And to further clarity what I had stated before. Of clear reasons as to why the police were suspicious of LM. That one such area was this contrast in statements. That they were far from being in harmony with that of LM's. That whilst this search trio may have mentioned actions of this dog at this V break, it was LM who was using alert, led to and air sniffing. That his account, his scenario was that his dog had alerted him, pretty much to where Jodi actually lay. That this search trio had given details of his actions upon entering this woodland at this V break. And also that he had looked into the woodland, prior to this at the Gino spot.
That the simplest route, if there had in fact been harmony with LM's account would be showing exactly what this search trio had said, in sequence, in their scenario of what had happened. This has not been shown, for it can not be shown - as they were not saying the same thing as LM, at all.
And this was pretty much the case with that entire evening. We had LM claiming he was at home, that Jodi was coming to his after his dinner, around 6pm. We had Jodi's mother saying that Jodi had left home much earlier than this. That she did not know she was getting out earlier until her arrival home from school. That Jodi had told her mother, that they (LM and Jodi) would be "mucking around up here". That there had been that exchange of texts, that only LM would have known that Jodi was getting out earlier. She had not contacted anyone else. We have LM who is claiming he was simply waiting around for Jodi to arrive, of walking this path to meet with him. We have Jodi's mother saying that Jodi was not supposed to walk this path alone. We have LM saying he had left home around 5.45pm to meet with Jodi for 6pm. We have Jodi's parents saying LM had phoned, and we have LM saying he made this call from the Abbey entrance, which put him leaving home around 5.30pm for this meet at 6pm. We have this short time of waiting for her, walking this path alone, and it's isolation - to being from around 5.30pm until he was in the company of the boys around 7.30pm. We have LM being told that Jodi had already left to meet him. We have LM saying "she is not coming out" "thought maybe she had dumped me" and "I thought you had grounded her" We have LM not phoning back when she did not arrive after that long period of time, and we have LM phoning the boys back when they were slightly late.
We already know the ever changing scenario of the alibi. - That there was this relaxed, very detailed dinner account, that had CM home around five past five. We have SM changing his story to fit exactly in with this, of his mother arriving home around five past five. Of speaking with his mother, of waiting around ten mins until dinner was ready and so forth. Which changed to CM being home no earlier than 5.15pm. Of LM leaving home for 5.30pm rather than 5.45pm. Of SM then having to leave earlier than LM, for he did not see his brother on his way out of the estate or at the estate entrance. So every fine detail of this relaxed dinner tale, it's change, had to fit very neatly into less than 15mins. And we know that the dinner was claimed not to ready, further cooking had to be done. Then of course we have the porn, and of listening out for anyone at home. That SM had, as the police knew, had been correct in his first statement and of his testimony in court - that he did not see his brother Luke that day around dinner time at all. - LM was not at home.
And we have his time with the boys. Which was remarkably shorter than usual. LM claimed to be home by 9pm, his mother claimed he was home by then. Therefore LM had left the boys much earlier than this time - being in their actual company for around an hour. That he was looking more kempt than his usual, scruffy, manky self. And he had been smoking dope. And Jodi had ingested cannabis - and that LM was the person with whom she would usually be smoking this with. And contrary to both LM and his mothers claims - LM was seen arriving home around 10pm.
And there was a fire going in the Mitchell garden that evening, evidence of this at different intervals. LM did carry knives, a lot. And there is still a missing knife. There is still a missing jacket - and coincidently, both the new knife and jacket bought - were replicas of the missing items. And there was both a sighting by AB and F&W who ID LM. And these sightings did coincide with the time Jodi left to meet with LM. And they were, at either end of RDP. The Easthouse's end and the Newbattle end - and in the middle, is where this poor girl met sadly met her end. And there were noises heard by LK from behind this wall around 5.15pm.
And we do hear of all these scenarios of what one feels this girls family should have been doing? "armed with this knowledge of being up here" - Which we can see clearly, has neither time nor room for thought in the slightest, to fit into this 50mins. That the only thing that was prominent in this period of time - was that Jodi was missing, her boyfriend was telling her mother that she failed to turn up, turn up in Newbattle. That he did offer to search, that he would look on the this path. That it was him that introduced this path into their thought process. That she had barely been reported missing and he is on this path. That the police then attended at Jodi's house, that they had barely stepped out the door - and bang, Jodi is found dead. And she was found by LM within this very short period of time. (10mins) That he did introduce the woodland in to the search at the first break. Then upon reaching the next break, the accessible one - LM entered this woodland, that he had taken around 10-15 steps in line with the search trio, on the path side - and he shouted out.
And we know he gave testimony to this red hair bobble, the tree, the socks and the clothing - we know Jodi had changed. That she did wear school colours. We do hear each and every extraordinary reasoning for this. Of reporters and the police letting him know. Of items being moved around and bodies being "rolled".
We have to this point discussed those irrelevant phone calls and the such - which have given room to some pretty extraordinary assumptions. Of attempting to tie LM's version of what happened in this search with that of Jodi's family. Of Ignoring the testimony he gave to bring him back to this V - rather than where he clearly stated, in which he was, without a shadow of a doubt lying. He never claimed to be at this V whilst the search trio always had. Now we move onto the meet. Of Ms Lean attempting to tie the search trio in with LM's version of events. That he had been on/at this path by 10.59pm. That it takes on average around 11mins to walk this path. Therefore she attempts to bring the search trio onto this path by this time. Thus stating they could not have left Mayfield around 11.05pm when JuJ had phoned her mothers landline. And of confusion as to when AW knew that Judith had phoned the police, and of letting her mother know that LM was on RDP. And of this search trio being in the complex at 11.18pm. And of them heading to meet with LM on RDP. What is prominent in what I am going to put up from Ms Lean - is 6mins by her timings that would take the call to the emergency services up to 11.40pm, rather than when it was made at 11.34pm. And of that use of phone logs not tying with the witness accounts - Which has her stating that they were being dishonest - I know, pretty dam ironic is it not?
The straightforward version - Jodi is missing. The police are phoned. Judith speaks with them, with her mother and with LM. The last conversation with LM is 10.59pm he is on/at RDP. AW's landline is phoned at 11.04pm. - The search trio who are ready to leave, to head out to search. Leave Mayfield. There is a further logged call given from the defence papers - of the search trio, of heading from this complex. A call that is relevant to them heading to meet with LM on RDP. As is the one just after 11pm - when they know LM is at this path and on it. AW knows which path he means. It is not simply down to that she knows which path Jodi would have used, it is down to LM being on this path. The path that connects Easthouses to Newbattle. Firstly from this 11.18pm conversation in the complex backwards from the call to the emergency services.
From going over the V and walking this 10-15 ft no more - it takes mere seconds. Ms Lean gives the search party a full two minutes each. LM, SK and AW. LM goes over, JaJ and SK walk this 10-15ft. And run back. This is well under a minute. As with SK. Well under a minute. The only one who takes longer is AW. She needs a helping hand over. And she goes the full 44ft. Contrary to the arms and legs added - AW wants to go close to check for sure that it is Jodi. And it is around this time the call is made to the emergency services, 11.34pm - there were screams heard in the call. We can take this 4mins or so off and we are around 11.30pm. The approx time this search party reached this V break. Ms Lean talks of the slower pace and adds 2 mins onto the 7mins timed from the junction of the paths to this V. This slower pace is in relevance to the brisk pace that this trio had walked to reach the junction of the paths, nothing more. Four people. Walking at an even pace. Every part of that search divided. It is not a difficult search. Shining their torch to the undergrowth on either side of this path and into the field. And the search party were slightly down from the junction of the paths when they met. We take this 7mins off and the time is around 11.23pm. Ms Lean gives a full 5mins to reach the junction from the complex from 11.18pm. This full five mins is all it took for the search trio to reach the junction of the paths. And for every part of those very brief conversations. Of reaching the junction of the paths. Of AW knowing which path, it is RDP, the one to Newbattle. There is no two mins required here at all. Of stepping in this direction and them seeing LM approach by torchlight and him them. They walk to meet. Of this very brief conversation yet again, of LM asking if they had anything of Jodi's to scent with and, of AW wanting to check the path properly whilst there. She mentions this estimate given by them, which is "no more than two mins" And we can see clearly from this very basic brief discussion - that this again takes mere seconds. And of what it did take, was around 5mins to head out this complex, to reach the junction of the paths, to meet and walk down together.
Of leaving Mayfield. To being in this complex and heading out. - AW stays in a small housing scheme which is directly next to Scotts Caravan park (the Mitchell family business) And nowhere near where Ms Lean bides, which is what is classed as the 'top of Mayfield'. And very much uphill. (top) To the right of this family business is a petrol station. To the right of the petrol station, a minute or twos walk is the start of this complex. It takes a 3/4 minutes to get to this garage from AW's house and little less to be in this complex. It takes around 5mins to walk through this complex to reach Morris R'd where the high school is. Is takes less than 2mins to reach the junction of these paths - Lady Path and RDP. The estimation given was around 10-15mins. The search party left Mayfield around 11.05pm. The call in the complex was 11.18pm. All downhill and they told of the brisk walk they were taking. Which take the search trio to being at the junction of the paths around 11.21. of that very brief discussion of meeting with LM and heading down RDP together.
And we have talk of the search trio stopping and waiting of deciding which path and of being dishonest. Of arguing? They reached the junction of these paths. Neither Kelly or JaJ - knew the path that led to Newbattle. AW did, she knew which one LM would be on. Remember here. This Junction is a path going down and one across (LP) There is no walking anywhere or waiting as such. The had stopped briefly. AW deciding it is down the way and they see LM coming up it. All pretty much happening at the same time - they walk to meet with him. Of shouting "who is that?" They were not considering a different path, there was slight confusion only with JaJ as she did not know these paths. To which path LM was on. Nothing more.
And their "claimed reasons for going straight to the path to look for Jodi do not stand up to scrutiny?" MM, Ms Leans scrutiny, well that is hardly surprising? - we know with this simple choice of words alone - that the family made it perfectly clear why they were heading to the path - to meet with LM. And of course those phone logs - which are on par with the missing one to the aunt from AW's - which Ms Lean has used in a disingenuous fashion - to disperse doubt upon this families honesty - why? To cover up LM's lies. To draw attention away from LM still being on RDP.
I know the timings section of the book is very confusing, but the 11.18 call is disputed, both in where the search trio was when it was answered and what was said in the call. In short, the walk from the junction of the paths to the V point at a "brisk pace" in daylight was timed at 7 minutes. Allowing a couple of minutes extra for the discussion when the trio met with Luke at the junction of the path (no more than 2 minutes, according to the statements) and another couple of minutes for the slower walk in the darkness (all of the statements referred to the slow pace), the return journey down the path required at least 11 minutes. If the trio were in the "complex" at 11.18, they would not have reached the junction of the paths until 11.23 - add the 11 minutes required to get to the V point and the time is 11.34 - almost the exact time Luke called 999 the first time. But there's no time for the three members of the search party climbing over the wall, one at a time, finding Jodi, getting back to the V point and climbing back over etc. Even allowing 2 minutes each (and all of the searchers spoke of the struggle AW had getting over the wall, so it's likely to be more than that), the first 999 call would have to be around 11.40pm, based on these timings (which are, in turn, based on the search trio's own statements). That's after the police call back to Luke. There's a lot to take in about this aspect of the case - might be better as a stand alone question!
the return journey down the path required at least 11 minutes. If the trio were in the "complex" at 11.18, they would not have reached the junction of the paths until 11.23 - add the 11 minutes required to get to the V point and the time is 11.34.
Why did the search trio stop at the junction of the paths? If, as Alice originally claimed, they intended to meet Luke "halfway," why stop and wait? The argument that they were trying to decide between Roan's Dyke and Lady Path also undermines Alice's claim that they planned to meet Luke "halfway" - why would they consider a different path if the plan was to meet up with him on Roan's Dyke path. Clearly, these claims about an arrangement to meet Luke were dishonest.
At 23:00, Judith was talking to Luke - she hadn't called her mother back yet, her mother hadn't told her to call the police yet and, when she did call her mother back, it was on Alice's landline, so Alice had to still be in her own house after 23.00
The family search trio's account of their movements that evening, and their claimed reasons for going straight to the path to look for Jodi do not stand up to scrutiny - according to phone logs, etc, when compared to statements from the search trio and other members of Jodi's family, the search trio arrived at the start of the path before they actually set out to search, and, by their own admissions, they headed for an area they would not have expected Jodi to be that evening, having been told explicitly that she was expected to be in the opposite direction entirely, and an area which they tried to claim jodi was not allowed to use, and would not have used alone. (At the time they made these claims, they were of the opinion that Jodi had not been with Luke that night, so they had no reason to believe that, had she been on the path with someone, that someone was Luke Mitchell.
We can see clearly the ample time this search trio had to get to RDP. We know there is absolutely nothing that puts them anywhere else, that AW had spoken with her daughter, several times on her landline. We can see clearly from what Ms Lean states, that this search party had told exactly of what had happened. That she attempts to disperse doubt upon this by way of missing phone logs. By attempting to add the maximum times on to take us 6mins over. - What she is not doing is explaining why LM was prepped and ready for the off. Of why he was on/at this path by 10.59pm. Of why he was still on this path by 11.20pm - when she and his mother clearly state. "he wanted up and off this path as quickly as possible" "that he was fit and fast". - Well, he may have been fast - but he was still on this path, but it completely wipes out these claims of looking. And we do not know if LM was home when that text came through - and we do know without a shadow of a doubt - that LM lied about everything. - So this scraping, these attempts to show that this search parties account, had to be false, as Ms lean pushes a whole 6mins onto the time, to the emergency services. -And she clearly attempts to bring this search party to RDP to tie in with LM reaching the top, at the time he should have - not the search trio.
And of this trio reaching the path before they had actually headed out to search? - Confused, I am? - And it is hardly surprising one tangles themselves in knots - when one is clearly attempting to match witness testimony, to the wrong phone logs or ignores the phone logs completely? - And of heading to an area that, that "by their own admission they headed to an area that they would not have expected Jodi to be that evening" - What a tangled web of blatant deceit. Jodi Jones left her house to meet with LM. LM from the off claimed that she was to be going to Newbattle. That she failed to turn up. That he was on RDP looking for her. That he led the search trio to this very path, on this basis. - It could not be any clearer - (Occam's Razor) This girls family were led to this path by LM. They were led directly to her body by LM. - This family did not have time to think of "up here" - their thoughts, in their worry - completely overtaken with LM's claims. She left to meet with him and that they did not meet - In Newbattle.
