One of Britain’s most notorious murderers is set to relaunch a bid to clear his name.
‘Satanic’ Luke Mitchell was jailed for life for the murder of his girlfriend Jodi Jones, 14, who was found mutilated in woodland near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian.
Her hands had been tied behind her back, her throat cut and her body repeatedly slashed.
Luke Mitchell (left, pictured in 2005) was jailed for life for the murder of his girlfriend Jodi Jones (right), 14, who was found mutilated in woodland near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian
Mitchell – who was convicted of the murder more than a decade ago – passed a lie detector test in jail in 2012, denying he had stabbed Jodi, but it has no legal validity in the British courts
Now a new attempt to free Mitchell – who was convicted of the murder more than a decade ago – is to be made by campaigners who believe he was wrongly jailed for the crime.
The body of Jodi, from Easthouses, Midlothian, was found in woods near her home in 2003.
Mitchell, also 14 at the time, was convicted of her killing in 2005 and ordered to serve at least 20 years behind bars.
His jotters from Dalkeith’s St David’s High School were found to be daubed with Satanic slogans and he wrote a school essay with worrying references to the devil.
Mitchell’s French jotter, defaced with Satanic and Gothic verses, which was shown to the jury
Luke Mitchell’s knife pouch with the inscribed words ‘The finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came’ – a quotation from late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain
His English book, shown to the court, had the numbers 666 and ‘Satan lives’ on the cover. ‘I have tasted the devil’s green blood’ was also scrawled on the back.
Several other jotters were shown which contained slogans such and ‘Evil is the way’, ‘Depression is only a stage in my life, so f*** off and stay out my mind’.
Meanwhile his knife pouch had writing saying ‘the finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came’ – a quotation from the late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain.
Now 29, he has consistently protested his innocence and has lodged several unsuccessful appeals against his conviction.
Mitchell, whose bedroom is pictured, was convicted of murder in 2005 and ordered to serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Glasgow’s Miscarriages of Justice Organisation has confirmed it is helping campaigners compile a new report to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).
A Scottish Daily Mail front page in July 2003 after a manhunt was launched for Jodi’s killer
The charity believes flaws in the police investigation led to a miscarriage of justice.
One claimed shortcoming is understood to be the failure of detectives to look at other men who, according to the review group, should have been considered as potential suspects but were either never interviewed or not properly investigated.
A spokesman for the charity told the Sunday Times that it is pursuing new leads which it cannot disclose but are likely to form the basis for a new appeal.
Those involved in the campaign include Paddy Hill, one of the six men wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, and Dr Sandra Lean, a criminologist who spearheaded a previous appeal to the SCCRC in 2014.
Professor Allan Jamieson, a leading forensics expert, has agreed to review the police evidence against Mitchell.
The coffin carrying Jodi’s body arrives at Gorebridge Parish Church near Edinburgh in September 2003 for her funeral
Janine (left) and Judith Jones (right), Jodi’s sister and mother, arrive at the High Court in Edinburgh in January 2005 for the murder trial
He told the Mail yesterday that he has ‘agreed to consider what avenues from a scientific perspective may be open to those supporting’ Mitchell.
Mitchell’s mother, Corinne, helped deliver a 300-page dossier including claims that a lookalike may have confused eyewitnesses
Mr Hill said: ‘I have looked very closely at this case and I remain extremely concerned and disturbed that Luke was convicted of this crime based on the evidence presented.’
Dr Lean said: ‘There are still avenues that have not been addressed.’
The case – once described by an investigator and a trial judge as the worst murder they had seen – has troubled some observers.
The murder weapon was never found and there was no DNA evidence linking Mitchell to the crime scene.
In 2012, Dr Lean and Mitchell’s mother, Corinne, delivered a 300-page dossier to the SCCRC, which included claims that a Mitchell lookalike may have confused eyewitnesses.
The SCCRC ruled that police officers breached Mitchell’s human rights when they questioned him without a lawyer present, but it did not believe he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.