(Luke Mitchell. Picture credit: The Sun)
*Please be aware that the details shared in this post will be disturbing. I have aimed, as always, to be as sensitive with the details as I possibly can be, whilst not taking away from the facts of the case. If you would like to discuss this post with me or any of the cases I have covered, please email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
So, this is a case that certainly divides opinion and has done so for the past 2 decades for many reasons. The horrific, sadistic and brutal murder of a 14 year old girl in a small town in Scotland, didn't just shock the historic market town of Dalkeith in Midlothian, it shocked the whole of the UK and beyond.
Jodi Jones was just a schoolgirl with her whole life ahead of her yet somebody decided to take this innocent young girl's life in the most sickest and cruelest way. She had been mutilated before and after death and had been left wearing nothing but a pair of muddy socks. Monday the 30th of June 2003 began as a typical school day for Jodi, she attended her classes as usual and went home to do a quick change before heading out to meet her boyfriend, Luke Mitchell, who was also 14. They'd been dating for around 5 months and met through friends. The pair seemed to click and get each other's sense of humour. Both of them were very much into the alternative music scene. Luke was a huge fan of Nirvana and Jodi loved Marilyn Manson. Their sense of style was similar in many ways, baggy jeans and a band t-shirt. As well as being a young lovestruck couple, they got on well with each others families too.
They did see each other at school that day but only briefly, they planned to catch up later in the day. It was a regular routine that they would spend time together after school. Luke and Jodi would often meet up and either go for a long walk and a catch-up or go to each others houses. Luke had arranged to meet Jodi the same place he always did. When he arrived at their usual meeting place, Jodi was nowhere to be seen. He just assumed she was running a bit late and hung on waiting for a little bit longer. She was having issues with her mobile phone so he figured she would probably text him from her mother's phone at some point. He waited as long as he could and decided to go back home, expecting to hear from her later.
At home he received a text from Jodi's mother, for Jodi. The text was telling Jodi to get home because it was getting late. Puzzled by the message, Luke called Jodi's mother and told her that he hadn't seen her all night. Jodi did have a habit at times to stay out late but with no word from her whatsoever, concern started to creep in. Luke decided to take his beloved dog, Mia with him and take a walk to the footpath and usual route that he and Jodi would often walk together, in the off-chance that he would bump into her. He was surprised to see Jodi's sister with her boyfriend and grandmother at the footpath, they had been contacted by Jodi's mother and all came to have a look for her. They walked up and down the footpath and didn't see her anywhere but Luke's dog Mia became interested in the high stone wall which had a v-shaped break in the middle, the break was low enough for someone to climb over. Luke followed Mia and climbed over the wall where he made the horrifying discovery of Jodi. She was nude, had her hands tied behind her back with a bloody pair of trousers. She had been attacked very viciously with a sharp object, almost to the point of decapitation, she had also been kicked, dragged by her hair. Her neck, left breast and abdomen were ferociously slashed. Her face had been cut and bruised. She had defensive wounds and had lost a significant amount of blood which wasn't found at the scene, suggesting that she had been murdered somewhere else and dragged to that location. Luke shouted for the others to come and got on to the phone straight away to call the police. The others climbed over the wall and Jodi's grandmother cradled Jodi in her arms (which, under the circumstances you could understand but with Luke and Jodi's relatives all close to her body, it contaminated the crime scene).
When the police arrived, everyone was quickly instructed to move away from Jodi. They were all questioned and instead of carrying out appropriate procedure by taping off the crime scene until the forensics team had arrived, they had officers walking about all over the place, contaminating the scene further. Luke noticed that he had been separated from the others, he also had his phone taken from him (which was later destroyed - Luke later claimed that the phone contained evidence that would have been beneficial to his case. He also noticed that Jodi's relatives had not had their phones taken from them). One of Jodi's family offered to give him a cigarette but an officer told them not to have any physical contact with him. All of a sudden it dawned on Luke that he was being kept from the others because the cops were trying to paint him as a suspect. Forensics did finally arrive and took samples of everything. There was a used condom that had been found not that far from the scene which contained semen. Jodi had not been sexually assaulted but being found nude, tied up and being mutilated, suggested this was a sexually motivated crime.
Luke was taken to the police station where he endured a full humiliating strip search at the age of just 14 years of age. There had been no time to wash or change clothes. His hair was quite greasy because it hadn't been washed for a few days. They found no cuts, blood, dirt, scratches or bruises on Luke. They took endless samples of hair, blood and skin from Luke. Underneath his fingernails were also scrapped. The results of all of these samples revealed that there was no DNA from Jodi on Luke whatsoever. Jodi had been brutally murdered and lost a significant amount of blood, as well as being dragged to the location where she was found. The killer would have been dirty, would most definitely had Jodi's blood on him a well as scratches where she had been trying to defend herself. Skin was actually found underneath Jodi's fingernails but this information was either hidden or destroyed because they knew that the skin underneath her nails did not match Luke Mitchell. Again, he had no scratches on him.
From the get-go, before any samples were taken or any attempt at an investigation, the police had already decided that Luke Mitchell was 100% responsible for the murder of Jodi Jones. Due to the fact that Luke was not your typical local boy, he was into a lot of alternative bands as I mentioned before. He was also curious about Satanism and liked knives, violent movies and video games. Jodi was also into similar things and they both would smoke hash occasionally. There was allegations that Luke had gotten Jodi into smoking hash but she was already into that practice before he met her. Jodi had a difficult home life and a lot of that was hidden from the public because the whole aim was that the focus was to solely be on Luke Mitchell and alleged Satanic monster that they were portraying him to be.
It's shocking to think that in 2003 and beyond, it was deemed acceptable for a child under the age of 16 to have pictures of themselves and their family, plastered all over the newspapers before any conviction. It was horrendous enough what happened to Jodi and the focus should have been on the investigation to the fullest, and I mean EVERYONE connected to Jodi should have been investigated. You can't look at a child and just because they have a bit of a dark vibe about them or wear a type of clothing you don't deem 'conservative', to be guilty just because you want to hurry up and close a case that you already messed up from the start due to your unprofessional conduct.
At the same age as Luke, I was a goth from a small town in Scotland so I know how it can be, to be viewed as a weirdo and an outsider. I wore black nail polish, black lipstick, dressed in black. I listened to heavy metal (still do), practiced witchcraft, wore pentagrams and liked violent movies, especially horror. I would have people looking me in the street, making comments and rumours would go around about me at school that I drank blood and worshipped Satan. Some people would make fun of me and some people would do their best to avoid me because they thought I was a nutcase. Did these people know me personally? No, they just judged me on my appearance. Here, we have this horrific murder of a young girl and the brutal way in which she was murdered looked satanic. Judgement was immediately placed on Luke without any thorough investigation just because they viewed him as a 'weirdo'.
So Luke was their main focus but I believe they knew pretty much early on that they had messed up this case but they couldn't hold their hands up to it. Jobs would be lost, careers destroyed. They knew they had nothing on him in terms of the DNA so together with the press (which we know from some of the past cases that I have covered, that they share information with each other, especially if they are trying to control the narrative and shape the public view), they worked together to paint this never ending picture of Luke and his mother Corinne (who recently passed away, July 2026) which continues to this very day. They printed everything from accusing him of being obsessed with Marilyn Manson (despite owning only one CD after Jodi's death, which contained one of Jodi's favourite songs, Marilyn's cover of 'Tainted Love'. He also had a torn up Marilyn Manson calendar which was given to him. He wasn't interested in Manson, he was all about Nirvana and the gunge scene). They said he had tortured animals and had cut the throat of a pet dog and hung the animal from his front door which was complete (as well as a sick) lies. They accused him of having an incestuous relationship with his own mother, they would make a big deal about whatever t-shirt he was seen wearing and call it a 'Satanic t-shirt', He quoted lines from well-known video games and songs in a journal and these 'journalists' would say ''look, he's evil, look at what he's written''. They also said he was obsessed with the infamous shocking murder of Elizabeth Short (also known as The Black Dahlia case) despite having no evidence on this. It was absolute madness and a huge number of the public believed every word that they read!
The level of harassment, bullying and winding up the public, was off the scale and I can't believe to this day that it was allowed to happen. As well as the miscarriage of justice that's taken place here (just hear me out before you shoot the boots off of me) we have all this that was printed in well-known Scottish newspapers and if Luke gets a re-trial and is found innocent, there will be a hell of a lot of suing going on, so it's in their best interests to continue to paint him as a monster. Whether you believe him to be guilty or not, you must admit, is this acceptable behaviour? Is this fair before someone has their day in court? Is this fair for someone who they cannot say is 100% guilty?
The truth is, Luke was a bit of a mummy's boy and he was a bit of an 'odd kid', some of his tastes might seem a bit out there for the average person. Look at me, I write about serial killers and love horror movies, am I to be judged or cast from society? I often get judged as a 'weirdo' for what I write, but I don't care, I'm an adult, he was a kid. As for his attitude towards animals, Luke and Corinne would look after hedgehogs as well as dogs. Luke adored his dog Mia. There was no history of animal torture or violence in Luke's background. He lived in a nice part of town and was a brilliant student, one of the kids that was top of the class. Corinne was very over protective of both Luke and his older brother Shane, almost to the point of babying both of the boys and to some people not familiar with them, this was painted to be abnormal. She was just a really over protective mother. The only big event in Luke's childhood was his parent's divorce but this was done amicably. Luke and Corinne had a very close relationship, he respected his mother. He was well-spoken and had manners which Corinne had brought both boys up with.
The police didn't bother to look into anyone else despite other possible suspects. The focus was purely on Luke who lived with his mother and his older brother Shane. Originally it was stated that Corinne and Shane were out of the house working on the evening of Jodi's murder. Luke was reportedly at home making dinner. Landline phone records at the time place someone in the house, making incoming and outgoing calls, Luke claims that this was him talking to his mother about what to make for dinner, Luke enjoyed cooking so this was quite routine for him. There was some doubts understandably raised when it was later revealed that Luke claimed that Shane was actually in his room upstairs, whilst he was in the kitchen. Shane had changed his original statement because investigators had found that someone in his bedroom had been accessing porn sites on his computer at that time. Shane claimed that this was him but in a strange twist of events, said that he couldn't say 100% if Luke had been downstairs in the kitchen. Shane assumed there was nobody in the house and he believed the house was empty at the time otherwise he wouldn't have been watching porn.
This change up from the original statements didn't sit right with the public understandably and did hurt Luke's case. It's not known why Shane would change his version of events, maybe he was embarrassed that he was watching porn in his room? he was just a teenager himself at the time. Luke and Corinne might have lied about Shane being at work to protect him from the embarrassment. Shane also claimed that his original statement was highly influenced by his mother. I admit this doesn't look good but it still doesn't mean that Luke Mitchell is a murderer. This could be a mother trying to protect her sons? Whatever the situation with Shane is, in the present tense, I do not know but he has not been part of any of Luke's campaigns and has chosen to distance himself. This could be due to the negative treatment from the press and some of the public and Shane may have decided that he'd had enough of all of that?. There are rumours that the relationship with Shane, his mother and Luke had broken down due to Shane's resentment of Corinne always putting the focus on Luke. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but it is true that Corinne tirelessly campaigned for Luke for the best part of 20 years, it would be unreasonable to expect it not to cause some tense relations with Shane.
The Mitchell's were not the only ones switching up statements, Jodi's sister, her boyfriend and Jodi's grandmother had changed their original statements from the dog finding Jodi's body to Luke finding Jodi's body by himself. What was also unknown to the public at the time was the questionable history of some of Jodi's relatives, especially someone very close to her (I won't state who this person is because I do hope this case will be a re-trial. Those who have looked into the case thoroughly will know who I'm talking about). This close relative had a violent past, described as psychotic and heavily reliant on medication just to function somewhat normally. This person was on and off their medication and just five weeks before Jodi's murder, this person brutally assaulted her and had to be sectioned. This person had also previously assaulted Jodi's grandmother and had stabbed Jodi's mother. This highly dangerous person, when not fully medicated, is a huge risk to people and animals. They were also extremely paranoid and carried a knife around with them. This person was also reportedly seen walking behind Jodi on the evening a short while before she was murdered.
(Jodi Jones. Picture credit: BBC News)
This person I've just been talking about, didn't bother to search for Jodi when she was reported missing.
The police had made a public appeal for two boys who were seen with a moped, near to the location where Jodi was found on the evening she was murdered. Even disturbingly, the moped was spotted leaned up against the wall near to the exact location and time that Jodi's murder was said to have taken place. It turned out that one of these boys was Jodi's cousin and the other was a distant relative. These boys didn't come forward at first because Jodi's grandmother told them not to. So like some would say, there's Corinne and her sons switching up some of the details of their statements but we also have Jodi's grandmother telling these boys not to go to the police.
As I mentioned before, Jodi's family had their difficulties, what family doesn't? but it seems that there's was more extreme than most. Jodi had it very tough and battled metal health issues herself. He father sadly took his own life when she was just 8 years old, after a long battle with depression. The sudden death of Jodi's father may have had an impact of this close relative that assaulted her five weeks before her death. It's not known why this person always targeted Jodi but they had a lot of anger issues when it came to women and girls.
The boys on the moped, the psychotic relative, the twists and turns with the statements were not looked into.
Five unidentified profiles were found at the crime scene and none of them matched Luke Mitchell. They finally did something about the used condom that was found near the scene. They managed to trace the guy by mistake, he'd been arrested on another charge and his DNA matched the semen. This was three years afterwards and they already convicted Luke Mitchell by this point. They didn't care. The guy, who lived next to the footpath and who's house had a clear view of the footpath, claimed that he had gone down there to masturbate using a condom. He claimed that he had been sharing a room with his brother at the time and couldn't get any privacy. He said he went down there to pleasure himself and as soon as he finished jerking off in broad daylight (I don't why he couldn't have just gone into the bathroom at home, turned on some loud music and jerked off away to his hearts content in his house, but yeah....very dodgy if you ask me) he threw the used condom onto the ground (such a classy gentleman).
Instead of looking into this creepy condom guy they decided not to bother taking the matter any further. It was like, all of these red flags and neon signs all over the place with this person and that person and these people and those people.....but no, case closed, Luke Mitchell is being done for it and we don't want to lose our jobs and be sued to the moon and back!
If you're still with me at this point, I salute you because it is very hard to keep track of all of this. This is not a straight forward case with so many people involved and so many lines of investigation and evidence that were ignored, dismissed or destroyed. I know this case was just over 20 years ago but to know that all of this was allowed to take place, is just unbelievable. I'd been hearing for years about Luke Mitchell's innocence from various people, leading Criminologists like Professor David Wilson, previous inmates who met Luke, the legendary (and wrongfully convicted and vindicated after 18 years of false imprisonment) Joe Steele, numerous names, numerous campaigns but radio silence from the authorities. If Reg McKay was still alive today (dearly missed true crime author and my main inspiration for this blog) I'm sure he would be writing about this case with no cares given. That was the kind of writer he was, fearless and he knew a stitch-up when he saw one.
Continued in part two...
(All further reading, references & sources will be mentioned at the end of the concluding post)
