The murder of Jodi Jones is a Scottish murder case from June 2003 in which a 14-year-old schoolgirl was murdered in woodland in Dalkeith, Scotland by her 14-year-old boyfriend Luke Mitchell. She was found murdered with a knife behind a wall on a path where she would invariably meet her boyfriend, having set out to meet him that afternoon.
Mitchell, who claimed to have found her almost immediately after a search party set out that evening to find the missing girl, rapidly became the prime suspect and was brought to trial in 2004. It was discovered that a knife that he regularly carried around with him and which could have been the murder weapon had mysteriously disappeared, as had his coat which he had been seen wearing that night and which could have held incriminatory forensic evidence. The suggestion was that these had been disposed of to hide evidence. Equally suspicious had been that these items were then replaced by his mother, who denied the existence of the previous items. The pouch for the missing knife was found, and Mitchell had marked on it Jodi's initials JJ with "1989 – 2003" (her birth and death), as well as a quote saying "the finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came".
At trial Mitchell and his mother claimed he had been at home at the time, but phone records suggested otherwise and his brother admitted (as confirmed by computer records) that he had actually been watching pornography, saying he only would have done so if no one else had been at home. As a result of this, the mother was additionally charged with perjury, although this was ultimately dropped when Mitchell was found guilty of the murder in January 2005. The brother, who originally gave a different account and admitted to having agreed with his mother what to tell police when he first spoke to police, had also initially been charged with perverting the course of justice before telling the account he had given at trial.
Mitchell continues to protest his innocence, and several attempts to overturn his conviction have failed. A large amount of discredited speculation has been made about the case, including inaccurate claims that no DNA linked Mitchell to the murder and that this indicates innocence, and the family of the victim have endured online abuse and false accusations from Mitchell's supporters. Jones' family say they have always remained satisfied of Mitchell's guilt.
Background Luke Mitchell Luke Mitchell was born on 24 July 1988, the younger of two children. His parents separated when he was 11, and he was raised by his mother, Corinne, in relatively comfortable circumstances in Newbattle. Mitchell went to St David's RC High School in Dalkeith. About a year before the murder, Mitchell had undergone several lifestyle changes. He was originally considered a well-mannered, smartly-dressed youth whose hobbies included army cadets, riding horses, and motorbikes, but he then changed to adopt the "Goth" style of dressing. He grew his hair long and wore long black clothes, as did girlfriend Jodi Jones. Mitchell had used significant amounts of cannabis for about a year up until the murder, and by the time of the killing he was smoking it every day during or after school. He also got into trouble at school often and fought with other pupils. He was known to have told a peer that he could imagine getting "stoned" and killing someone, and once showed a fellow pupil a knife while telling them that he knew the best way to slit someone's throat.
Mitchell had developed an interest in Satanism and Marilyn Manson, and teachers said that this permeated his school work. His English teacher was so concerned with the violence and interest in Satanism that was expressed in his essays and in graffiti on his school work that she referred the matter to a guidance teacher. He had written in one essay about how he questioned God's existence and added "people like you need Satanic people like me to keep the balance", while in another wrote "just because I am more violent than others and cut myself, does that justify some pompous git of a teacher to refer me to a psychiatrist? Just because I have chosen to follow the teachings of Satan doesn't mean I need psychiatric help".
Mitchell was in the same school year as Jodi Jones. He, Jones and various other pupils used to smoke cannabis on the school premises. The two began a relationship in around February 2003, when both were 14 years old, with Mitchell being Jones's first serious boyfriend. Jones soon became smitten with Mitchell, and their relationship soon became sexual. One entry in Jones's diary dating from the spring or early summer of 2003 reads: "'I think I am actually in love with Luke. Not in a stupid way, I mean real love. God, I think I would die if he finished with me ... If I am crying, he hugs me and strokes my face. He is just so sweet. No matter what he says I believe him." However, unbeknown to Jones, Mitchell was actually also in a secretive relationship with another young woman. This girl believed that she was Mitchell's girlfriend at the time of the murder, only finding out he had been cheating on her when she heard in the news of Jones' death and how Jones was Mitchell's girlfriend.
Mitchell was also known to have a close and unusually physical relationship with his mother, sharing a bedroom with her.
Jodi Jones Jodi Jones was born in 1989 in Easthouses, the youngest of three children born to James and Judy Jones. She was born into a working class family, with both of her parents working for the Royal Mail. Jones has been described as a bright, "level-headed" and headstrong child who displayed a flair for painting and poetry and who was particularly close with her older sister, Janine. She was affectionately known by her mother as her "wee mentor".
In 1998, Jones's father took his own life. His death caused great distress to the family and Jones's mother gave up her work in order to care for her three children. Jones's older sister briefly relocated to Mayfield to live with her grandmother to distance herself from the trauma, but soon returned to her family home.
As a teenager, Jones developed a streak of rebellion; she is known to have frequently adjusted her image and to have alternately dyed her hair colours such as pink or green, to have developed an interest in heavy metal bands such as Metallica and, by age 14, to have experimented with marijuana and alcohol. When she entered into a relationship with Mitchell, she initially kept the relationship a secret from her family, confiding only in her sister, Janine. Shortly thereafter, Janine (then 19) informed her mother of her younger sister's boyfriend. In May 2003, Mitchell met the Jones family for the first time.
It was known that Jones often self-harmed.
Jones and Mitchell frequently met via one traversing through a stretch of woodland to meet the other. A section of this woodland is known as Roan's Dyke Path.
In the weeks immediately before she was murdered, Jones's social life—which largely revolved around Mitchell—was curtailed by her mother after she discovered her daughter had begun taking drugs. The restriction on her meeting her boyfriend was lifted on 30 June, the day of the murder.
Discovery
At about 5 pm on 30 June 2003, Jones left her home, informing her family she was going to see Mitchell. Her body was found several hours later on the route she invariably took to meet her boyfriend; she had been bound and murdered. Jones had already texted Mitchell before leaving and he was known to have been aware that she was on her way to meet him, as a relative of Jones had told him so on the phone.
Jones's body was located in a wooded area behind a high wall along Roan's Dyke Path. She had been punched, her neck compressed, and killed with a knife. Mitchell claimed to find the body, and the ease in which he was able to find it was later used in court to suggest guilt. A search party had been arranged at around 10pm by the family of Jodi Jones, and when Mitchell met up with them he went straight to a gap in the wall bordering Roan Dyke's Path, climbed through it and immediately found the body of the deceased at around 10.30 pm, suggesting that he knew the body was there all along. It had also been noted how Mitchell did not appear to show any emotion or surprise when finding the body, whilst the other members of the search party were hysterical and upset at the finding. Mitchell claimed that his dog, which was being trained to track, had stopped at the V-shaped notch where Mitchell climbed through. However, this account was disputed by other members of the search party, who said that he went straight to the V-shaped notch without being notified or led there by the dog at all.
Reports upon the discovery of the body said that it indicated that the killer was likely to have been in a "disturbed and extremely angry state". Police said that Jones had died from "a vicious and frenzied attack involving a knife or a similar weapon". Forensic psychologist Ian Stephen advised that the attack indicated "an eruption of anger", adding:
Police said that the site of the attack indicated that the person responsible likely had local knowledge, and that they were "likely to be in their teens or 20s". Within ten days of the murder investigation, 1,400 people had been spoken to, 250 homes and businesses had been visited, 570 people had been spoken to in door-to-door inquiries and 839 motorists had been stopped.
The injuries sustained by Jones closely resembled those of actress Elizabeth Short, who was murdered in 1947 and was popularly referred to by media as the Black Dahlia. The initials LM and JJ had been carved into a tree near the crime scene. The Jones family made it known that Mitchell was not welcome at the funeral.
Suspicion falls on Mitchell School authorities cited concern about Mitchell's safety in unsuccessfully attempting to prevent his return to school; two months after the murder he was suspended after objecting to being separated from other pupils.
After the discovery of the body, Mitchell was initially questioned as a witness; he quickly became the main focus of the investigation. Ten months later he was arrested and charged with the crime. He was also charged with the possession of a knife or knives in public places, including St David's High School, and of supplying cannabis. Police were later criticised for infringing his human rights by questioning him without a solicitor present, although it was also ruled that this interview had not affected the key prosecution evidence.
Suspicion was also focused on Mitchell due to his taste in music and his alleged fascination with Satanism. He had an interest in Marilyn Manson. On his school books were found messages written such as "Satan master, lead us into HELL" and "I offer my flesh, blood and soul to the dark lord of hell!", as well as references to Manson. Mitchell's schoolbooks that had such phrases written all over their covers were photographed and shown in the press.
During a search of his home, detectives found 20 bottles of urine in his bedroom and confiscated a copy of The Golden Age of Grotesque by Marilyn Manson containing the short film Doppelherz. It was purchased two days after Jones's death, and Mitchell was known to have subsequently watched it. A ten-minute excerpt from the film, as well as several paintings by Manson depicting the Black Dahlia's mutilated body, were presented as evidence during the trial. The film included images of apparently naked women being tied together and abducted. Manson had a "Golden Age of the Grotesque" exhibition on his website at the time, featuring images depicting the mutilation and murdering of actress Elizabeth Short in the Black Dahlia case.
Trial At his trial at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, Mitchell pleaded not guilty and lodged a special defence of alibi: that he was at home cooking dinner at the time of the murder. He did not testify.