With every new victim, his predatory skills were sharpened, and he became craftier at luring his targets to the metaphorical stove with the giant pot of water
Excerpts by Bree Bonchay article headed Happily Never After: Decoding Narcissistic Devaluation dated 10th June 2015
On the 22nd of February 2023 scammer Sandra Lean made a Facebook post which included the following statements;
WAKE UP. You’re being lied to. They’re taking the proverbial out of you. Boiling you like a frog
Sandra Lean – 22nd February 2023
Are You Familiar With The Parable Of The Boiling Frog?
The premise asserts that a frog submerged in boiling water will instinctively leap out, but if placed in tepid water that is gradually heated, the frog will be unable to discern the danger, resulting in it being cooked to death.
Metaphorically speaking, this story is cited to remind individuals that they need to be cognizant of gradual change as well as sudden change. Being unaware of, or brushing off, small changes in personalities or relationships that occur over time hinders instinctual wisdom. If one isn’t paying close attention, these changes are often only perceptible when piecing together clues that have occurred for a long period of time. Usually, this realization comes very late, often when lives have been altered in extremely negative and damaging ways.
The anecdote of the boiling frog is the perfect depiction of how victims of narcissistic covert abuse don’t recognize that they are being abused until severe damage has been done to them.
Excerpts from a 10th June 2015 article by Bree Bonchay headed Happily Never After: Decoding Narcissistic Devaluation
All those people who have been, and are being duped by the innocence fraud of sadistic murderer Luke Mitchell and his toxic enablers, like Sandra Lean are metaphorically being “boiled like a frog”.
**INTIMATE PARTNER FEMICIDE TIMELINE**
1995: Former Classmate Ben Sole “..recalled one incident when seven-year-old Luke Mitchell ‘smashed up’ his bike following an argument and how, years later, he punched a fellow pupil in the face in the school canteen”
1998: 10 Year Old Luke Mitchell’s Parents Philip & Corinne Mitchell Split Up
1999: Aged 11 Luke Mitchell Wrote An Essay Where He Described Himself As “A Goth” & Stated “Just because I am more violent than others and cut myself, does that justify some pompous git of a teacher to refer me to a psychiatrist”
Luke“Mitchell often harmed himself. Once he scored the satanic number 666 into his arm “for a dare”. A former classmate, Michelle Tierney, later told police (Luke) Mitchell had stubbed a cigarette out on his hand in front of her” Source
1999: Luke Mitchell “…was first brought to the attention of the mental health profession aged just 11, following a fight at King’s Park Primary in Dalkeith. Although the incident was just a minor skirmish with another pupil, Mitchell’s attitude was sufficiently troublesome to warrant a referral to a school psychiatrist”
1999: 11 Year Old Luke Mitchell Seen By Another Pupil With A Knife
1999/2000: Luke Mitchell “at first did well at school but latterly got into trouble and fought with other pupils. The school referred him to an educational psychologist, who monitored his transition from primary to secondary school. His mother also arranged for him to attend a different secondary school from the one to which his primary school contemporaries were to go. He did well for the first two years at secondary school, but then his performance deteriorated. His teachers had concerns about matters such as homework and school uniform. He began to get involved in fights again. He expressed an interest in satanism that was reflected in his essays and in graffiti on his schoolbooks” Source
Luke Mitchell “..had once also commented how easy it would be to stab someone in the eye with a corkscrew”
2000: Sexually Aggressive 12 Year Old Luke Mitchell Threatened An 11 Year Old Girl With A Knife Whilst Staying Over At His Father Philip Mitchell’s House In Livingston
When he was 12, Mitchell had used a knife to threaten the daughter of a family who were guests in the Mitchell house. He had climbed onto her bed, held the knife to her throat and asked for a kiss.
Excerpt from the Times article by Kenny Farquharson headed The murderous art that unmasked a cruel killer dated 23rd January 2005
The girl, who was just 11 at the time, was visiting Mitchell’s father Philip, a family friend.
In the middle of the night, he climbed on top of her, held a knife to her throat and demanded she kiss him.
Excerpt from the Scotsman article headed Natural born killer dated 2005 http://www.scotsman.com/news/natural-born-killer-1-1401861
December 2001: Luke Mitchell Joined An Army Cadet Force In Bonnyrigg, Midlothian (Source Here)
Luke Mitchell Stated “I wanted to join the armed forces but this put a complete stop to it obviously. I joined the cadets aged 13 and everything felt right. It was the only thing I had geared myself towards” (Source Here)
2002: The Herald Reported Here That “Friends also remembered his aggressiveness and quick temper. At the riding stables where his mother kept a horse, it was his pony, Diesel, that felt the sharp end of his temper. One boy, who knew Mitchell well, recalls his fascination with death. The summer before Jodi’s death, Mitchell came across a dead dog in the street. “I remember the way he was talking about it” said the friend. “It was as if he had seen a dead person. He said it made him think about the afterlife, about why the dog was dead. “He was asking would the dog become a person”. “What will happen when I die”. Images of death appealed to the philosophical side of his nature” said the friend
Luke Mitchell Wrote At School: “How can anyone be good because without evil there can be no good, so it must be good to be evil”
Luke Mitchell Wrote An Irish Nationalist Slogan On One Of His School Books Reading: “F*** the Queen” and ”F*** the World”, “Satan Lives”, “I have tasted the devil’s green blood“ & “Evil is the way”
Luke Mitchell: School Jotter Read “the finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came“
Christmas 2002: Luke Mitchell Was Bought A Jack Pyke Brown Wooden Handled Skunting Knife Aka As A Loch Knife
26th December 2002: Girlfriend Kimberly Thomson Stayed Over At The Mitchell’s House In Dalkeith Until The New Year. The Pair Also Visited Livingston Where His Father Philip Mitchell lived
Mr Mitchell visited Kenmore in the autumn of 2002 and Miss Thomson stayed at the Mitchell home in Dalkeith from Boxing Day until just after New Year.
The accused also visited her on St Valentine’s Day 2003.
Miss Thomson said Mr Mitchell was supposed to visit her last summer but this was “cancelled”.
The teenager believed the visit was due to have been the weekend before Jodi was murdered but, when questioned about whether it could have been later, she said she could not remember.
Miss Thomson said she considered herself to be Mr Mitchell’s girlfriend last summer
Excerpt from a BBC’s article headed Jodi ‘look alike’ gives evidence dated 30th December 2004
Around Christmas 2002: Luke Mitchell Introduced Girlfriend Kimberly Thomson To Robert Gilhooly From Livingston. The BBC Reported Here “Mr Gilhooly said he, his girlfriend, Mr Mitchell and the girl had gone out together about Christmas 2002. He said he thought Mr Mitchell continued going out with her after Jodi’s death”
Robert Gilhooly Recalled Seeing Luke Mitchell With A Loch Knife
2002: Ashley Coutts Recognised A Replica Jack Pyke Brown Handled Knife As Being ‘Identical’ To A Knife Luke Mitchell Had With Him At His Father Philip Mitchell’s House In Livingston. She Had Seen Him With The Knife “More Than Once” (Source Here)
Christmas 2002: Telephone Conversation Between Philip and Corinne Mitchell Whereby Corinne Believed Luke Mitchell Was Smoking Cannabis (Source Trial Transcripts p.2332 Here)
January 2003: Former English Teacher At St David’s High School Geraldine Mackie Concerned By Luke Mitchell’s Behaviour, Including Content Of His ‘Pain & Suffering’ Essay & Referred Him To A Guidance Teacher
The essay, where pupils were asked to imagine the end of the world, included the passage: “If you ask me, God is just a futile excuse, at the most, for a bunch of fools to go around annoying others who want nothing to do with them. Are these people insane? Open your eyes. People like you need satanic people like me to keep the balance. Once you shake hands with the devil you then have truly experienced life.”
The essay, which Luke called “Pain and Suffering”, ended with the words, “Lucifer is a fallen angel”, and contained a picture of a face with two tridents crossed beneath it.
Several other jotters contained slogans such as: “Evil is the way”; “Depression is only a stage in my life, so f**k off and stay out my mind”, and “the finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came” – a quotation from Nirvana frontman, the late Kurt Cobain.
Excerpts from a Guardian article headed Teenage boy accused of murder joked about killing, court told dated 26th November 2004
Some of the content I found quite worrying and quite unusual for a pupil. It was the first time I had ever referred on a piece of writing to the guidance staff
Geraldine Mackie – Luke Mitchell’s former English teacher at St David’s High School
A passage from it read: ”If God forgives everyone, then why the need to be sent to Hell. If you ask me, God is just a futile excuse, at the most, for a bunch of fools to go around annoying others who want nothing to do with them. Are these people insane? Open your eyes. People like you need satanic people like me to keep the balance”
”Once you shake hands with the Devil you then have truly experienced life”
Excerpts from the Herald article headed People like you need satanic people like me dated 26th November 2004
So what if I am a Goth in a Catholic school? So what if I dress in baggy clothes? Just because I am more violent than others and cut myself, does that justify some pompous git of a teacher to refer me to a psychiatrist? Just because I have chosen to follow the teachings of Satan doesn’t mean I need psychiatric help
Excerpt from another of Luke Mitchell’s Essays
Luke Mitchell Wrote On His School Jotters “Why can’t I die? Is there a purpose in my life? If not, then suicide is my best option!”
Luke Mitchell Stated Here “The last time I was truly happy was with Jodi. I was always bullied by teachers and considered suicide, but all that went away. She became my connection to the world”
January 2003: Adoptee Corinne Mitchell Stated “I got asked to come into school on one occasion and I just couldn’t see the problem and the teacher couldn’t understand why I couldn’t see the problem. It was a normal teenage rant” (Source Around 12:40 Here)
2003: “Classmate Alexander Hamilton, 16, says he saw Mitchell produce a knife from his pocket in a technological studies class”
14 Year Old Luke Mitchell Wrote “Depression is only a stage in my life so f*** off and stay out of my mind”
14th February 2003: Luke Mitchell Visited Girlfriend Kimberly Thomson In Kenmore, Perthshire
February/March 2003: Luke Mitchell Started Dating Kara Van Null, Who He Met At Army Cadets In Bonnyrigg, Midlothian After Miss Van Null Joined The Cadet Unit In February 2002 (Source Here)
February/March 2003: Matthew Muraska, 50, who helped run an Army Cadet Force stated Luke Mitchell once had a knife with him at a cadet meeting “I opened the knife and it was about six or seven inches long – a lock-type knife with a pointed blade. I opened the knife and held it up so all the cadets could see. I said that I never, ever wanted to see a knife like that in the Army Cadet Force…there was no place for a knife like that…a knife such as that was made for one purpose and one purpose only. A young cadet said, ‘Killing’ and I said, ‘Yes, exactly.’ I said I doubted the legality of such a knife and that carrying such a knife was probably totally illegal”
End Of March 2003: Jodi Jones & Luke Mitchell Began A Relationship, Initially Meeting Up A Couple Of Times A Week
Kirsten Ford, Jodi Jones Best Friend, Said Of Jodi “She found it weird Luke had a lot of knives in his bedroom and she only once said that she feared Luke was cheating on her but they sorted it out” & “Jodi thought Luke’s mum was as mad as a hatter and said she knew Corinne was smoking a lot of cannabis” But only weeks into the relationship, Jodi became worried about Mitchell’s close friendship with Laura Wightman, a girl he would later take to her graveside. Kirsten said: “Laura was with Luke a lot and once Jodi heard that he might have been cheating on her but I think she spoke to him and they sorted it out” (Source Here)
14 Year Old Keith Campbell Said Luke Mitchell Carried A Knife ‘Everywhere’, Even At School. Keith Also Saw Luke’s Leather Knife Pouch & Identified Luke’s Swiss Army-Type knife, A Lock-Knife & Another Thin Bladed Pen Knife
2003: The Herald Reported Here That “Another fling ended on a more threatening note, with another West Lothian girl Kimberly Tait claiming Mitchell once pulled a knife on her after she refused to sleep with him. Mitchell claimed the knife incident was only a joke” (Source Here)
May(?) 2003: Luke Mitchell Threatened Girlfriend With Knife ‘He Pulled On A Balaclava, Grabbed Kara Van Null From Behind & Warned Her Not To Move As He Pressed The Blade To Her Neck’
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.
Source here
Luke Mitchell Did Not Return To Army Cadets After His (Above) Assault On Kara Van Null
Luke Mitchell Had Another Girlfriend For Around 5 Months, Who He Also Threatened With A Knife
A FORMER girlfriend of Luke Mitchell has told how he held a knife to her throat and threatened: “Dont move . . . or Ill gut you.”
Just months before he stabbed Jodi Jones to death, Mitchell grabbed the girl and pressed his prized Swiss Army knife against the frightened 14-year-olds neck.
The terrifying incident was just one example of Mitchells aggressive and unpredictable behaviour which disturbed his friends.
The pretty 14-year-old, who dated Mitchell for about five months in 2003, told how the teenage killer pounced on her in a community hall in the Dalkeith area.
The girl – who asked to remain anonymous – was walking alone through the hall, where the pair attended a youth club together, when he grabbed her from behind. He held the knife to her throat as he dragged her into a side room.
“I didnt know if he was joking around or not to begin with,” she said. “He said: Dont move or Ill gut you. At first I thought he was just mucking about, but then I started to feel threatened.
“I was sore round my neck, it was bright red afterwards. He had grabbed me round the neck with his arm and held the knife at my throat, saying he was going to cut me and stuff like that.
“I was nipping his arm to get him off me and after a couple of minutes he let me go. I went outside and just tried to ignore him, but then he came out as if it was all a laugh and said sorry.
“There was no reason for him to do it. He just pulled the knife from his pocket and grabbed me. I thought it was really strange.”
Soon after the incident, in May, 2003, the girl ended the fledgling relationship – just a month before Mitchell killed Jodi.
She broke things off after increasingly seeing a darker side to his personality. The final straw came when a friend told her Mitchell was seeing another girl – who she is now sure was Jodi.
It now appears Mitchell was seeing at least three different girls at the same time. The murder trial jury heard that the teenage killer had also been seeing Kim Thomson, a 15-year-old from Kenmore, Perthshire, who looked strikingly like Jodi.
Mitchell had stayed in touch with Kim, who considered him as her boyfriend, after meeting her on holiday in the summer of 2002.
The ex-girlfriend who Mitchell threatened with a knife told the Evening News she had initially found him charming, attractive and “basically a nice bloke”.
The pair were both 14 and went to the same youth club
“When I first saw him, everybody in the room was chatting and we started talking – asking whats your name? and that sort of thing,” she said.
“We got each others phone numbers and started texting each other quite a lot. He was good-looking and I liked talking to him. I thought he was really nice.”
The teenager followed the same goth-style fashion as Mitchell at the time, but shrugged it off as a fad and changed her image as she got older. She said they had got on well for a while, but then things had started to change.
“He sometimes showed a side that wasnt him. He was quite aggressive to me and to other people,” she added.
“He was really bad-tempered and he was totally unpredictable. He didnt want to be told what to do. I knew he carried weapons with him and he had a Swiss Army knife. I did wonder why he had it, but I never questioned him at all.”
The ex-girlfriend said shed had little contact with Mitchell since they broke up, but that he had threatened her friends when he saw them in the street.
She added: “When I heard he was a suspect I knew he must have been going out with Jodi when he was seeing me.
“I was really upset when I heard what he was supposed to have done.
“At first, I never thought he could have done it. But, as all the stuff started to come together, I started to think it was possible, that he could do this, because of the way he acted and what hed done to me.”
The full article contains 759 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Last Updated: 21 January 2005 2:52 PM
Another Knife Assault By Luke Mitchell On Another Girl Was Witnessed By Other Army Cadets “During one army cadet exercise, acquaintances remember the youngster approaching a girl from behind in a balaclava, and warning “it would be so easy to kill you” (Source Here)
A Former Army Cadet Said Of Luke Mitchell: “If he was told to do something by anyone he would get really angry and start shouting at people and throwing things about. People found that extremely weird”
Someone Else Stated Of Luke Mitchell: “He had what you might call friends, but most of them didnt really like him that much. They said he was strange”
May 2003: Michelle Tierney Recalled Luke Mitchell Saying Something Along The Lines Of “..he could just imagine himself going out and getting stoned and killing somebody and how funny it would be”
June 2003: Luke Mitchell Was Urinating In Bottles & Storing Them In His Bedroom
13th June 2003: Luke Mitchell Attended A Ramage Inc Gig Wearing Khaki Green Army Parka-Style Jacket (Read more here)
A Former Teacher Described Luke Mitchell As Looking Like A “Hooded Monk” In His Khaki Green Army Parka-Style Jacket
27th June 2003: Text Message From Girlfriend Kimberly Thomson To Luke Mitchell reading “Luke its Kim im at ma grans can u phone mi on (number) Love u xKimx”
27th June 2003 (Friday Night): Laura Wightman Told Police She Saw Luke Mitchell With A Knife Pouch While She Was In Pizza Hut With Jodi Jones & Luke
28th June 2003 (Saturday): Ben Sole Saw Jodi Jones & Luke Mitchell At Greyfriars Graveyard Smoking Cannabis
28th June 2003: Luke Mitchell Spent Over Three Hours On The Phone Talking To One Of His Other Girlfriends Called Kimberley Thomson, After Jodi Jones Left His House In A Taxi Back To Her Gran Alice Walkers House – To Be Back In Time For Her 22:00hrs Curfew. He Lied To The Police About Kimberley Thomson & Claimed He Hadn’t Seen Or Been In Contact With Her Since January 2003. Telephone Records Evidenced At Least 79 Calls Between Them
28th June 2003: Corinne Mitchell Went Out For A Meal With A Mr Fuller, By The Time They Returned To Newbattle Abbey Crescent, Luke Mitchell Was On His Own & Still On The Telephone To Kimberley Thomson (Source Trial Transcripts Here)
David Suttie Said “Luke seemed to have a lot of money and would show it quite openly, big piles of notes, twenties and tens”
30th June 2003 (Lunchtime): Alistair Leitch From Bonnyrigg Met Up With Jodi Jones & Luke Mitchell At The China Gardens: “They were smoking cannabis that day”
Luke Mitchell Told Police David High Had Bought Him A Cola Cola At Lunchtime & Jodi Jones Had Had Some Of It. A Brown Liquid Was Found In Her Stomach
“Rachel Quinn, 16, told the High Court in Edinburgh that she and Jodi would chat about Mr Mitchell on the school bus home. Miss Quinn said Jodi told her she would often go to Mr Mitchell’s house on evenings to ”muck about”. The fellow pupil also said Jodi’s mother told her she was not allowed to walk the path alone and that Mr Mitchell had to meet her at the top or at least halfway along” (Source Here)
30th June 2003 (16:50): Andrina Bryson Witnessed Seeing Jodi Jones & Luke Mitchell At The Entrance Of Roan’s Dyke Path & Describes Luke As Wearing His Khaki Green, Hip Length, Fishing Style Jacket. It’s Collar Was Up & It Had A Bulging Pocket
30th June 2003 (16:54): Luke Mitchell Telephoned The Speaking Clock
30th June 2003 (17:00-17:10): Leonard Kelly Heard A ‘Strangling’ Sound On The Other Side Of The Wall Near To The V Break As He Cycled Down Roan’s Dyke Path (Read More Here)
In court yesterday, Mr Kelly, from Easthouses, confirmed he had been for a ride on his mountain bike after work on Monday June 30, and said that as he made his way up the Roan’s Dyke path he heard a noise which gave him a start.
”I thought somebody had somebody in a headlock. It was a strangling sort of sound – a human,” he told the court, adding that the noise seemed to be coming from the other side of a wall bordering the path.
The witness said he was just over five minutes away from his house at that point and estimated that he would have returned home ”about 10 past to quarter past five,” that day.
Under cross-questioning by defence counsel Donald Findlay QC, the witness said: ”I was alarmed. The sound sort of gave me a fright.”
Excerpts from the Herald article headed Witness heard strangling sound near path the day Jodi died dated 1st December 2004
30th June 2003 (Approx 17:00-17:05): Killer Luke Mitchell Committed His Murder
So what was the motivation? Chief superintendent Craig Dobbie, who led the investigation, believes that Mitchell and Jodi had a furious row on the day of the murder after she discovered he was planning to take another girl on holiday. During the trial it emerged that he had been conducting a relationship with Kimberley Thomson, 15, from Perthshire, behind Jodi’s back and they had arranged to spend time together during the summer break.
I think he told her at lunchtime that day (of her death) and she wanted to see him that night to talk about it so they arranged to meet.”
According to Dobbie’s account, they ended up in the woods between their homes. “A situation developed and she suffered a blow to her face. Her lip is cut. We later found some blood on a tree trunk and the lip bleeds quite a lot when it is cut. I think at this point she turned around and headed eastwards towards home, towards safety. But then she was struck on the head with something like the limb of a tree. Then she was strangled, her head was pulled up and her throat was cut. At that point she was dead.
“After a ‘normal’ murder, the person who committed it is then going to leg it or hide the body. But in this case the body is stripped and cut. Someone is living out a fantasy at this stage. This is something someone has wanted to do. We are now trying to understand the mind of the killer. We know the difference between right and wrong. But this person is outwith that so it is very difficult to understand why. The trial has heard potential influences such as Marilyn Manson ’s depiction of the Black Dahlia.
“Jodi’s breast was cut. Her abdomen was cut, the gash on the face was identical, there was a hole in the forehead. It’s there and we can’t avoid this simulation. This was not about sex, it was about escalating violence and the opportunity to perform injuries. We are not talking about some poor wee soul who some guy has raped. This is most horrific.”
“In 85% of murder cases the attacker knows the victim, the local geography and lives within a five-mile radius,” said Dobbie. “I knew I wanted to eliminate all of Jodi’s male family members and associates, all the males who used that path and all local rough sleepers. Luke Mitchell was part of that group. A teacher from his school quickly came forward and raised concerns about the alarming writings in his jotter. That was worthy of further exploration. Was he into satan or dabbling, looking for an alternative religion or just sticking it up to his teachers? We couldn’t draw huge conclusions but were already learning that he carried knives. Then there was the incredulous discovery of the body.”
By early July, Mitchell had started to emerge as the prime suspect but the investigation was thwarted by a lack of any forensic evidence and with Mitchell’s almost unnatural resilience in the face of intense police scrutiny. What fascinated and frustrated detectives in equal measure was how a 14-year-old could commit such a frenzied attack and yet cover his tracks so efficiently.
More unsettling was the casual, contemptuous way he chatted with police dog handlers about their animals and mocked officers for allowing the bins in the street to be emptied before the search for a possible murder weapon had begun.
“He was always a very resilient, defiant and lippy lad,” said Dobbie. “He was much more confident than you would have expected. He was challenging and he liked to taunt. It was almost as if he was saying, ‘You’ll never solve this’.”
Excerpts from the Times article by Kenny Farquharson headed The murderous art that unmasked a cruel killer dated 23rd January 2005
Luke Mitchell’s Friend “Tomb Raider” Sonny Devlin Broke Into A Mausoleum In Greyfriars Cemetary (Source Here)
Dupe Rozlyn Little: Luke “Mitchell recalls the day of the murder and how he was forced to lead the police to the area where Jodi’s body lay”
1st July 2003: Murderer Luke Mitchell Made A 22 Page Statement At Dalkeith Police Station, With His Mother Corinne Mitchell Sat Next To Him
..we still had to be aware that Luke was providing a statement voluntarily and that he may have been deeply traumatised at the time
Excerpt from the Scotsman article headed The clues that snared a murderer dated 21st January 2005
[159] The accused and his mother were interviewed at Dalkeith Police Station, while Alice Walker, Janine Jones and Steven Kelly, the other members of the search party, were interviewed at Newbattle Police Station.
LUKE MITCHELL v. HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE
1st July: Leonard Kelly Contacted The Police To Tell Them He Heard Murder Attack Taking Place Behind The Wall Near The V On Roan’s Dyke Path On His Way Home From A Bike Ride
1st July: Andrina Bryson Contacted The Police To Tell Them She Had Seen Jodi Jones🌻 & Luke Mitchell At The Easthouses Entrance Of Roan’s Dyke Path At 16:48 The Previous Evening
1st July 2003: Dc Michelle Lindsay appointed Mitchell family liaison officer. “She was appointed on 1 July 2003 and contacted the Mitchell family that evening. She spoke to the appellant’s mother, Corinne Mitchell. She went to see the family, and visited regularly afterwards
Police Received More Than 140 Telephone Calls From The Public With The First 24 Hours Of Their Investigation (Source Here)
2nd July 2003 (11:00): Police Family Liaison Officer Dc Michelle Lindsay Arrived At The Mitchell House & Killer Luke Mitchell Drew A Sketch Plan Relating To His Murder Scene
[160] Thereafter the evidence of Detective Constable Lindsay proceeded. She said inter alia that she went to the house at about 11 o’clock on 2 July. On the television in the livingroom there was a news item about the killing of Jodi Jones. She asked the appellant a question as to which way Jodi would have walked. He replied that she would have come out of the house, walked down the side of the janitor’s house (i.e. Roan’s Dyke House), past the back of the school, and down the Roan’s Dyke Path. Detective Constable Lindsay said she knew the path. She asked him where this was. The appellant offered to draw her a sketch of the route, which was production No. 14. He marked Jodi’s house with a cross, and then showed arrows from there, past the janitor’s house (Roan’s Dyke House) on to the junction with the Lady Path and thereafter on the other side of the wall from the Roan’s Dyke Path which he marked with a hatched line and the word “path”, to the point which he marked with an X and the words “body found”. The wall was shown as a solid line. Detective Constable Lindsay said that the appellant told her he was aware that there was a hole in the wall at the junction and a small path close to the wall. The arrows were shown on the woodland side of the wall. She asked him if he had been down this route. He said that there was not a very good path and he had only been a short way down.
LUKE MITCHELL v. HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE
2nd July 2003: Dc Michelle Lindsay “..was at their house on Wednesday 2 July 2003 and was present when there was a news item on the television. The appellant was there and she spoke to him about the content of the news item. At that stage she knew where the body had been found. She asked the appellant where Jodi Jones would have gone, and he offered to draw a sketch plan” (Source CoA judgement)
2nd July 2003: Police Released A Photograph Of Jodi Jones & Stated They Believed Murderer To Be Local (Source Here)
Murder squad officers believe whoever carried out the frenzied attack on the Lothian schoolgirl must have known the tree-lined walkway where the murder took place.
Excerpt from article dated 2nd July 2003 headed Police believe Jodi’s killer is a local man
2nd July 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Went To Sainsbury’s Supermarket & Bought Himself The Marilyn Manson DVD Which Showed ‘Flash Images Of A Young Girl Who Is Naked’
Manson had an exhibition of the same name publicised on his website, which included images depicting the death of the actress Elizabeth Short, also known as “The Black Dahlia”, who was mutilated and murdered in Los Angeles in 1947.
Professor Anthony Busuttil, the pathologist who examined Jodi’s body, gave evidence that while not identical there was some similarity between the location and the injuries inflicted on Jodi and those on the actress.
Excerpts from Jane Hamilton’s article for the Daily Record headed The hard facts that prove Luke Mitchell murdered Jodi Jones in cold blood dated 2nd March 2021
Alan Turnbull QC asked the jury if they thought a “grieving young man who had accidentally stumbled on the mutilated and naked body of his girlfriend” would get any comfort from such a film
2nd July 2003: Judith Jones (Jodi Jones🌻Mother) Visited Killer Luke Mitchell
2nd/3rd July 2003: Kara Van Null Stated Of Killer Luke Mitchell “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”
2nd/3rd July 2003: “..as detectives went about their door-to-door inquiries in Dalkeith, Luke Mitchell had spoken to officers in the street about music containing murderous themes. Displaying the arrogance he was to show throughout the case, he asked if the policeman knew the song Kim by the rapper Eminem” Source
3rd July 2003: Carol Heatlie First Contacted The Police To Tell Them She Had Seem Killer Luke Mitchell Standing On A Pavement On Newbattle Abbey Road Then Step Back Into A Driveway
3rd July 2003: Around 10,000 School Pupils Across Midlothian Were Issued With Safety Advice Information (Source Here)
3rd July 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Left Flowers As A Ruse, At The Entrance Of Footpath Near To Where He Committed His Murder
3rd July 2003: Police Suspicion Fell On Luke Mitchell
It wasn’t until July 3 that our suspicions about Luke increased. We had a degree of suspicion, but not enough to detain him.
Things were starting to piece together – things his school friends were saying about him carrying knives; the sighting by the witness Andrina Bryson – who claimed she had seen Luke with a girl standing at the top of the Roan’s Dyke path on the day she was killed; and, most importantly, the difference in the statements given by Jodi’s family about how Jodi’s body had been found and Luke’s version of events
Statements made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
3rd July 2003: Last Day Of School Before End Of Term Summer Holiday (Source Here)
Friday 4th July 2003: Murderer Luke Mitchell Questioned Under Caution, Brown Handled Jack Pyke Knife, Two Other Knives & Khaki Green Parka-Style Jacket Missing
We made it clear he was under caution – it was only fair to him to do so. This was when he further entrenched his position
This was a few days on after the killing so what he was saying at this stage was probably more accurate
There were critical differences in what he was saying about when the body was found. The family were consistent in their evidence
They all said Luke never walked past the V in the wall before climbing over and discovering the body.But Luke’s version was completely different
He said he walked past the wall a considerable distance and the dog reacted at the point relating to where Jodi’s body was
We couldn’t get away from this conflict in versions.We tried to eliminate Luke from our inquiries but we just couldn’t
Statements made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
4th July 2003: Murderer Luke Mitchell’s House Searched & 20 Bottles Filled With Urine Found, Along With A Marilyn Manson DVD, Pornographic Books, Two Rats In Glass Jar, A Marilyn Manson Calendar Bought As A Gift By His Father Philip Mitchell & Philip’s Partner
We spoke to friends, school teachers and others who knew Mitchell and established he had a parka jacket. The eye witnesses had also made references to a long parka style jacket.
His mother said he had never owned one
When we searched the house, the parka was missing
But friends and family were adamant that he owned one. We also had the information about the wood burner and we started to paint a picture
Statements made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
4th July 2003: Police Released Video Footage Of Jodi Jones (Source Here)
5th July 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Was Due To Visit Kimberley Thomson In Kenmore
5th July 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Seen By Ben Sole At The Studio 24 Nightclub In Edinburgh’s Carlton Road. Ben Sole, who had known him from Kings park primary, Stated “…he was having a great time and he was joking about with me” & “He just carried on as normal – he seemed like he was having a really good time. He just carried on living life”
5th July 2003: Judith Jones (Jodi Jones🌻 Mother) Visited Killer Luke Mitchell To Ask Him Why He Had Not Phoned Her Back After His 17:40 Phone Call (on 30th June). He Told Judith He Thought She Had ‘Grounded’ Jodi🌻
Referring To Laura Wightman, Maggie Barry Stated Here “Within days of Jodi’s murder he had replaced her with another girl. Within weeks of Jodi’s death, Mitchell was having sex with one of her best friends. When he was banned from Jodi’s funeral, Mitchell took his new girlfriend to her graveside knowing it would attract attention”
6th July 2003: Corinne Mitchell Gave A Police Witness Statement In Which She Provided A False Alibi For Her Killer Son
6th July 2003: Police Reconstruction “A policewoman will act out the harrowing final moments of Jodi’s life in a further bid to jog the memories of anyone who may have been in the Easthouses area of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, last Monday night – the evening she was brutally killed” (Source Here)
7th July 2003: Shane Mitchell Gave A Police Witness Statement In Which He Provided A Fake Alibi For His Killer Brother
8th July 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Bought A Replacement Army Style, Khaki Green Jacket & T-Shirt From Flip In Edinburgh
8th July 2003: Staff From Flip Inc In Edinburgh Tipped Police Off About Killer Luke Mitchell Buying A Replacement Khaki Green Jacket
9th July 2003: Anniversary of James (Jimmy) Jones’ Passing
12th July 2003: DNA Testing Carried Out On Locals
14th July 2003: More Witnesses Came Forward About A Knife Killer Luke Mitchell Owned & Had Showed To Friends After Receiving It As A Christmas Present, But It Had Since Disappeared
15th July 2003: The Herald Reported Here That “..yesterday a police spokesman declined to comment on reports that a 14-year-old youth had been questioned in connection with a missing knife. It is understood the boy had shown the knife off to friends after receiving it as a Christmas present, but it has since disappeared”
14th August 2003: Murderer Luke Mitchell Faced Further Questioning By Police & His Father Philip Mitchell’s House In Livingston Was Searched
In August we detained Luke for further questioning. We searched his house again and his father’s house but still there was no evidence of the jacket that we believed to have existed before the murder, or of any knife
Statement made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
14th August 2003: Andrina Bryson Was Showed A Book Of 12 Photographs & Picked Out Killer Luke Mitchell. She Stated “Image four is very, very like the male I saw at the top of the path. “He had the same shape of face, same colouring and same colour and style of hair. I am as sure as I can be that it is the same male” (Source Here)
14th August 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Was Described As “Calculating, Clever & Dishonest” During His Police Interview & Made Contradictory Statements Concerning His Failure To Raise The Alarm. He Lied About His Use Of Cannabis & About The Amount Of Contact He Had With Kimberly Thomson. He Also Had ‘Outbursts’ During The Interview Which Demonstrated His Temper & Arrogance
15th August 2003: Murderer Luke Mitchell Orchestrated A ‘Photoshoot’ In Replacement Khaki Green Parka Style Jacket
At this stage, unless Luke gave us a confession or took us to the knife, we did not want to arrest him. We did not want to go down that road unless we were 100 per cent confident the circumstantial evidence we had was correct
Statement made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
Grace McLean From The Daily Mail Interviewed Killer Luke Mitchell A Few Days After His 14th August Police Interview (Source Here)
Killer Luke Mitchell Told Grace McLean “The cops asked me about my relationship with Jodi’s friend Laura” “They asked me about Laura and if I wanted it to be just the two of us and asked if that was why I killed Jodi” (Source Here)
19th August 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Was Asked Not To Go To School Until Friday 22nd August (Source here & Here)
20th August 2003: School Term Started Back
22nd August 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Returned To School (Source here)
September: Corinne Mitchell Sent A Letter To Judith Jones Asking That A Poem By Her & Her Killer Son Was Read Out During Jodi Jones’🌻Funeral
3rd September 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell & His Accomplice In His Innocence Fraud, Mother Corinne Mitchell Orchestrated A TV Interview On The Day Of Jodi Jones🌻Funeral
3rd September 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell & His Adoptee Mother Corinne Mitchell Disrespect Jodi Jones🌻 Loved Ones Further By Visiting The Graveside, Along With Luke’s New Girlfriend Laura Wightman, Whilst Reporters Took Photographs Of Them All
3rd September 2003: Judith Jones Took The Flowers Bought By The Killer & Put Them On The Mitchell’s Doorstep
4th September 2003: Sadistic Killer Luke Mitchell Called The Police To His Home & Alleged He Was The “Victim Of A Media Circus”, After Having Orchastrated The Sky TV Interview & Taking His New Girlfriend Laura W To Jodi Jones🌻 Gravesite. The Police Left After Informing Him Their Were No Grounds For Action (Source Here)
5th September 2003: Killer Luke Mitchell Made “Rude Hand-Signs” To The Media (Source Here)
8th September 2003: Monday – Killer Luke Mitchell Returned To School & Was Suspended
10th September 2003: News That Killer Luke Mitchell Had Requested A Move To Another School (Source here)
October 2003: Grounds To Report To Procurator Fiscal
It wasn’t until October that we believed that we had grounds to report Luke to the procurator fiscal for a circumstantial case
After carrying out their own investigations, and interviewing witnesses they supported us and, eventually, a warrant was issued for Luke’s arrest in April, 2004
Statement made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared a murderer
7th October 2003: 15 Year Old Murderer Luke Mitchell Committed Fraud At Whiplash Trash, Using The Name Of His Mother Corinne Mitchell’s Friend Ian Tyler & Got A Tattoo To “Celebrate End Of Difficult Time” According To His Mother Corinne Mitchell
Raymond McCloy, 33, a tattoo artist who was working in the shop, told jurors he tattooed a male in October 2003 “who was identified to me as the accused in this trial”
He said that the male produced a birth certificate to show that he was a couple of months over the age of 18 and a photographic identity card.
The woman said the tattoo was a belated birthday present and was something of a “celebration” to help put a “difficult time” for the family behind them, it was claimed.
Excerpt from 18th January 2005 article headed Jodi trial told of false claim by mother in tattoo shop Witness identifies Mitchell as customer
7th October 2003: Corinne Mitchell Stated To Members Of Staff At Whiplash Trash re: Killer Luke Mitchell’s Demonic Tattoo “that’s really him”
19th November 2003: Panel Of “Education Officials” Refused Permission For Killer Luke Mitchell To Return To His Old School (Source Here)
4th December 2003: Corinne Mitchell Bought Killer Luke Mitchell A Replacement ‘Skunting’ Knife (Source Page 2348 Of Corinne Mitchell’s Trial Testimony Here)
Killer Luke Mitchell Attacked His Uncle Des Guetta With A Baseball Bat
2nd March 2004: Killer Luke Mitchell Challenged The Procurator Fiscal To “Put Up Or Shut Up” Via His Solicitor Nigel Beaumont (Source Here)
March 2004: Grace McLean From The Daily Mail Interviewed Killer Luke Mitchell (Source here)
7th April 2004: Warrant Granted In Relation To Luke Muir Mitchell (Source Here)
14th April 2004: Murderer Luke Mitchell Arrested
It was on this day that Mitchell’s house was searched again and Shane Mitchell admitted he had been looking at porn on the internet on the day of Jodi’s death.
Statements made by detective chief superintendent Craig Dobbie reported by The Scotsman on the 21st January 2005 in article headed The clues that snared ta murderer
He said he would not have done this if there was other people in the house – which did not support Luke’s alibi that he was at home with Shane at the time Jodi was killed
When we searched the house we also found a knife pouch with the inscription Jodi Jones ‘1989-2003’ and the numbers 666 written on it and one of Jodi’s favourite quotes. It was like some kind of memorial to Jodi
We made inquiries and discovered that Mrs Mitchell had bought a knife which came with a pouch identical to this one in December 2003. She said she had bought it for him to go on a camping trip. But why purchase that knife. It seemed bizarre, bearing in mind Jodi had been killed and that her son was a suspect
We started to question whether that knife was a replacement to one he had previously
14th April 2004: When Arrested, Killer Luke Mitchell Was Found To Have Cannabis Resin & Herbal Cannabis In His Pockets. More Cannabis Was Found In His Bedroom, Along With A Bong For Smoking The Drug, A Number Of Pipes, A Set Of Scales & Plastic Bags
14th April 2004: Corrine & Shane Mitchell Arrested (Source Here)
14th April 2004: Belinda Jack Taken Into Police Custody
14th April 2004: Killer Luke Mitchell Told Police The Replacement Black Handled Knife Was His ‘Fish Knife’
Laura Wightman Told Police Killer Luke Mitchell Had Told Her The Replacement Black Handled Knife Was “Only For Cutting Weed”
Corinne Mitchell Claimed To Police The Replacement Black Handled Knife Was For “A Camping Trip”
Referring To Ex Girlfriend Laura Wightman The Herald Stated Here “..one friend sided with Mitchell forming an intimate relationship with him in the aftermath of the killing. Despite her initial loyalty, she and Mitchell became estranged and the 15-year-old was later diagnosed with a severe depressive disorder, exacerbated by the heavy use of cannabis and the trauma of her friends murder. Increasing doubts over Mitchell’s innocence may have contributed to her condition”
November 2004: Killer Luke Mitchell Had A New Girlfriend Called Gemma Chapman (Source Here) “..it was discovered that the then girlfriend of the appellant had a connection with a juror: she used to be the girlfriend of that juror’s son, who himself had attended the same school as the appellant and the deceased. The trial was deserted pro loco et tempore”
November 2004: More Than 100 Witnesses Were Reported To Give Evidence During The Trial Before Lord Nimmo Smith
SEE WITNESS LIST & TIMELINE Here
Sadistic Killer Luke Mitchell Apparently Turned His Room At St Mary’s Secure Unit in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow Into A Shrine To Satan & Boasted Before The Jury’s Verdict That He Would ‘Get Away With It’ (Source Here)
21st January 2005: Sadistic Teen Killer & Sexual Deviant Luke Mitchell Found Guilty
2005: “I enjoy taste of blood.. I can smell it and it drives me crazy” ~ Killer Luke Mitchell
MURDERER Luke Mitchell has admitted his blood lust in warped letters to a girl pen pal.
The teenager, serving 20 years for butchering girlfriend Jodi Jones, wrote:
“I’m really more of a vampiristic type person.
“I enjoy the taste of blood, mine, my pals. I can smell it and it drives me crazy. I love the taste !”
(Luke) Mitchell, 16, also revealed his obsession with Satanism, adulation of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and love of Goth rocker Marilyn Manson.
He wrote:
“I love Manson! There’s not one thing I like best ’bout him, just him! His attitude of ‘F*** You’ This is me, I am.”
And he shrugs off his sentence by writing:
“Ho hum, 20 years. I expected that anyway… s**t happens!”
But (Luke) Mitchell says in his letter from Polmont Young Offenders’ Institute, Stirlingshire:
“The Black Dahlia case didn’t interest me ’til I got arrested, then I found out the cops were saying I copied it.
“Since then I’ve researched it, but I’ve never fantasised ’bout it, it’s a sick case.”
(Luke) Mitchell, who is appealing his conviction, also admitted to researching Satanism and said he may start his own sex cult.
Excerpts by Frank Hurley for article headed JODI KILLER LUKE’S SICK PRISON LETTERS dated 2005
INNOCENCE FRAUD WATCH 
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