Excerpt by Sandra Lean from her 1st discredited book No Smoke;
“Similarly, proof that Luke had other girlfriends was not only used to blacken his character, it would later be used by the detective in charge of the case to provide a motive for Luke murdering Jodi, even though all of the evidence actually proved that this officer‟s explanation simply could not be the case. Unfortunately, this motive theory was not presented to the jury – it was offered to the press after the trial.
‘Miss Thomson, from Kenmore, Perthshire, told the jury she and Mr Mitchell kept in contact after the summer of 2002 and met up in October, on Boxing Day and on Valentine's Day the following year.
She said Mr Mitchell had been due to visit her house on the Friday before Jodi died, but the trip had been cancelled.
But when she was asked by the prosecuting advocate-depute Alan Turnbull QC whether it was in fact the following weekend that the two were due to have met up, the witness replied: "I can't remember."
"Right up until that time then, who did you think was his [Mr Mitchell's] girlfriend?" Mr Turnbull asked.
"Me", replied the teenager.
Miss Thomson told the court that Mr Mitchell had never mentioned Miss Jones to her.
‘A "Love U" text message from Kimberley Thomson, three days before the murder, had also been deleted, along with Judith Jones's attempt to contact her daughter to tell her she was "grounded" for staying out late.
’Kimberley Thomson told the jury she had been the girlfriend of Luke Mitchell, the youth accused of murdering Jodi.
‘Earlier during Thursday's proceedings, supermarket worker Robert Gilhooly, 17, who was described as a friend of Mr Mitchell's, said he had seen a photo of Miss Thomson and thought it was Jodi.
He told the jury that Mr Mitchell, 16, had also remarked on the likeness.
I knew he had obviously been cheating on me
Mr Gilhooly said: "He mentioned that they looked alike. He said they were almost identical."
Miss Thomson said that when she read about Jodi's death and the fact that Jodi had been Mr Mitchell's girlfriend, she was annoyed.
She said: "I was upset. I knew he had obviously been cheating on me."
Mr Mitchell visited Kenmore in the autumn of 2002 and Miss Thomson stayed at the Mitchell home in Dalkeith from Boxing Day until just after New Year.
‘The accused also visited her on St Valentine's Day 2003.
Miss Thomson said Mr Mitchell was supposed to visit her last summer but this was "cancelled".
The teenager believed the visit was due to have been the weekend before Jodi was murdered but, when questioned about whether it could have been later, she said she could not remember.
‘She said Luke had previously gone out with Kimberley Thomson, from Kenmore, Perthshire.
The girl, then 14, had slept in the same room at Luke at their home in Newbattle Abbey Crescent, Dalkeith, Midlothian.
