Case Ref : 20030630, Jones, Jodi

Official Narrative

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. Her semi-nude body was discovered behind a wall by her 14-year-old boyfriend, Luke Muir Mitchell, hours after her death. An autopsy revealed the teenager had died of several stab and slash wounds—primarily inflicted to her neck and torso—after her arms had been bound behind her back.

Mitchell rapidly became a prime suspect in Jones's murder. He was arrested on 14 April 2004, convicted of her murder on 11 January 2005 at age 16, and sentenced to serve a minimum of 20 years' imprisonment. Mitchell continues to protest his innocence, and several attempts to overturn his conviction have failed.

Email received

I wondered if you had heard of/looked in to the Luke Mitchell/Jodi Jones case? I've been watching your videos for some time and I think that you could do a good job of bringing this case to a wider audience. A little background to the case: Luke was sentenced in 2005 for the murder of his 14 year old girlfriend (he was also 14 at the time of the murder). Jodi was almost decapitated. There was zero DNA from Luke (but DNA from others such as sperm from Jodi's sister's boyfriend, mixed with the blood on her T shirt) and nothing connecting him to the scene other, than a highly questionable witness who saw a boy but didn't see his face and couldn't identify Luke in court . A large body of evidence has since come to light (thanks to criminologist Dr Sandra Lean), that the defence and jury were unaware of at the time of the trial. It's a hugely compelling case with a lot of cover-ups and manipulated facts. The last person seen following Jodi was her brother Joseph, who had recently been released from a mental hospital after receiving the highest dose of Risperidone, an anti psychotic medication. Joseph had been sectioned 5 weeks prior to Jodi's murder, for attacking her. The jury knew none of this, nor did Luke's defence team (the laws on disclosure changed half way through Luke's trial). The Lord advocate in Scotland has just admitted to sanctioning the police to prematurely destroy the productions (Jodi's fingernail scrapings etc) - she's the wife of Luke's prosecutor. Dr Sandra Lean has a book called Innocents betrayed, documenting facts from the case files - and there are documentaries on YouTube, such as Murder in a Small town (also on C5). Thank you for taking the time to read my message, and it would be great to see you highlight this case.

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