The murder of 14 year-old schoolgirl Jodi Jones near Edinburgh on 30 June 2003

[sandra L]

The aunts' public appeal:

The only thing helping the family through its grief was the hope that her killer might be caught.

Might be caught? The entire community by then was in "Get the b**tard" mode - no ifs, buts or maybes - the killer was definitely going to be caught, it was only a matter of time.

"Obviously this is a very difficult time for the family but we hope that by making this public appeal someone who may know what happened to Jodi or has information for the police will come forward

They knew what happened to Jodi. By then, everybody did. The information they were seeking was who did it, and why?

"The family is asking everyone to examine their conscience and share with the police any doubts about someone they know who has been acting strangely, or out of character."

This is 10 days after JF claimed his Gran (the mother of the two aunts making the appeal) told him not to go to the police and tell them he had been on the path. The same JF who, by then, had hacked off his own hair. People had already given statements to the police about JF "acting strangely" immediately after the murder.

Speaking on JuJ's behalf, they said (for her)

"I believe someone at this time is still in turmoil over doubts they have about someone close to them. They just do not accept that this person, someone they know, is capable of such a thing. You have to break through that non-acceptance and come forward for the protection of other children.

It was only a few days before this that AW and JuJ gave accounts of JoJ's movements on June 28th, 29th and 30th. Until then, he had not featured in any statements, other than his name being mentioned as a family member. Corinne claimed JuJ said, when she came to see Luke "Thank God they didn't find out about JoJ's illness." Other members of the Mitchell family have confirmed this, although JuJ has always denied it. (How would Corinne have known about JoJ's illness?) Two days after Jodi's murder, JuJ is afraid police may "jump to the wrong conclusion" because of JoJ's illness - is that why he wasn't even mentioned to police by anyone for 9 days? And why it wasn't until another couple of days later that there was any mention of his illness?

If nothing else, it demonstrates that JuJ understood the reasons why some people might be reluctant for the police to have certain information - even she had hesitated in fear of her son being placed under suspicion because of his illness.

[gordo30]

I remember years ago while talking about the t-shirt there was something odd about the label but what was it? I'm hoping your going to say that it was clean!! I think the t-shirt was identified at court by the label suggesting to me that it was clean and free of blood is this correct?

[marty]

I'm sure it was reported that it smelled of soap powder or detergent.

[nugnug]

note the emphasis on borrowing her sisters clothes at the press confrence anyone else think tats a bit of a funny coincedence.

[sandra L]

Marty's right - it was noted that the t shirt smelled of detergent, the implication being that it had been freshly laundered when Jodi put it on.

The label was red with the logo "LOGG" on it. When SK was asked to describe the "identical" T shirts belonging to JaJ, it was the description of this label that he gave. They were both supposed to be plain black t shirts - it could be that this was the only thing that stood out about them. But I'm pretty sure my ex wouldn't have been able to tell you what labels were on which of my t shirts!

It just seemed to me at the time to be an odd thing to focus on.

[sandra L]

note the emphasis on borrowing her sisters clothes at the press confrence anyone else think tats a bit of a funny coincedence.

Even more-so when it comes hot on the heels of the swapped t shirt story (which, of course, wasn't in the media at the time)

The "teasing her brother" bit is also hot on the heels of the first information about the brother's movements being revealed to police.

I guess the question about this whole appeal thing, for me, is the timing. This was just before the search trio's stories about what happened at the V break started to change to incriminate, rather than support, Luke's version of events. Up to then, they all told the same story.

So three things happen - the "swapped T shirt" story emerges, police realise they've overlooked a critical member of Jodi's family for almost a fortnight, and the search trio start to change their accounts, and bang in the middle is the aunts' public appeal.

In spite of a reconstruction and a public appeal, Lothian and Borders did not take the next, obvious step, and accept the offer of Crimewatch to cover the case. Why not?

[nugnug]

in fact ive never realy seen a press conference iike it.

[notsure]

What was JoJ's illness?

[gordo30]

He had personality disorders and was at the time on trial drugs or new drug for his condition

[gordo30]

I want to put a different slant on this case, a theory that fits the best with what we know but is beset with a few problems that the readers may be able to help with.

We know the initial assault may have been quite prolonged as we have bruises to jodi's hands,head and face and defence wounds. The crime scene itself is pretty confined when you think of where the body was found and the spread of the clothes around it. The bra strap being furthest from the body towards the V break point to her possibly being forced back by the strap meaning she was most probably semi naked at this point but very much alive. This is backed up with the fact jodis bra was clearly not contaminated with the blood from the throat wounds so placing her at a point where she was naked when the fatal injuries occur. We do however have her t-shirt saturated with her blood suggesting she was indeed clothed when she was killed, trouble is if her bra isn't then we know she couldn't have been, no bra no t-shirt when she was killed.
This leads me to believe that the t-shirt present at the scene may well be the t-shirt the killer wore and left behind so they could exit the scene without being covered in blood by wearing the t- shirt Jodi was wearing initially. This has many implications but would account for why the t-shirt didn't need to be cut at the arms to take it off the body that had her hands tied behind her back. It could also account for the samples that were discovered.
This also brings a few problems! Just what clothes were indeed the clothes Jodi wore at the point of the crime, the bra and trainers have to be jodi's as these are defined by size and had they been anyone else's then they also would need to have been the same size as Jodi which although not being unusual would be harder to believe.

[nugnug]

if jodi wasnt killed at the time the prscutin cliamed and i think thers ever increasing evdence she wasnt were was she.

she wouldent of been hanging around the woods on her own she would f had to have been with somone.

or around somones flat or house.

[Stephanie]

Where are the documents to support any of the claims regarding this case? Why should we take the word of Sandra Lean and the slant she had chosen to put on this case?

If the police believed JJ's was murdered by a family member or any of the others mentioned on this thread and alluded to, they would not have pursued Luke Mitchell.

[sandra L]

Nugnug, you may have hit on something there.

YW, Jodi's cousin, lived just across the street from Gran. She lied about Jodi being in her flat on at least two occasions previously (the time Jodi skipped school and the time JaJ was sent looking for Jodi at silly o'clock in the morning because she hadn't returned to her Gran's by 10 o'clock... that was the time there was no instant search). Gran also lied to JuJ about Jodi being in YW's flat (and also to Corinne who was led to believe they were all staying over at the Gran's).

If Jodi left her own house too early to see Luke, she could have taken the same route through the complex, but gone to YW's, rather than her Gran's. YW's statements were not taken seriously by anyone (she was described as "not too bright".)

JF rubbished YW's claim that he had told her on July 1st that he was going to go to the police in the morning to tell them he had been on the path, on the moped.

YW's was the main place they all hung out to smoke weed, because they could. She was a young single mother with her own flat - no adults around to tell them what to do.

Instead of going to his Gran's, where he was supposed to be staying the night of the murder, JF left GD's ridiculously early (GD said it was because his gran was an early bedder and liked him in before she went to bed - utter nonsense, according to all of the other statements) - he went to YW's where he watched  the search party leaving from the gran's house. How many people are gazing out of the window at after 11 at night?

Anyway, I digress, there is a plausible theory of where Jodi could have been if she had to "be quiet...shoo...go out" way to early to meet Luke. Looking at it now, it is the most likely place she would have gone. It is also the most likely place where the cannabis that was still in her bloodstream when she was murdered, was ingested.

Why would YW say nothing if Jodi had been in her flat? Fear? Threats? Told not to tell? (Remember, JF claimed his gran told him not to go to the police because he was on the path at the "wrong time" - the only reason he was forced to come forward, in the end, was because he and GD had been seen by more than half a dozen witnesses.)

If there were no witnesses to Jodi being in YW's flat and she was never asked the question, she may have been convinced by others that it was not important. For the record, I have never seen any statement outlining what YW did the day of the murder (who was in her house throughout the day, for example). From what I know, she was vulnerable and suggestible.

For example, she didn't know what to do about the gloves, and she didn't report them to the police. A friend, when she found out about them, told the police, and only then were questions asked about them. If the friend hadn't found out, or hadn't bothered to say, that would have been another piece of information known to the family, but not to the investigators.

[Stephanie]

He had personality disorders and was at the time on trial drugs or new drug for his condition

Do you not think Luke Mitchell displayed early signs of psychopathy/personality disorder?

[sandra L]

Where are the documents to support any of the claims regarding this case? Why should we take the word of Sandra Lean and the slant she had chosen to put on this case?

If the police believed JJ's was murdered by a family member or any of the others mentioned on this thread and alluded to, they would not have pursued Luke Mitchell.

Bullsh*t! The police believed from the minute they left JuJ's house that Luke had something to do with Jodi's disappearance, and within half a hour of that, that he was her killer. Don't take my word for it - check out what the SCCRC had to say about it - Luke was treated as a suspect from the minute he was treated differently to the other searchers - so, like, instantly. And, of course, we know that no-one else was ever treated as a suspect - no other houses were ever searched, no one else was detained - they didn't get as far as "believing" anyone else might be responsible - they didn't even think about it.

Anyway, I'm not asking anyone to take my word for anything. You're well aware that in Scotland it's an offence to share case materials with "third parties" - don't much feel like getting arrested for a case I'm no longer involved with. So, like everybody else here, I'm just discussing the case and looking at the anomalies.