Ferris and Dickie!
They didn't come forward for 5 days. Ferris said afterwards his gran, Alice Walker, told him not to because they were on the path "too early" (at around 4.30). Since the time of Jodi leaving was thought, by Judith originally, to be 5 o'clock (later changed to 5.30, then to 4.50), how could AW be sure they hadn't seen someone suspicious lurking around the area? Ferris was never questioned in court about his claim that his gran told him not to come forward, nor was AW.
Jodi's mum did "fall out" with them later, claiming they knew more than they were letting on, but has never pushed for the police to go after them to find out what that was. Why might that be?
When MBB went to the Gran's on the morning of July 1st, he did not describe someone who could be Luke, but one witness said Ferris kept saying that afternoon, "it's Luke, it's Luke." However, the same witness said Ferris was behaving very strangely - whenever an article about Jodi came on the news, he would turn the volume up and concentrate intently on it. He was also very tense and "snappy" according to this witness.
We know from other witnesses the police were telling people from the off that Luke was the killer and they would have him arrested within the week - there's no reason to suppose they were telling Jodi's family anything different, so if Ferris and Dickie "knew" it was Luke, that's because the police were telling anyone who would listen!
Why didn't they tell police the truth about that afternoon? I think it's a dead cert that the whole lot was dishonest, not just the timing - they could "remember" everything about that afternoon except the correct time (even though Dickie remembered the time of his jobcentre appointment from which Ferris picked him up on the moped) or where they were when the bike was propped at the V point without them (even though they gave an "account" of everything else they did on the path).
It sure as hell wasn't because they were "covering" for Luke - their initial statements are entirely focused on incriminating him - stories about Luke and knives, Luke and cannabis, jabbing Jodi in the leg with a knife (never corroborated by anyone else), handing police knives they claimed belonged to Luke (one of them turned out later to be Ferris's own knife and there was nothing to corroborate the other claims) - it goes on and on. If they'd seen Luke there that day, there's absolutely no way they would have covered that up - their enthusiasm to point the finger at him in their early statements (while lying their heads off about the time) just stopped short of saying it was Luke, anyway!
What reason might Joseph have had to want to batter Ferris? Oh, yes - Ferris destroyed the alibi Judith gave police for Joseph that afternoon. It was Ferris, it appears, who told the police about Joseph's 9 bar which is why the police went back to Judith and Alice, several days into the investigation, to ask about Joseph, who'd been airbrushed out of their earlier statements.
As for not wanting to grass someone they sold drugs to - Ferris was singing like a canary about all the people who bought cannabis from him, not just Luke. He said in court Luke still owed him for the last lot. And we know the police were telling witnesses they weren't interested in cannabis, that nobody would be in trouble for anything cannabis related, they just wanted information about "the murderer" (what they meant was they just wanted information about Luke Mitchell).
So, not to cover for Luke, not to cover for someone they sold drugs to, not because they had special knowledge about Luke (since the police were telling everyone they "knew" it was Luke), so what are we left with?
Why did Ferris ask his gran and another male relative, on July 1st, if he should go to the police or not? There's a slightly different version of this, according to Yvonne Walker. She said Ferris did intend to go to the police on July 1st, so something must have changed his mind. Was it not so much a case of asking his gran, but mentioning that he'd been on the path and was going to tell the police that, and he was told not to? Then there's the gloves - why lie about them (and try to hide them prior to that)?
I, too, think Ferris and Dickie know more than they're letting on, but not about Luke Mitchell.
