Leonard Kelly was said to never be the same after he witnessed hearing 14 year old Jodi Jones being violently attacked and murdered on 30th June 2003, by her self-confessed ‘violent goth’ of a cheating boyfriend.
Although Leonard never saw Luke Mitchell commit his murder, he heard it when he was cycling along Roan’s Dyke path in Dalkeith, Scotland at around 5:00-5:05pm.
After finishing work Leonard Kelly had gone out for some exercise on his mountain bike.
It was early the following morning (1st July) when Leonard first learned that a young girl’s body had been found near Roan’s Dyke path.
As soon as Leonard Kelly heard through the local grapevine, he immediately contacted the police.
He told the call handler what he had witnessed, of when and where he had witnessed it and how he had heard the attack taking place – behind the wall.
Leonard Kelly explained to the police how it had alarmed him and given him a fright.
Although at the time he had heard the attack, he thought it might have been “two laddies fighting”
I thought somebody had somebody in a headlock
It was a strangling sort of sound – a human
It was a human sound, a restriction
It sounded like a gargling restriction of somebody’s throat
It came from the other side of the wall which ran on my left
I slowed down and kept listening but I never heard anything else so I continued on
I said to police in my statement that I heard a motorcycle in the woods on the other side of the wall. It seemed quite far away from the wall
Leonard Kelly – Edinburgh High Court (30th November 2004)
It was reported at the time of killer Luke Mitchell’s 2004/05 trial that the judge, Lord Nimmo Smith had asked Leonard Kelly whether he had been worried about the fact that he had not stopped at the time, to which he was reported to have replied;
‘Course I was
It was also reported that Donald Findlay QC had told Leonard not to reproach himself.
At this Leonard was reported to have stated;
It’s easy for you to say
But sadly and devastatingly reproach himself he did.
A Changed Man Who Blamed Himself For Never Looking Over The Wall
Leonard Kelly had continuous nightmares and would wake up screaming after witnessing what he had that fateful day.
Due to a lack of aftercare coupled with continuous nightmares and flashbacks, Leonard Kelly began to self medicate with drugs and alcohol.
He was a changed man.
Racked with guilt and blaming himself for never having looked over the wall.
Leonard Kelly passed away prematurely in September 2018 following a tragic accident. He was said to have fallen whilst under the influence of alcohol and died from the fall.
It is believed Leonard Kelly’s decline in mental health and premature death, links back to Luke Mitchell’s murder.
INNOCENCE FRAUD WATCH 