Yes, it makes sense -- even though there are grounds for it not making sense or being logical that you are trying to make out with your post above. LM wasn't seen at all between 1815-1930, meaning he'd had a full hour to tell his mother what had happened, begin the process of destroying his murder clothes (ie, the long parka, the German army shirt, black baggy jeans and black doc martin-like boots), quickly clean up (eg, a quick 2 min shower upstairs or at a sink upstairs), change into other clothes (including his white snowboarding boots and shiny green Bomber jacket) and be back out to meet the boys at the Abbey at 1930. He had to be seen between 1740-1815 as that's when he said he'd left the house to go and meet Jodi. Already, there are red flags: LM, regardless of wether they were going to be mucking around at the EH end or NB rd end of the isolated path, LM mostly met Jodi at the EH end as she was forbidden from walking the RDP by her mother due its seclusion. Since dating in March 03, Jodi had only failed to meet LM once and even then she had phoned LM to let him know she wouldn't make it or had phoned him shortly after their arranged meeting time to say why she didn't make it; however, the crux of the matter is that LM would meet Jodi at the EH end of rdp, or half way, regardless of where they were going. Yet on the night of the murder, LM broke those typical arrangements? We are expected to believe he dilly-dallied between 1740-1930, before meeting DH & co at NB Abbey? Not even calling or attempting to call the Joneses back to find out where she was during this window of 1740 - 1930? Indeed, he never even made an attempt to find out where Jodi was all evening, between 1740 - 2238, when Judith inevitably called his phone to find out where she was as she was normally in by her curfew time of 2200? Even when he knew she had no phone that evening as hers was broken? On the night of a brutal murder, their normal meeting arrangements changed? Another coincidence? I don't think so!
Btw, he absolutely had a parka pre-murder and it was established beyond reasonable doubt by virtiue of the prosecution's overwhelming evidence (at least 8 independent witnesses, including 3 teachers, testifying in court that he had worn it pre-murder), some of it yet to be uploaded in the transcript blog. Most school kids change out of their school clothing as soon as they get home, more so when they are going out for the evening (which LM was anyway, at 1800 hrs, before Jodi's text came through at 1634 to say she was allowed out earlier than 1800, her grounding/punishment having been lifted unexpectedly by Judith that day). It was overcast and threatening to rain on the late afternoon/early evening of 30.06.03, all the more reason for LM opting to wear a longer jacket with a hood.
Let’s break the timeline down from when Dean Houston, Grant Elliot and Andrew Holborn saw Luke Mitchell.
From the testimony of Andrew Holborn.
‘And so sometime, what around about 5-6, 6 o’clock, something like that by the time you’re down in the area of photograph D (where Luke was standing)- Yeah’
From the testimony of Grant Elliot
‘ Help me with this, if you can please.Just to estimate how much time
would have passed between first seeing him (Luke) and seeing him on your return journey? -
About 40 minutes to half an hour.
So the earliest Grant Elliot could have seen Luke on his return journey was around 6.30 and as late as 6.40pm.
Again from Dean Houston
‘ What was the doing, could you tell? - Ehm, (inaudible).
Yes. - I sure he was on his phone.
Sorry? - I am sure he was on
his phone.’
This phone call could possibly have been the first call to David High asking him to come out.
From the testimony of David High
‘If we return to the records of the telephone calls, we can see that, as we looked at a moment ago, the first call to
you was at 1832. Do you see that? - Yes.’
Or if the later time his mother.
Again during the testimony of David High.
‘The next call made from Luke's telephone is at 1839. We'll hear, I think, that's to his home number. I don't know if you knew that was his home number or not. - No.’
The next phone call from Luke to David High was at 6.54pm. Again from David HIgh’s testimony.
‘Right. But after that, at
1854, he phones you back again. - Yes.’
And
‘Is that right? Okay. How long would you say it was after the second
phone call until you met him? - About ten
minutes.
So David High met Luke at around 7.05 which is verified by testimony from David Tulloch
“Tulloch and Mitchell shared a good mutual friend in David High. They were not bosom buddies but Tulloch revealed Luke was happy to pass cannabis around.
He said: 'That night I got a phone call from David High, who was pals with Luke.
'We went up to meet him at the college at about 7pm and we just mucked about.”
So it’s absolutely untrue that Luke wasn’t seen between 6.15 and 7.30. Dean Houston either saw Luke phone David High at 6.34 or 6.39 when he called his mum so he was certainly on Newbattle Road then. Being charitable Luke was not seen for around 30 minutes at the most and around 20 minutes at the least after being seen by Houston and Elliot that evening.
While compiling the above timeline I found this from Dean Houston’s testimony.
“Complete with, well German parks type jacket, that’s what they are but you know what I mean?-Yes
And you were able to tell the police that you had some recollection of seeing Luke wearing a jacket like that?-
Yes.
But only since he came back
to school after Jodie's death? - Yes.’
So another school friend who hadn’t seen Luke in a parka.
