True crime: Jodi Jones killer boyfriend Luke Mitchell and doubt theory

Her partially clothed body had been located behind a stone wall after her worried family organised a search party when she failed to return home.

A post mortem revealed the teenager had died of knife wounds to her throat, breast, cheek and stomach.

Her boyfriend Luke Mitchell, also 14, rapidly became a prime suspect in her murder.

He was arrested in April 2004, convicted of murder on January 2005 and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

However to this day Mitchell, now 34, continues to protest his innocence, despite three failed attempts to overturn his conviction.

In the last two years there has also been a growing campaign to have his conviction reviewed, and the case referred back to the appeal courts.

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Both Jodi and Mitchell were pupils at St David's High School in Dalkeith and Mitchell was in the year above Jodi. The two had begun a relationship several months earlier.

Around 5 pm on June 30, Jodi left her home, telling her family she was going to see Mitchell.

Her body was discovered at 10:30pm a few feet from Roan's Dyke Path which ran through the Dalkeith woodland. By this time boyfriend Mitchell had joined the search party.

His dog Mia allegedly stopped at a gap in the wall, where he then climbed through and found Jodi, while members of her family remained on the other side. 

Jodi Jones's body was found in woodland on the outskirts of Dalkeith in Midlothian (Image: Police Scotland)

After the discovery, Mitchell was initially questioned as a witness but soon became the police's prime suspect. 

Ten months later he was arrested and charged with Jodi's murder. 

His trial which began at the High Court in Edinburgh in November, 2004 would not finish until the following January.

Mitchell pleaded not guilty and lodged a special defence of alibi claiming that he was at home cooking dinner at the time of the murder.

It was alleged that he had tied Jodi's arms and then struck her repeatedly with a knife. 

The jury were told that Roan's Dykes Path was a popular shortcut that linked the areas of Easthouses, where Jodi lived and Newbattle, where Mitchell had his home.

The wall would become central to the murder trial with a section being recreated to demonstrate to jurors the circumstances of Jodi's death and how her body was found. 

There was also a site visit to Roan's Dyke Path to see the wall for themselves. 

Police officers patrolled the Easthouses community while inquiries continued (Image: Newsquest)

A key witness was Andrina Bryson who claimed she saw a male and a female near Roan's Dyke shortly before 5pm

She described the male as wearing a khaki green, hip-length, fishing-style jacket. Its collar was up and it had a pocket which was bulging.

Ms Bryson later picked out a photograph of Mitchell although could not identify him at court.

She was unable to identify the female who she only saw from the back but gave a description which was close to matching Jodi.

The prosecution asked the jury to accept that this was a positive sighting of her and Mitchell together before her murder

Luke was often seen wearing a parka-style jacket and it was described by witnesses who saw him that night. When police later searched his house, the jacket had gone.

Prosecutors then claimed Mitchell's clothes had been destroyed in a log burner in the garden of his home to conceal forensic evidence linking him to Jodi's murder

The court was also told mum Corinne had bought her son a new jacket identical to the missing one.

Read more: Luke Mitchell should never have been charged, let alone convicted

Mitchell's brother said that he had not seen his sibling in the house at the time of Jodi's murder, thereby failing to corroborate his alibi.

However no incriminating DNA from Mitchell was ever found on her body and no forensic evidence was recovered from the incinerator.

Mitchell however was seen by the prosecution as having implicated himself by finding the body.  

However his defence team said it was the dog rather than Mitchell who discovered Jodi.

On 21 January, 2005, the jury found Mitchell guilty by a majority verdict of Jodi's murder after five hours deliberation. 

The case had taken 42 days, a record at the time for a single person on trial in Scotland.

The following month trial judge Lord Nimmo Smith ordered Mitchell to spend a minimum of 20 years in prison before he could be considered for parole.

Luke Mitchell was convicted of Jodi Jones' murder after a trial in 2004 (Image: Newsquest)

He was also told the sentence would have been longer her had it not been for his age.

Lord Nimmo Smith then added: "It was a truly evil murder and one of the most appalling crimes that any of us can remember.

"You must rightly be regarded as wicked - you subjected Jodi to a horrible death and one can only hope mercifully quick.

"She still had her full life ahead of her and you snuffed it out.

"She was loved by her family and you have left them bereft."

Three years later Mitchells original conviction was upheld by judges following the first of his three appeals.

A second bid in 2011 by Mitchell to challenge the murder verdict  was also rejected. 

The following year he launched a third attempt to have the conviction overturned after submitting a 300 page dossier to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

In 2014, the SCCRC found that detectives had breached Luke Mitchell's human rights when they questioned him over Jodi's murder, but ruled there had been no miscarriage of justice.

In 2021, Channel 5 broadcast Murder in a Small Town, which cast further doubt over his conviction and suggested other suspects who could have been responsible.

One was a former drug addict, now dead, who was allegedly in the vicinity when Jodi was murdered and was later seen with scratches on his face.

However he was cleared of any involvement by police at the time.

The programme further questioned why there were no forensic traces on Mitchell despite the violence of the crime.

Mitchell, who took part in the documentary, also said "If it was put to me that I would almost be guaranteed release and parole if all I did was admit guilt, absolutely not, I would not do that. I will not admit to something I have not done. I will maintain my innocence if that means I stay in closed conditions for the rest of my life."

But the TV investigation was strongly critiicised by former Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police Tom Wood, who was second in command of the force when Jodi died .

He said: "This girl has had her grave trampled on time and again. The Channel Five programme was unbalanced and selective - a disgraceful piece of television."

Last November the case took a further twist when it emerged that the Crown Office had authorised Police Scotland to destroy more than 100 items of evidence.

In March this year Mitchell's legal team accused the police of failing to carry out forensic tests on samples found on Jodi at the time of the murder.

They said this highlighted the possibility that someone else was responsible for the crime - and cast further doubt over Mitchell's conviction for murder.

Over the years Jodi's family, including mum Judy, have declined to comment on Mitchell's claims, preferring to keep a dignified silence.

Mitchell, who has been in prison for more than 18 years, is unlikely to get parole while still maintaining his innocence.

Police Scotland would not be drawn on his claims but insisted that a full forensic analysis of all the available evidence was carried out at the time.

Detective Chief Supt Paul Livingstone added:"Following the discovery of 14-year-old Jodi Jones' body on 30 June 2003, a thorough investigation was conducted by Lothian and Borders Police.

"Extensive forensic analysis was carried out along with door-to-door inquiries and other investigative techniques and a full report of the circumstances was submitted to the COPFS.

"As a result, Luke Mitchell was charged with Jodi's murder, before being convicted and sentenced in 2005.”

One of Mitchell's most vocal supporters is alternative therapist turned criminologist Dr Sandra Lean.

Dr Lean, who lives in Dalkeith, has worked closely with Luke Mitchell and his mum over the last 20 years.

They are seeking a public inquiry to independently examine all the facts and refer the case back to the appeal courts.

Dr Lean, who has written a book about the Luke Mitchell case, told the Herald:"The campaign is not just about justice for for Luke it is about justice for Jodi

"From our perspective she and her family did not get justice either

"There are dozens of significant unanswered questions in this case.

"Lack of forensic evidence of any description linking him to Jodi or place him at murder scene.

"With those unanswered questions how can anybody be sure that somebody has been convicted beyond reasonable doubt."

Dr Lean says she has an open mind about the outcome of any future public inquiry.

She added:"I have been asked on many occasions.

"What if they test the samples and they come back and its Luke.

"So be it. Then we would have the truth."