve been useful for the text exchanges between Luke and Jodi @ 1635-1638 to have been retrieved, but we know they were deleted.) Jodi was meant to have left her house around 1650 to go and meet Luke at Newbattle and it’s approx. a distance of 1750 metres (1.087 Miles) in total from Jodi’s house to Luke’s. Eyewitness Andrina Bryson reported that she had seen a young couple who, it turned out, matched Luke’s and Jodi’s description, standing at the easthouses entrance to the path @ around 1650-1655 (sounds plausible, since Jodi left the house at around 1650 and only lives approx. 250 metres away from the entrance to the path). It is also interesting that eyewitness Bryson indicated that the male she spotted had his hands held out in front of him, palms facing outward, as if gesturing “what?” or “I don’t know”, like they were having a dispute or disagreement (Bryson didn’t say it looked like a heated argument or anything like that or that anyone was in distress, just merely a little dispute or something). Weighing all this up, and taking into consideraration that Shane, at the age of 21 or 22, said that he couldn’t be sure that Luke was in the house or that he was masturbating between 1640 and 1715 (it has been suggested that Shane was bullied or manipulated by the police & F.L.O. into saying that he couldn’t be sure wether Luke was in the house at those times or that he was masturbating to porn, but I find this hard to believe; Shane was 21 or 22 at the time of the investigation, not 12). There’s just too many other facets of this case that incriminate Luke, as well: the missing green jacket that teachers and friends said Luke owned and the fact Corrine bought him another jacket similar to that of the missing one; the strange pungent smell coming from the Mitchell’s log burner which Shane or Luke had admitted was used that night between 1800-1900 and then again at 2100 that same night (I know that other people were burning stuff in neighbouring properties and that the burner was taken away and forensically examined, but there was plenty of time to destroy any evidence, and plus I think all bins were emptied by binnen despite a murder investigation taking place!); Luke’s interest in knives seemed excessive despite his interest in camping and hunting, and what a coincidence that the knife he regularly carried went missing during the murder investigation; Luke’s cannabis use was excessive (probably to the detriment of his mental health); there were signs in primary school and high school that Luke had problems with temper and violence (teachers wanting to refer him to a specialist and guidance teachers; he even threatened a previous girlfriend with a knife to the point it had left her shaken and she confirmed this in a newspaper story; Luke’s excessive interest in satanism, the macabre and occult (teachers said they were slightly concerned with violent nature of some of his essays); he told his friend David High that ‘Jodi wouldn’t be coming out’, despite being told by Jodi’s stepfather that she’d already left to meet him earlier; the dog got a scent the second time walking along the path (odd that it didn’t get the scent the first time of walking along the path; Luke was deemed unsympathetic and nasty, cocky and calculating by authorities; advanced for his age and cunning and in control during times of forceful interrogation (this was prior to him receiving medication to sedate him); he was a bit of the man about the house and never had a father figure (due to his parents’ divorce) and was used to getting his own way; his mother Corrine lied so Luke could get a tattoo (what else would she be willing to lie about?).
I think Luke, for whatever reason, dropped everything he was doing, left the house at around 1640 HRs to go and meet Jody at the easthouses end of Roan’s Dyke (which he had mostly done since dating her in March 2003), walking briskly (maybe even running at times). He was keen to meet her, for whatever reason. Upon meeting her, they may have argued (maybe they had been arguing earlier that day and it continued when they met up again at 1700 HRS and it became very heated heading along to newbattle). Man, that was a Herculean task typing that on an iPhone! Phew!
Btw, I still think all the others in the search party should’ve been investigated as thoroughly as Luke was. Same applies to the moped boys, Mark Kane, the condom guy and Robert Greens (who was in the area that day). Why weren’t they? At this point, I am convinced that Luke did it and not at all surprised he was convicted — the circumstantial evidence against him was/is overwhelming, imo.
