Why did Luke wait at the end of his street? A more pertinent question would be why did he allegedly stand, nonchalantly at the gate to be seen by Walsh and Fleming? With all the traffic driving by he must have known that he’d be seen so why not run straight into the wooded area almost directly opposite RDP entrance? Why walk the extra distance, with all the danger that entailed, to simply stand at a gate in full view of everyone passing?
Further once he knew he’d been seen at the gate why not just admit that he’d been there? He had been waiting for Jodi after all and as Jodi was known to be coming down RDP there would have been nothing sinister in him standing there. At first Fleming described the youth she saw as wearing a hip length, shiny green jacket…incidentally just like the one Luke was ACTUALLY wearing so why not just admit that it was him?
You're really all over the place here, fl. He was at that gate because he'd just walked down from the woodland strip where he'd just murdered his girlfriend. The gate is directly across the road from where he would have emerged from, from the woodland strip, after he'd murdered Jodi (another coincidence? I think not!). Walking straight down that woodland strip offered him the perfect cover as it was off the beaten track.The field to his right was far too exposed, as well as being occupied by JOHF & GD on a faulty moped at the time, and the field/RDP west to his left was far too exposed (cars driving up & down Newbattle Rd & walkers on RDP might have seen him). He had no chioce other than to get away from the locus, and he knew he was likely seen by motorists on EH Rd (AB saw him, as we know) and knew that he likely had some incriminating DNA on him (ie, some blood traces from Jodi on his person, likely on that long green parka). The woodlands behind that gate also gave him cover, as well as small streams to wash up at and, more crucially, a shortcut to his house (where someone was definitely in between 1745 and 1800, either his mother or brother, or both). Funny that he wasn't seen for 20 mins after the RW & LF sighting at 1742-1745, eh? On a busy rural main road (NB Abbey Rd) that would have been busy with traffic (yes traffic, not pedestrians)? And yes, it could be construed odd that no one reported seeng him going to and from his house berween 1745 - 1800, but, we have to remember it was dinner time and most folk are preoccupied at this time of the day, preparing, eating and clearing up dinner and all of that. The' 'LM would have been covered in blood' stuff is total myth; he incapacitated that girl initially with a huge branch, then choked her to death (cyclist LK heard this part, imo), then used the knife to inflict all those horrific wounds, cutting and slashing that poor girl's throat carefully from behind whilst wearing that long parka that likely took the bulk of any traces of incriminating dna (blood mostly) from Jodi. Any traces would have been concealed well in that olive green camouflage parka, and would certainly not have been seen from a passing car (RW & LF never mentioned blood). LM knew he had been seen in this parka and knew there was a possiblity that there was incriminating DNA on it (ie, Jodi's blood) and that's why it disappeared and a new one purchased from Flip in Edinburgh on 08.07.03 (and no doubt he got rid of his other clothing -- black boots, black jeans and t-shirt -- between 1830 - 1930 when he disappeared from NB rd for a second time that evening, and never seen again for a full hour). 6 separate eye witnesses saw him on the Newbattle Rd between 1805 and 1825 (3 of whom said he was acting suspiciously, like RW & LF did some 20/25 mins earlier further down that same road). I'm aware the couple MO & DH said in court it wasn't him, but picked his clothing out. Let's be logical here and use Occam's razor -- it was LM they saw. He'd changed significantly between their sighting and their court appearance, due to puberty and the fact he was still physically developing. Tellingly, the 3 pushbike boys positively identified him in court just a few yards up from where MO & DH saw him (2 of the 3 boys knew him personally as they'd cycled with him to school in the past, and they, just like MO & DH, said he was wearing the shiny green bomber jacket and black baggy jeans). Of course it was LM they all saw! CH saw him as well, at around the same point as MO & DH did, and said in court that the youth she saw at the driveway on NB rd & the youth she saw on a tv interview with his mother was 'very, very similar' to LM. She also noted the 'grunge' style clothing he was wearing that day on the NB rd. Of course it was LM they all saw. Logic tells you this. No other person similar looking to LM ever came forward to rule themselves out of that 17-month long murder enquiry between June '03 and November '04 -- for no one who looked similar to LM was ever at those places. It was LM himself. Guilty as hell, imo.
As regards why he wasn't running over the road, trying to get over that gate and into the woods . . . why on earth would he? That would surely incriminate him further? He had no choice other than to try and look calm, cool & nonchalant. But he failed, to an extent. Acting nonchalantly was a mere ruse employed by him, but he didn't look totally nonchalant as LF noted how suspicious looking he was; looking up to no good & cheesed off, straing at the ground, as she said in court. CH, too, noted how suspicious looking he was. She even slowed down to look at what he was doing, and when she did slow down, he retreated back into the path at the house (Barondale Cottages??) and tilted his head down to the side so as to avoid eye contact with her (the same avoiding eye contact that RW & LF mentioned). So, whoever it was that RW, LF & CH saw, they were clearly on edge and wary. Very telling. And, crucially, they all identified LM in court, along with the 3 pushbike boys; the other 3 eyewitnesses (AB, MO & DH weren't sure if it was LM as he'd changed so much due to puberty, with MO & DH even saying it wasn't the same person).
