Sandra Lean
Ronnie Mothersole The "official" timeline or the actual one??? Be prepared - this gets complicated!!!
Luke was at the Newbattle entrance at 10.59pm (confirmed by phone records).
The search trio said they left AW's house just after the 11.03 phone call from JuJ. If they were still in the complex at 11.18, it had taken them 15 minutes to get there. We don't know where in the complex they were, but, even if they were close to leaving the complex, they'd still need another 3 - 5 minutes to get to the junction of the paths.
There is one clue about where they were in the complex - when the police reconstructed their route, JaJ pointed out where they where when she took the call from JuJ - according to the police timings, that was 9 minutes into their walk. But that doesn't work either - by 9 minutes in, they're at the Mayfield end of the playing fields - there's still another 400m before they reach "the complex" (assuming they walked in a straight line). Or, alternatively, they're referring to the whole area as "the complex", in which case, they still have another 6 - 700 metres to walk before arriving at the junction of the paths. Essentially, for this "version" to be correct, they'd have to have left AW's at 11.09, which means, in turn, they wouldn't get to the junction of the paths until 11.29pm.
By 11.18, Luke would have been up the path and almost at JuJ's house.
He saw the searchers waiting at the junction of the paths when he was about 2/3 up the path - a walk of around 8 minutes - for them to be waiting for him at the junction, according to that timing, they would have to be at the junction by 7 minutes past 11 - just 4 minutes after they said they left (or 2 minutes before they left, if the 11.09 timing is correct).
I explained in my book why Luke's timings are supported - the amount of time left for getting back down the path, finding Jodi and calling the police simply isn't enough, if you use the trio's timings. If they were in the complex at 11.18, the earliest the could have reached the junction is 11.22pm - they had to wait for Luke to reach them, then have the discussion about something of Jodi's for Mia to scent, the double check, etc, then set off slowly back down the path, stopping to poke about at poly bags in the undergrowth, etc, (slowly is their description, not mine), Mia reacting, Luke doubling back and going over the wall, JaJ and SK coming "running back" to the V, SK going over and coming back, then helping AW over, all in 13 minutes. If we take the 11.09 time of leaving, there's just 6 minutes left for all of that to happen - they couldn't even get to the V point in 6 minutes!
However it's manipulated, the phone logs bracket either end of this piece of the puzzle!
Just for interest's sake, I checked the route they claimed to take - it's a little over 1500m, so would take, on average, 15 minutes - for it to have taken 20 mins, they were walking slower than average.
Yes looks like it is
“Luke was at the Newbattle entrance at 10.59pm (confirmed by phone records)”
How did phone records place the killer Luke Mitchell anywhere at a certain time?
