Jodi killed by boyfriend attracted to sex, drugs and Satan

The teenage boyfriend of Jodi Jones was yesterday found guilty of murdering the 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Luke Mitchell, 16, committed a “truly evil murder” when he strangled and stabbed his girlfriend during a frenzied attack, a court heard yesterday.

Mitchell, who had a fascination with sex, drugs, knives and Satan, was 14 when he killed Jodi in the woods near her home on June 30, 2003.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, a judge described Mitchell as a “fiend” and said he would face “detention without limit of time”. The jury delivered a majority verdict after a two-month trial in which they were shown pictures of Jodi’s mutilated body, bound and naked, near a path known as Roan’s Dyke in Dalkeith, Midlothian.

Lord Nimmo Smith said: “You have been convicted of a truly evil murder - one of the most appalling crimes that any of us can remember - and you will rightly be regarded as wicked.”

On the last day of her life, Jodi set out to walk along Roan’s Dyke to meet Mitchell, her first boyfriend, at his home in Newbattle at 5 pm. At 10.30 pm Jodi’s mother, Judith, raised the alarm when her daughter failed to return. Shortly afterwards, Mitchell joined Jodi’s elder sister Janine and grandmother Alice Walker in a search for her.

Mitchell found Jodi’s body behind a break in a wall. That discovery was a crucial part of the case built against Mitchell, based entirely on circumstantial evidence. His conviction was secured although there was no DNA evidence linking him to his victim. Nor was there a murder weapon found.

He was also found guilty of supplying cannabis, which he smoked with Jodi with whom he had a sexual relationship.

In a statement to police, Mitchell said his dog led him to the body. His claim was denied by Jodi’s family, who said he headed straight towards the body without his dog.

Mitchell’s mother, Corinne, tried to provide her son with an alibi claiming that he was at home between 5 pm and 5.45 pm preparing dinner. But in evidence her elder son Shane, 23, claimed that Mitchell was alone in the house at the time viewing internet pornography.

The Crown claimed that he burnt the jacket he was wearing in his back garden.

The teenager, who was a fan of the rock star Marilyn Manson, was later interviewed by Sky television on the day of her funeral.

Forbidden to attend the service by Jodi’s family, Mitchell made a candlelit shrine to her in his house. He denied murdering her.

He read a poem he composed containing the line: “Whoever did this to you should just be put away.”

Detectives, involved in one of the biggest investigations ever mounted by Lothian and Borders police, noted similarities between Jodi’s injuries and the “Black Dahlia” murder of the 1940s Hollywood actress Elizabeth Short.

The US murder was an obsession of Marilyn Manson, who has painted a picture of the actress’s dead body. In the days after the killing, Mitchell bought a CD and DVD by the goth rock star.

Also found in his bedroom, along with jars of his own urine, was a knife pouch with the satanic numbers 666, the initials J.J. and 1989-2003 - the dates of Jodi’s birth and death.

Mitchell’s mother refused to speak to reporters outside the court. Mrs Jones, who was also in court, released a statement describing her daughter as someone who “always had thought and time for others”.

Mrs Jones added: “She was happy in having her first boyfriend. On this I will say no more but that there can never be warnings of this type of evil.”

Sentence was deferred for reports.

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