UK Justice Forum 🇬🇧
Alleged Miscarriages of Justice => Luke Mitchell and the murder of his teenage girfriend Jodi Jones on 30 June 2003. => Topic started by: DanniCash on March 04, 2021, 06:20:29 PM
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Sandra Lean says Jodi's family were expecting Jodi to be "mucking about up here" - Mayfield and Easthouses - not at Luke's. Is that true? I thought Jodi asked to go out to Luke's specifically and was told she could. See Sandra L quote below.
"Just to clear up a couple of points. Jodi's mum told police she was certain Jodi and Luke were going to be "mucking about up here" - Mayfield and Easthouses. There was no suggestion at all that Jodi was going to Newbattle (where Luke lived). When she called Luke asking for Jodi, she didn't ask where they were supposed to be meeting up - Luke told her he hadn't seen Jodi all night and she hung up. That's confirmed by both Luke and Judith's statements. So the family search trio (already in Mayfield) would have had no reason to believe Jodi might have gone to Newbattle. They didn't check anywhere on the way to the path, including places Jodi often spent time in Mayfield (Scotts Caravans, Luke's mum's business premises) or Yvonne Walker's flat, just yards from Alice Walker's home. They weren't even looking for her or calling out for her on the shortcut from Mayfield via the Complex) which was also surrounded by trees. They only switched on their torches and started calling out Jodi's name when they reached the entrance to the path.
It's not so much the going to the path that's strange (although it is, in view of the fact that everyone believed she intended to be in Easthouses or Mayfield that evening), but that they didn't look anywhere else at all for her.
Also, Janine told the court the trio had no intention of continuing down onto the Newbattle road if they didn't find Jodi on the path. (There are lots of places on the Newbattle Road where a young girl could be dragged into the woodland either side) - the path, and only the path - was their only /focus."
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Sandra Lean says Jodi's family were expecting Jodi to be "mucking about up here" - Mayfield and Easthouses - not at Luke's. Is that true? I thought Jodi asked to go out to Luke's specifically and was told she could. See Sandra L quote below.
"Just to clear up a couple of points. Jodi's mum told police she was certain Jodi and Luke were going to be "mucking about up here" - Mayfield and Easthouses. There was no suggestion at all that Jodi was going to Newbattle (where Luke lived). When she called Luke asking for Jodi, she didn't ask where they were supposed to be meeting up - Luke told her he hadn't seen Jodi all night and she hung up. That's confirmed by both Luke and Judith's statements. So the family search trio (already in Mayfield) would have had no reason to believe Jodi might have gone to Newbattle. They didn't check anywhere on the way to the path, including places Jodi often spent time in Mayfield (Scotts Caravans, Luke's mum's business premises) or Yvonne Walker's flat, just yards from Alice Walker's home. They weren't even looking for her or calling out for her on the shortcut from Mayfield via the Complex) which was also surrounded by trees. They only switched on their torches and started calling out Jodi's name when they reached the entrance to the path.
It's not so much the going to the path that's strange (although it is, in view of the fact that everyone believed she intended to be in Easthouses or Mayfield that evening), but that they didn't look anywhere else at all for her.
Also, Janine told the court the trio had no intention of continuing down onto the Newbattle road if they didn't find Jodi on the path. (There are lots of places on the Newbattle Road where a young girl could be dragged into the woodland either side) - the path, and only the path - was their only /focus."
They knew because Luke told them they were meeting up and as Luke hung around the Newbattle Road waiting for her the obvious place to search was along the route between Easthouses and Newbattle Road.
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They knew because Luke told them they were meeting up and as Luke hung around the Newbattle Road waiting for her the obvious place to search was along the route between Easthouses and Newbattle Road.
But they were supposed to be mucking around in Easthouses according to Judith, not Newbattle.
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But they were supposed to be mucking around in Easthouses according to Judith, not Newbattle.
That's what Jodi told her mother if I recall correctly. Jodi never made it to Newbattle however.
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Just another unfortunate coincidence that Jodi told people she was meeting Luke at her end of the path, and a witness saw Luke arguing with a girl who could have been Jodi at Jodi's side of the path at the exact time it would have taken her to get to that location from her home.
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Just another unfortunate coincidence that Jodi told people she was meeting Luke at her end of the path, and a witness saw Luke arguing with a girl who could have been Jodi at Jodi's side of the path at the exact time it would have taken her to get to that location from her home.
Please be accurate.
The witness’s description of Jodi’s clothes was wrong. Further she never attended an identity parade and couldn’t pick Luke out in court even though he was in the dock. That suggests to me a high degree of uncertainty.
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It would have been dishonest if she had done. He looked completely different by the time it went to trial. When looking at a picture of Luke weeks after the murder she said she was "as sure as someone can be" that he was the person she saw.
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It would have been dishonest if she had done. He looked completely different by the time it went to trial. When looking at a picture of Luke weeks after the murder she said she was "as sure as someone can be" that he was the person she saw.
He certainly did look different. In her first statement she described the male she saw as in his early 20s, average height, medium build, sandy brown hair sticking up in a clump at the back, and very thick. She couldn’t describe his facial features.
Of course Luke was 14, skinny with blonde, fine hair which is very straight. Interestingly AB described the male she saw as wearing a green, waist length fishing style jacket with a high collar and lots of pockets. She does not describe him as wearing a parka.
The girl she saw she described as having very dark shoulder length hair and was wearing a plain navy hooded top with lighter blue, boot-cut jeans. Of course we now know that at the time of her death Jodi was wearing a baggy, black hoodie with a large bright orange ‘Deftones’ logo across the back with smaller versions of the same logo on the left sleeve. Her hair was auburn.
From the descriptions the male and female she saw couldn’t possibly have been Luke and Jodi.
No wonder she failed to point out Luke in court.
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He certainly did look different. In her first statement she described the male she saw as in his early 20s, average height, medium build, sandy brown hair sticking up in a clump at the back, and very thick. She couldn’t describe his facial features.
Of course Luke was 14, skinny with blonde, fine hair which is very straight. Interestingly AB described the male she saw as wearing a green, waist length fishing style jacket with a high collar and lots of pockets. She does not describe him as wearing a parka.
The girl she saw she described as having very dark shoulder length hair and was wearing a plain navy hooded top with lighter blue, boot-cut jeans. Of course we now know that at the time of her death Jodi was wearing a baggy, black hoodie with a large bright orange ‘Deftones’ logo across the back with smaller versions of the same logo on the left sleeve. Her hair was auburn.
From the descriptions the male and female she saw couldn’t possibly have been Luke and Jodi.
No wonder she failed to point out Luke in court.
If these people were not Mitchell and Jodi who were they and why did they not come forward?
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If these people were not Mitchell and Jodi who were they and why did they not come forward?
They've never been traced to this day. In such a small town.
She described a jacket a "fisherman would wear" which is subjective.
She was spot on about the colour though. Another unfortunate coincidence eh. A youth who she was "as sure as someone can be" was Luke was standing where Luke would have been meeting Jodi, wearing the same coloured jacket. Luke's hair could easily be described as sandy brown and I'm not sure where lilly got "very straight" from.
(https://i.imgur.com/LP8IWbS.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/92LiCA3.png)
What do you know. Clumps sticking up at the back.
The re-enactment in the recent documentary also served to demonstrate how clothes could be easily mistaken. The girl driving the car got the outfits completely wrong for both, it didn't change the fact. I'm not sure what the detectives were hoping to achieve there lol. The fact is a young couple was there and she was sure it was Luke. This young couple has never been traced. Neither of them heard about the murder or the appeals?
(https://cdn.entertainmentdaily.com/2021/02/24092204/Screenshot-2021-02-24-at-09.17.26-400x197.png)
Another pic showing how Luke's hair stuck up in clumps at the back "like feathers" I think the witness described it.
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They've never been traced to this day. In such a small town.
She described a jacket a "fisherman would wear" which is subjective.
She was spot on about the colour though. Another unfortunate coincidence eh. A youth who she was "as sure as someone can be" was Luke was standing where Luke would have been meeting Jodi, wearing the same coloured jacket. Luke's hair could easily be described as sandy brown and I'm not sure where lilly got "very straight" from.
(https://i.imgur.com/LP8IWbS.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/92LiCA3.png)
What do you know. Clumps sticking up at the back.
The re-enactment in the recent documentary also served to demonstrate how clothes could be easily mistaken. The girl driving the car got the outfits completely wrong for both, it didn't change the fact. I'm not sure what the detectives were hoping to achieve there lol. The fact is a young couple was there and she was sure it was Luke. This young couple has never been traced. Neither of them heard about the murder or the appeals?
(https://cdn.entertainmentdaily.com/2021/02/24092204/Screenshot-2021-02-24-at-09.17.26-400x197.png)
Another pic showing how Luke's hair stuck up in clumps at the back "like feathers" I think the witness described it.
Luke also had a green bomber jacket. Another coincidence?
A parka can in no stretch of the imagination be described as ‘something a fisherman would wear’.
No clumps, just straight, fine hair. Blonde hair in the summer tends to be lighter.
Clothes can be easily mistaken, witnesses can be wrong but you can only convict on the description given by the witness not on what you think she might have seen.
As to no other couple coming forward, that’s irrelevant. It’s up to the prosecution to prove it was Jodi and Luke at the path not for others to come forward and eliminate them.
I notice you say nothing about AB’s description of ‘Jodi’. A bright orange logo mistaken for a plain navy top. The witness wouldn’t have to have been mistaken but blind not to notice that.
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A parka can in no stretch of the imagination be described as ‘something a fisherman would wear’.
What are you talking about?
A fisherman would wear a long waterproof coat.
Type fisherman jacket into google images and half of the pictures look like parkas to me.
(https://i.imgur.com/p003MVZ.png)
John Lewis calls this a fisherman jacket and it's a parka.
also
A green german army parka:
(https://i.imgur.com/rgc3xc0.png)
vs
a "fisherman shirt jacket"
(https://i.imgur.com/ovGs3jV.png)
So why wouldn't someone describe a button down coat with large pockets as something a fisherman would wear by any stretch of the imagination? *%87
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I notice you say nothing about AB’s description of ‘Jodi’. A bright orange logo mistaken for a plain navy top. The witness wouldn’t have to have been mistaken but blind not to notice that.
one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:
the orange logo is mostly if not entirely hidden when the hood is down
what do you notice about the color of the inside of the hood?
(https://i.imgur.com/DyrrnIe.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LM7CdFF.png)
could easily be mistaken for a navy hoodie imo.
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one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:
the orange logo is mostly if not entirely hidden when the hood is down
what do you notice about the color of the inside of the hood?
https://i.imgur.com/DyrrnIe.png
https://i.imgur.com/LM7CdFF.png
could easily be mistaken for a navy hoodie imo.
Wow. The inside of the hood is navy.
Jodi had her hood down and AB saw her from behind.
Excellent discovery. 8@??)(
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What are you talking about?
A fisherman would wear a long waterproof coat.
Type fisherman jacket into google images and half of the pictures look like parkas to me.
(https://i.imgur.com/p003MVZ.png)
John Lewis calls this a fisherman jacket and it's a parka.
also
A green german army parka:
(https://i.imgur.com/rgc3xc0.png)
vs
a "fisherman shirt jacket"
(https://i.imgur.com/ovGs3jV.png)
So why wouldn't someone describe a button down coat with large pockets as something a fisherman would wear by any stretch of the imagination? *%87
As you say it’s all subjective but I’d wager these wouldn’t land on the wearer’s waist as AB claimed.
Further when AB was asked to pick the jacket her sighting was wearing by the police from a collection of photographs she rejected all but one. When asked about this by Donald Findlay AB said that she had said very clearly to the police that the jacket shown in photograph 8 which she had picked was NOT the jacket that the man on the path had been wearing and that she had pointed out the differences. She said she was told to pick the one most like the one she’d seen. Photograph 8 was a parka jacket.
BTW why do you think Corrine didn’t just surreptitiously replace her son’s missing parka with a new one instead of buying a new one and furnishing the police with receipt?
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Wow. The inside of the hood is navy.
Jodi had her hood down and AB saw her from behind.
Excellent discovery. 8@??)(
A navy hoodie not a hoodie with a navy hood....and the light blue bootcut jeans? What wizardry will you use to make those black and baggy?
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one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:
the orange logo is mostly if not entirely hidden when the hood is down
what do you notice about the color of the inside of the hood?
(https://i.imgur.com/DyrrnIe.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LM7CdFF.png)
could easily be mistaken for a navy hoodie imo.
Do you have a photograph of Jodi’s hoodie?
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A navy hoodie not a hoodie with a navy hood....and the light blue bootcut jeans? What wizardry will you use to make those black and baggy?
light blue was a sandra phrase - as i understand ABs statement referred to "dark blue sweatshirt with lighter blue bootcut jeans". would be delighted to see the exact wording of her statement, but it not in the public afaik
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Do you have a photograph of Jodi’s hoodie?
i dont but that image with blue inner above is the official merch i remember every second alt music fan wearing in the early 2000s (anecdata, admittedly)
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light blue was a sandra phrase - as i understand ABs statement referred to "dark blue sweatshirt with lighter blue bootcut jeans". would be delighted to see the exact wording of her statement, but it not in the public afaik
Lighter, light....makes little difference... black and baggy is now bootcut and lighter than navy blue which is lighter than black. Have I got that right?
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i dont but that image with blue inner above is the official merch i remember every second alt music fan wearing in the early 2000s (anecdata, admittedly)
So nothing to say that it was the hoodie that she was wearing?
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i dont but that image with blue inner above is the official merch i remember every second alt music fan wearing in the early 2000s (anecdata, admittedly)
Isn’t the graphic you posted vintage 1990s Deftones merch?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294004412686?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=294004412686&targetid=981234852680&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006976&poi=&campaignid=11211837113&mkgroupid=113021996634&rlsatarget=pla-981234852680&abcId=9300436&merchantid=115120563&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7YyCBhD_ARIsALkj54pKEWxB3qfEiYFjBbWohlfA8i1h-8yQ0pTMuBcfSv4HjaZb5K-4vBcaAsuhEALw_wcB
BTW where did your graphic with the plain background and hoodie come from?
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So nothing to say that it was the hoodie that she was wearing?
In the reconstruction of Jodi’s last movements she’s wearing a hoodie.
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Link below to the reconstruction of Jodi’s last walk. Notice that the hood doesn’t cover the Deftones logo which is clearly visible.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/police-stage-reconstruction-itn-scotland-dalkeith-ext-news-footage/682859452
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Link below to the reconstruction of Jodi’s last walk. Notice that the hood doesn’t cover the Deftones logo which is clearly visible.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/police-stage-reconstruction-itn-scotland-dalkeith-ext-news-footage/682859452
true, but its also clearly an iron on patch and not genuine original garment. the only way we'd know for sure if jodis top had a blue inner, had the orange logo higher up, able to be covered by hood, is if we saw photos of that one. unless there was a friend or family photo of her wearing it before somewhere, the only hope for that lies with photos taken from teh scene which sandra would have access to.
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true, but its also clearly an iron on patch and not genuine original garment. the only way we'd know for sure if jodis top had a blue inner, had the orange logo higher up, able to be covered by hood, is if we saw photos of that one. unless there was a friend or family photo of her wearing it before somewhere, the only hope for that lies with photos taken from teh scene which sandra would have access to.
The logo looks genuine enough to me. It looks exactly the same as this one.
https://www.bonestudio.net/product/deftones-[Name removed]s-band-t-shirt-adult-unisex/
It’s also clear from the footage that the inner part of the hood, whether navy or not, can’t be seen.
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one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:
the orange logo is mostly if not entirely hidden when the hood is down
what do you notice about the color of the inside of the hood?
(https://i.imgur.com/DyrrnIe.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LM7CdFF.png)
could easily be mistaken for a navy hoodie imo.
Glad you brought these photographs to my attention. Scroll along the photos of the hoodie in the ebay link previously posted and the back of the hoodie is there...and just as in the reconstruction the hood wouldn’t cover the logo.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294004412686?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=294004412686&targetid=981234852680&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006976&poi=&campaignid=11211837113&mkgroupid=113021996634&rlsatarget=pla-981234852680&abcId=9300436&merchantid=115120563&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7YyCBhD_ARIsALkj54pKEWxB3qfEiYFjBbWohlfA8i1h-8yQ0pTMuBcfSv4HjaZb5K-4vBcaAsuhEALw_wcB
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Under Scottish law if a suspect and an eyewitness is available then an identification parade should be carried out. Of course we know that this didn’t happen with Andrina Bryson. Setting aside the prejudicial effect of Luke’s photograph being the only one in the set of photographs shown to AB with a light background, AB’s inability to identify Luke in court suggests that she’d also have been unable to identify him in an identification parade. Of course this is hardly surprising as she admitted that she didn’t see her sightings face.
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Is this the alternative route, suggested by John, that Luke, if guilty, might have taken to avoid detection?
https://youtu.be/1bnVXSM9OIo
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Is this the alternative route, suggested by John, that Luke, if guilty, might have taken to avoid detection?
https://youtu.be/1bnVXSM9OIo (https://youtu.be/1bnVXSM9OIo)
What the hell are we supposed to deduce from that pathetic effort?
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What the hell are we supposed to deduce from that pathetic effort?
not sure there's a word like grief tourism for living out walter mitty fantasies of crime investigation but this is unreal. ive seen plenty of videos like this the last few weeks.
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not sure there's a word like grief tourism for living out walter mitty fantasies of crime investigation but this is unreal. ive seen plenty of videos like this the last few weeks.
I wasn’t looking for a character reference but confirmation of the route.
Now about that hoodie?
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I wasn’t looking for a character reference but confirmation of the route.
Now about that hoodie?
Yes, that hoodie - the one that we can only currently only speculate about the appearance of, because the reconstruction utilize off the shelf one only similar but not same as the real garment, sourced at short notice, and iron on patches?
what about it?
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Do any of you know the locality?
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Yes, that hoodie - the one that we can only currently only speculate about the appearance of, because the reconstruction utilize off the shelf one only similar but not same as the real garment, sourced at short notice, and iron on patches?
what about it?
But surely it was the one as you posted.
‘one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:’
And from the same link as ‘one of the exact Deftones hoodies’ I posted the back of the garment which you carelessly forgot to post with the exact same logo as featured in the reconstruction, right down to size and placement....and guess what, the hood doesn’t cover the logo.
Oops !!!
Further if it’s not the ‘exact’ one you can have no idea what colour the hood was, demolishing your argument regarding AB’s description of the hoodie as blue.
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But surely it was the one as you posted.
‘one of the exact deftones [Name removed]s hoodie on ebay right now. some things to note:’
And from the same link as ‘one of the exact Deftones hoodies’ I posted the back of the garment which you carelessly forgot to post with the exact same logo as featured in the reconstruction, right down to size and placement....and guess what, the hood doesn’t cover the logo.
Oops !!!
Further if it’s not the ‘exact’ one you can have no idea what colour the hood was, demolishing your argument regarding AB’s description of the hoodie as blue.
right, but we're here to establish facts, not achieve percieved owns
id assumed , fairly one might say, that there had only been one version of that official deftones merch hoodie, blue inner hood, and that was the one jodi had. its still possible that that's the case, as this is old clothing taht its actually very hard to find images of. its just my word, but i recall seeing this all over gigs in glasgow in the early 2000s. there might be knocks offs out there. its possible jodis one was unofficial. without seeing the exact hoodie jodi had, we cant establish for fact whether the hood was black or blue, whether the logo was big or small, whether it was plainly visible with hood down or obscured. these things are certainly possibilities. unless you have a photo of that hoodie and can conclusively say otherwise?
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right, but we're here to establish facts, not achieve percieved owns
id assumed , fairly one might say, that there had only been one version of that official deftones merch hoodie, blue inner hood, and that was the one jodi had. its still possible that that's the case, as this is old clothing taht its actually very hard to find images of. its just my word, but i recall seeing this all over gigs in glasgow in the early 2000s. there might be knocks offs out there. its possible jodis one was unofficial. without seeing the exact hoodie jodi had, we cant establish for fact whether the hood was black or blue, whether the logo was big or small, whether it was plainly visible with hood down or obscured. these things are certainly possibilities. unless you have a photo of that hoodie and can conclusively say otherwise?
Knock offs are usually faithful to the original ( so you don’t have to admit that you’re too skint to buy the real one) and having scoured the internet I, like you, have only found the D*i*c*k*i*e*s logo hoodie you posted, with the large logo on the back. This hoodie is also identical to the description of the one Jodi was wearing ‘ a baggy black hoodie with a large bright orange Deftones logo across the back and the same logo on the left sleeve and upper left front.’ I think therefore we can be reasonably sure that the hood didn’t totally obscure the logo or indeed that the hood made the hoodie look navy.
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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.
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The circumstantial evidence is indeed substantial and might not have been enough to persuade a majority of the jury had his brother not failed to back up his alibi.
If Shane had been mistaken or been misunderstood, he has had nearly 18 years to come out of the shadows and shout it out to high heavens. HE HASN'T SEEN THE NEED!!!
Those who advocate for Luke Mitchell claim that he didn't go near the path that afternoon and have always attempted to undermine the sighting made by the two ladies in a passing car on Newbattle Road. The truth is that Luke has no alibi for the time the murder was committed. Even his mother didn't arrive home until around 5.30pm.
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The circumstantial evidence is indeed substantial and might not have been enough to persuade a majority of the jury had his brother not failed to back up his alibi.
If Shane had been mistaken or been misunderstood, he has had nearly 18 years to come out of the shadows and shout it out to high heavens. HE HASN'T SEEN THE NEED!!!
Those who advocate for Luke Mitchell claim that he didn't go near the path that afternoon and have always attempted to undermine the sighting made by the two ladies in a passing car on Newbattle Road. The truth is that Luke has no alibi for the time the murder was committed. Even his mother didn't arrive home until around 5.30pm.
The lady jogger, a disinterested party, proved from her timeline, that the two ladies in the car could not have seen Luke where they say they did at the time they said that they did.
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The lady jogger, a disinterested party, proved from her timeline, that the two ladies in the car could not have seen Luke where they say they did at the time they said that they did.
The lady jogger you refer to is an irrelevant sighting as she turned left out of Newbattle Abbey Crescent onto Newbattle Road. This raises an interesting question though as she failed to see Luke Mitchell where he claimed to be at 5.45pm and that was at the junction where the two roads meet.
The police only managed to contact one jogger and she wasn't where the two women in the car saw a jogger which raises the question of there being more than one jogger.
So I'm afraid you have gone down yet another dead end in an attempt to create an alibi.
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The lady jogger you refer to is an irrelevant sighting as she turned left out of Newbattle Abbey Crescent onto Newbattle Road. This raises an interesting question though as she failed to see Luke Mitchell where he claimed to be at 5.45pm and that was at the junction where the two roads meet.
The police only managed to contact one jogger and she wasn't where the two women in the car saw a jogger which raises the question of there being more than one jogger.
So I'm afraid you have gone down yet another dead end in an attempt to create an alibi.
The eye witnesses said that they saw the jogger at the same time as ‘Luke’ but the jogger said that she couldn’t be where the eye witnesses said that she was. The jogger also verified that she was dressed in the clothes that the eyewitnesses described.
You see the problem is Sandra access to all the statements, you don’t and that is always going to put you at a disadvantage.
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The eye witnesses said that they saw the jogger at the same the same time as ‘Luke’ but the jogger said that she couldn’t be where the eye witnesses said that she was. The jogger also verified that she was dressed in the clothes that the eyewitnesses described.
You see the problem is Sandra access to all the statements, you don’t and that is always going to put you at a disadvantage.
These statements didn’t work much to Mitchell’s advantage did they?
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From an appeal hearing:
The appellant was just under 15 years old at the date of the murder. The deceased was 14 years old. She was the appellant's girlfriend. On 30 June 2003, she arranged to meet him after school. She left her home at around 4 50 pm. None of her family saw her alive again. At 5 40 pm, the appellant telephoned the deceased's house and spoke to her mother's partner, asking if the deceased was there. He was told that the deceased had already left to meet him. When the deceased failed to return home at 10 pm as planned, her mother sent a text to the appellant's mobile phone, telling her daughter to come home. The appellant then telephoned the deceased's mother to tell her that he had not seen the deceased.
Assuming the above is correct was LM expecting J J to call for him or was meeting her elsewhere? Given that at 10pm he said he had not seen J J why didn't he attempt to find out where she had got to if he wasn't involved in the murder?
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From an appeal hearing:
The appellant was just under 15 years old at the date of the murder. The deceased was 14 years old. She was the appellant's girlfriend. On 30 June 2003, she arranged to meet him after school. She left her home at around 4 50 pm. None of her family saw her alive again. At 5 40 pm, the appellant telephoned the deceased's house and spoke to her mother's partner, asking if the deceased was there. He was told that the deceased had already left to meet him. When the deceased failed to return home at 10 pm as planned, her mother sent a text to the appellant's mobile phone, telling her daughter to come home. The appellant then telephoned the deceased's mother to tell her that he had not seen the deceased.
Assuming the above is correct was LM expecting J J to call for him or was meeting her elsewhere? Given that at 10pm he said he had not seen J J why didn't he attempt to find out where she had got to if he wasn't involved in the murder?
Jodi didn’t have a phone, she used her mum’s to contact Luke earlier in the day and I assume he felt that he couldn’t keep calling her house.