I heard that Jodi stood about 5ft 7 tall and of thin build and Luke stood around 5ft 4/5ft 5 tall and medium build. However, boys are invariably a lot stronger than girls, regardless of height. Luke’s ex-girlfriend Karen Van Nuil, who was 3 years older than Luke, commented about just how strong he was. Here’s an old article from the daily mail in 2005:
Byline: GRACE MCLEAN
A TEENAGER last night told how killer Luke Mitchell held a knife to her throat just a month before he killed and mutilated girlfriend Jodi Jones.
Mitchell, then only 14 years old, pulled on a balaclava, grabbed Kara van Nuil from behind and warned her not to move as he pressed the blade to her neck.
Last night she said: 'I was absolutely terrified. He was so strong. I didn't hear him coming. He just came up behind me, grabbed me around the neck with one arm and held the knife with the other.
'He told me: "Move and you are f***ing dead".' Miss van Nuil, now 17, met Mitchell at the Army Cadet HQ in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, when she joined his cadet unit in February, 2002.
They started dating a few weeks later, even though Mitchell was already going out with Jodi and seeing another girl, Kimberley Thomson, in Perthshire.
Miss van Nuil told how she was at first mesmerised by Mitchell and how he wooed her with romantic text messages.
But she brought the relationship to an end after he followed her into the cadet hut one night and threatened her with the knife. She told the Scottish Daily Mail: 'He used to wear a balaclava and pull it up over his head like a hat.
'We were at cadets in May when I went into the hut on my own. The instructors were out having a cigarette with the other cadets. I was messing about with the blackboard and I didn't hear Luke coming but there was suddenly an arm around my neck.
'I got a glimpse of him as I looked back and he had pulled his balaclava over his face. He then put a knife to my throat and said I would be dead if I moved an inch.
'I was really scared and couldn't move.
He was so strong. I couldn't move my arms but I kept nipping his knees with my fingernails and begging him to let me go. He kept me like that for about a minute.
'When he put the knife down I turned to face him and he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He tried to pretend it was a joke but my neck was red and I was genuinely scared. I was crying my eyes out.' Mitchell never returned to cadets after the attack. A month later he strangled 14-year- old Jodi and cut her throat.
Miss van Nuil regrets not telling her parents Angela, 39, and Bill, 55, about the attack until after the murder.
She said: 'I never knew Jodi but when I found out Luke was her boyfriend I knew straight away that he had done it. I told my dad what happened in the cadet hut and he called the police.
'They came around and took hours of statements but I was never called to court.
'I'm so relieved - I couldn't have faced him in the court. I'm so sorry for what happened to Jodi. When it first happened, I used to feel such guilt and think "that could have been me".' Miss van Nuil, of Gorebridge, Midlothian, said: 'We never met anywhere but cadets, so I only saw him on Monday and Wednesday nights - I suppose because he was going out with Jodi.
'One of my friends said he had five girls on the go but I didn't care because I was crazy about him. He was so polite. I suspected he might have been a bit of a geek. But he always sent me lovely text messages.' But Miss van Nuil said she also saw flashes of his temper: 'One time he was on the shooting range and got told off by one of the instructors. All of a sudden he shouted something, threw down his gun and stormed off.
'There were other times, too. If someone so much as criticised him, he would lose his temper and shout and swear at them.' After the knife attack, she dumped Mitchell. But two days after he was first questioned about Jodi's murder, Miss van Nuil saw him walking down her street. She said: 'I was looking out the window. He was parading around like a cockerel. His friends all came out and started hugging him as if he was a hero.
'I was terrified. I hid behind the curtain, shaking, and hoped he would not see me.' Last night Miss Van Nuil broke down in tears on hearing the verdict.
'I'm just so happy,' she said. 'It's been a long wait and now it's all over.
I feel that I can finally rest easy.' Her mother, Angela, added: 'We're relieved that justice has been done for Jodi and pleased because we knew all along that he had done this.' It has emerged that at least one other girl also suffered a terrifying ordeal at Mitchell's hands.
The girl, who was just 11 at the time, was visiting Mitchell's father Philip, a family friend.
Mitchell, who was only 12, was also staying in the house in Livingston and the two youngsters were sharing a twin bedroom.
In the middle of the night, he climbed on top of her, held a knife to her throat and demanded she kiss him. Last night she said: 'I just can't tell you how I feel about the verdict.'
g.mclean@dailymail.co.uk
