Philip Joseph found Barry George far more competent than he made himself out to be to.
A media article stated;
Dr Philip Joseph, another leading psychiatrist who was called by the prosecution, said George was “far more competent” than tests would suggest and capable of lying in police interviews.
While some of his behaviour could be attributed to his epilepsy and cognitive impairment, his stalking of women appeared to stem from an “intense anger” caused by rejection, Dr Joseph said.
Niamh Horan, who’s 1st of October 2023 article for the Irish independent was referred to in Part 16here and Part 17here, also made the following statements – in which she quoted Michelle Diskin Bates;
Following his acquittal, the family — including George — visited the Isle of Wight for a holiday.
She says her brother moved to Ireland not to escape media attention, but “to escape the police”.
“A horrible thing happened to a 16-year-old girl in the area where we were staying.
She was attacked,” Diskin Bates recalls.
“Weeks later I had gone back to Ireland and the [British] police wanted to speak with Barry.”
Diskin Bates says after the Isle of Wight attack her brother’s solicitor had asked the police if George was a suspect and they had said no.
But then, “the police went to my mother’s home anyway where they thought Barry was staying.
“She said, ‘If you want to know what happened, speak to my daughter.’
Nobody ever came near me, but I had to almost secrete Barry out of the country of his birth and get him into Ireland where he would be safe.”
Niamh Horgan for the Irish Independent article headed ‘My brother was cleared of Jill Dando’s murder, but he won’t be free until the real killer is caught’ dated 1st October 2023
As already stated in Part 20 of this blog series here, Barry George spent the night of the 8th August 2008 in a hotel in London.
On the 9th August 2008 he then travelled to Southsea, which is near Portsmouth with his sister Michelle and mother Margaret, where they met up with innocence fraud killer Sion Jenkins and his wife Tina.
Barry George, his sister and mother then travelled across to the Isle of Wight for around thirteen days, where they stayed in the Farringford house hotel.
Michelle Diskin Bates stated that it was Barry Loveday from Portsmouth university who had recommended Farringford house to her. Michelle stated in 2018;
Barry Loveday had suggested a hotel to me on the Isle of Wight. It was on the other side of the island, furthest away from the ferry ports, but that was not the only reason for the recommendation. He had felt that we would benefit from a little luxury, and also the peace and privacy this hotel complex could provide. It would be the perfect retreat for our little family to start getting to know each other again.
Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in October 2018
There is no evidence anywhere that Barry George was a suspect in relation to the alleged attack on a 16 year-old girl.
However what there was evidence of – was someone (or more than one person) feeding the media with numerous stories.
Birds Of A Feather
A 30th August 2008 media article stated;
Barry George and Sion Jenkins, both wrongly convicted of two of Britain’s most notorious murders, have struck up an unlikely close friendship.
He had vowed to return to his flat in Fulham, South West London, after wrongly serving seven years in jail.
Mr Jenkins, 50, was sentenced to life in 1998 for the murder of his 13-year-old foster daughter Billie-Jo, who was battered to death with a metal tent spike in the garden of their home in Hastings, East Sussex.
He was released on appeal in 2004. Two retrials failed when neither jury could agree a verdict and Mr Jenkins was formally acquitted of murder in February, 2006.
His first wife Lois divorced him after his conviction and moved to Tasmania with their four daughters. After Mr Jenkins’s release he married Tina, a nurse and mother of one, who wrote to him while he was in prison.
She sold her £1million mews home in Belgravia and the couple moved to Southsea.
A source said that Mr Jenkins first met Ms Diskin at a seminar on miscarriages of justice run by Barry Loveday, a reader in criminal justice administration at the University of Portsmouth.
The source added that Mr Jenkins had told Ms Diskin that her brother could stay with him if he needed a place away from media attention after his release.
A spokesman for Mr George said: ‘I am aware they are good friends and I can confirm they have spent time together since Barry’s release.’
Mr George, who lives in Hackney, East London, is said to have spent a week on holiday with Mr Jenkins on the Isle of Wight last month.
He also stayed at the home Mr Jenkins shares with his second wife Tina in Southsea, Hampshire, for three days.
Last night, the Mail was told it was not a permanent arrangement.
Mr George, who has spent seven years in jail, still plans to move back to Fulham, West London, where Miss Dando was murdered.
Mr George’s spokesman, Surjit Singh Clair, said: ‘The men are friends, I can confirm that. I think the friendship started around six months ago and it was cemented when Barry came out.’
After his release, Mr George admitted he could not have shot dead Miss Dando on the doorstep of her Fulham home, as he was stalking another woman at the time.
Two weeks ago, the convicted sex attacker was stopped and searched by police after making several visits to the BBC Crimewatch presenter’s former home.
How Long Was Surjit Singh Clair Stirring Things Up For?
Surjit Singh Clair’s name came up in further media articles around this time, including one in which it was stated Barry George had visited his “murder scene twice;”
Last night George’s agent confirmed he had visited the murder scene twice since his release.
Surjit Singh Clair said: “Yes, it’s true Barry has been back to Gowan Avenue twice.
“In his mind he wants to clear what he says are the demons from his past.
“His supporters have also urged him to do it, saying it would be a healthy thing to do for him to help him move on with his life.
“Friday was a routine stop and search in Hackney, nothing more.
“Earlier he had been to Fulham to see a friend but wouldn’t tell me any more I’m afraid.”
There was also an article written by David Jones for the DailyMail in which Surjit Singh Clair had again stated Barry George had mentioned visiting his victims “grave a few times”.
David Jones also referred to receiving an “angry email” from Michelle Diskin Bates.
Excerpts from David Jones article read;
During the interview he gave (or rather sold for £80,000) to a down-market tabloid after his release, George insisted he was never fixated with the 37-year-old star, as the prosecution had alleged.
Yet if George wasn’t obsessed with Jill at the time she was murdered, he certainly is now.
He spends hour upon hour poring over books and websites about her – and, now, with a breathtaking lack of insight into the likely furore, he aims to travel 150miles from London to the West Country.
‘Barry has mentioned visiting the grave a few times,’ his spokesman Surjit Singh Clair told me this week.
‘It’s something he definitely wants to do. He just feels there’s a connection between them – they’ve been tragically brought together.’
George has also discussed his plans with his confidante, his sister, Michelle Diskin.
‘Barry spent eight years in jail for a murder he didn’t do,’ Mr Singh Clair said.
‘He’s become entwined with her life and she has played a huge part in his. He wants to exorcise Jill’s ghost, and say: “I don’t want you to think I hold any hard feelings against you.”
Regrettably, it is. George’s spokesman says he might request permission from Jill’s family – and if so, he could receive a surprisingly favourable reaction.
For with remarkable magnanimity, Nigel Dando said that he would not object to the visit. ‘It might give Mr George cause to ponder and reflect,’ he said, when told of George’s plans.
‘If he looks respectable and takes flowers, and perhaps goes with a friend or relative rather than slinking around on his own, then it wouldn’t look too bad. It’s his personal choice.’
Regrettably, it is. George’s spokesman says he might request permission from Jill’s family – and if so, he could receive a surprisingly favourable reaction.
For with remarkable magnanimity, Nigel Dando said that he would not object to the visit. ‘It might give Mr George cause to ponder and reflect,’ he said, when told of George’s plans.
Mr Singh Clair is a Midlands-based freelance journalist who was enlisted by the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO) to promote George’s cause four years ago, when he was battling to overturn his murder conviction.
He brokered the £80,000 interview deal after George’s acquittal, and he is now among the trusted inner circle who proffer assistance to George…
Others in ‘Team Barry’ include his sister, who flits between London and her home in Cork, his careworn 72-year-old mother, Margaret, and an old friend named Robert Charig, who can’t work because he suffers a neurological complaint, and so has time to dispense sympathy and homespun advice.
Fringe members of the coterie include Sion Jenkins, who was cleared of murdering his own 13-year-old foster daughter Billie-Jo in 2006, after serving six years of a life sentence.
This week, Mr Jenkins denied reports that George has stayed at his Hampshire home, but admitted having met him and lent his support.
Meanwhile, a few weeks later, a 26-year-old woman complained to the police that a man fitting George’s description had pestered her as she served in an upmarket speciality tea and coffee shop in West London.
The most recent story surfaced only last weekend.
George was reported to have cycled seven miles across London in the rain to the HQ of Sky News, marched in unannounced and insisted on meeting the woman who interviewed him after his release – glamorous news anchor Kay Burley.
George’s people dismiss all these damaging claims as a concoction of lies and half-truths.
Their man was on a pelican crossing when he was stopped on suspicion of ‘casing’ cars in Hackney, they say. He has complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and two of his support workers, who just happened to be watching, will be his witnesses.
In an angry email to me this week, Michelle Diskin claimed her brother was the victim of a media-driven plot designed to smear and intimidate him.
“The main charge alleges that on June 30 last year in a wooded area near Roan’s Dyke, between Easthouses Road and Newbattle Road, he assaulted Jodi. Mitchell is said to have repeatedly struck her on the head and body, compressed and constricted her neck and restricted her breathing and caused her to fall to the ground. He is alleged to have applied a ligature around her arms and repeatedly struck her on the head, mouth and body with a knife or similar instrument and murdered her. Between January 1 and June 30 last year, the teenager is charged with carrying a knife or knives. That is said to have happened at various places in Dalkeith and in Kenmore, Perthshire. And a third charge accuses him of supplying cannabis to 20 people, including Jodi, between January 1 last year and April 14 this year. The locations include Roan’s Dyke and Greyfriars Cemetery in Edinburgh” (Source Here)
Friday 12th November 2004: Alan Murray, Dc Rory Hamilton, Keith Campbell, Alistair Leitch, David Suttie & Ben Sole Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Tuesday 16th November 2004: Trial Halted & Judge Ordered New Trial (Source Here)
Wednesday 18th November 2004: New Jury Sworn In (Source Here & Here)
Thursday 19th November 2004: Trial Re-Starts With A New Jury (Source Here)
Alan Murray, Dc Rory Hamilton, Keith Campbell, Alistair Leitch, David Suttie & Ben Sole Would Have Been Required To Give Their Evidence Again In Front Of The New Jury
Monday 22nd November 2004: Robert Gilhooly & Matthew MuraskaGave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Tuesday 23rd November 2004: David Tullock & John Ferris Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Wednesday 24th November 2004: Gordon Dickie, Ashley Coutts & Alexander Hamilton Gave Evidence(Source Here)
Thursday 25th November 2004: Michelle Tierney, Geraldine Mackie & Allan Ovens Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Friday 26th November 2004: Judith Jones Gave EvidenceAllen OvansTRIAL TESTIMONY HERE (Source Here)
Monday 29th November 2004: Rachel Quinn & Andrina Bryson Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Tuesday 30th November 2004: Leonard Kelly Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Thursday 2nd December 2004: Dean Houston & Grant Elliot Gave Evidence Rosemary Walsh TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE Andrew Holburn TRIAL TESTIMONYHERECarol Heatlie TRIAL TESTIMONYHERE (Media Article Here, Here & Here)
Friday 3rd December 2004: David High TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE (Media Articles Here, Here & Here)
Monday 6th December 2004: George Ramage, Nicholas Frankland & Patricia Frankland Gave Evidence (Source Here)
Tuesday 9th December 2004: Trial Adjourned Until Wednesday (Source Here)
Wednesday 8th December 2004: Jury Visited Killer Luke Mitchell’s Crime Scene (Source Here & Here)
Thursday 9th December 2004: High Court Was Convened To Laigh Hall, In Parliament House Where A Replica Of A Stretch Of The Roan Dyke’s Wall Had Been Erected – Janine Jones TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Friday 10th December 2004: Janine Jones TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE Steven Kelly TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Friday Lunchtime: Killer Luke Mitchell Claimed He Became Unwell At Lunchtime So Trial Was Adjouned Until Monday (Source Here)
Monday 13th December 2004: Steven Kelly TRIAL TESTIMONY (SEE 10th Dec LINK) Media Article Here – Alice Walker TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Tuesday 14th December 2004: Derek Scrimger & Mark Heron Gave Evidence (Source Here)
Wednesday 15th December 2004: Jonathan Whitaker & Susan Ure Gave Evidence (Source Here)
Thursday 16th December 2004: Brian Clifton & Dc Stephen Livingstone Gave Evidence (Source Here) Pc Anita Dow TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Friday 17th December 2004: Dc Steven Livingston Gave Evidence (Source Here) Parts Of Killer Luke Mitchell’s 22 Page Written Witness Statement Read To The JuryDc Alan Towers TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Monday 20th December 2004: Parts Of Killer Luke Mitchell’s 22 Page Written Witness Statement Read To The Jury (Source Here& Here)Dc Alan Towers TRIAL TESTIMONY HEREDc Michelle Lindsay TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Tuesday 21st December 2004: Dc Michelle Lindsay’s Evidence Was Cut Short For Legal Argument’s On Monday & Resumed On Tuesday Dc Stephen Quinn Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here & Here) Jury Heard Killer Luke Mitchell’s Recorded Police Interview From 4th July 2003
Wednesday 22nd December 2004: Dc Stephen Quinn Continued To Give EvidenceRe Killer Luke Mitchell
Thursday 23rd December 2004: Dc Stephen Quinn Continued To Give Evidence Re Killer Luke Mitchell (Source Here)Marilyn Manson DVD Played For Jury (Media Article Here) Sgt George Thomson TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE
Friday 24th December 2004: Sgt George Thomson Gave Further Evidence (Source Here)
Wednesday 29th December 2004: Sgt George Thomson TRIAL TESTIMONY HEREJury Heard Parts Of Killer Luke Mitchell’s Recorded Police Interview From 14th August 2003
Thursday 30th December 2004: Sgt George Thomson TRIAL TESTIMONY HEREJury Heard More Of Killer Luke Mitchell’s Police Interview From The 14th August 2003 & Kimberley Thomson Gave Evidence (Source Here)
Wednesday 5th January 2005: Dc Brian Melrose Gave Evidence Re Killer Luke Mitchell & Paragraphs Of Laura Wightman’s July 2003 & September 2004 Witness Statements Were Read To The Jury (Source Here)
Thursday 6th January 2005: Dc Adam Brunton & Anthony Busuttil Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here)
Friday 7th January 2005: Anthony Busuttil Continued To Give Evidence, Derek Morris Gave Evidence & Statement Of Pathologist For Defence Read To Jury (Source Here)
Monday 10th January 2005: DI William Cravens (Media Arricles Here & Here) – Shane Mitchell TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE – Trial Later Adjourned Because Juror Became Unwell
Tuesday 11th January 2005: Trial Was Adjourned Because Juror Was Unwell (Source Here)
Wednesday 12th January 2005: Shane Mitchell TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE (Media Article Here)
Thursday 13th January 2005: Shane Mitchell TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE Corinne Mitchell TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE (Media Article Here)
Friday 14th January 2005: Corinne Mitchell TRIAL TESTIMONY HERE (Media Article Here)
Monday 17th January 2005: Natalie Wright, Raymond McCloy, James Aitken, DCI Ronald Miller, Dr Kranti Hiremath, Marion O’Sullivan & Derek Hamilton Gave Evidence (Source Here & Here & Here)
Tuesday 18th January 2005: Prosecutor Alan Cauldwell Gave Closing Speech To Jury (Source Here)
Charges Against Killer Luke Mitchell For Knife Possession Between 1st May To December 2003 Were Formally Dropped (Source Here)
Wednesday 19th January 2005: Donald Findlay, Defending Killer Luke Mitchell, Gave His Closing Speech To The Jury (Source Here)
Sadistic Teen 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)
Corinne Mitchell Was Apparently Planning A “Homecoming Party” For Her Killer Son (Source Here)
Thursday 20th January 2005: Jury Retired To Consider Their VerdictAt 11:26am At 4:19pm The Jury Were “Nowhere Near Reaching A Verdict” (Source Here)
Friday 21st January 2005: The Jury Returned With Their Verdict At 11:39 & Found Sadistic Teen Killer & Sexual Deviant Luke Mitchell Was Guilty (Source Here)
11th February 2005: Killer Luke Mitchell Was Sentenced To Detention Without Limit Of Time, The Punishment Part Imposed Being 20 Years (Source Here)
At around 44:35 during a 1st May 2023 youtube video titled keeping the record straight scammer Sandra Lean stated;
The previous relationship with Kimberley
They had a holiday romance
She did come to see him in the January
The December to January of 2003
Before he met Jodi
And that was the end of the contact
Sandra Lean
This is yet another of Sandra Lean’s bare faced lies!
Sadistic killer Luke Mitchell visited Kimberly Thomson on Valentine’s Day in February 2003 and was due to physically see her again around the time he committed his murder.
Luke Mitchell continued to give Kimberley Thomson the impression that he was her boyfriend, right up until he committed his murder on 30th June 2003.
A December 2004 BBC article stated;
Kimberley Thomson told the jury she had been the girlfriend of Luke Mitchell, the youth accused of murdering Jodi.
Miss Thomson said that when she read about Jodi’s death and the fact that Jodi had been Mr Mitchell’s girlfriend, she was annoyed.
She said: “I was upset. I knew he had obviously been cheating on me”
When asked how she would describe her relationship with Mr Mitchell, she said:
“Boyfriend and girlfriend.”
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.
There were also telephone records and text messages which supported the fact that killer Luke Mitchell was giving Kimberley Thomson this impression.
Another media article read;
The judges were informed (Luke) Mitchell told police investigating the murder he had not spoken to Kimberley since January 2003, but records showed 79 calls between then and the end of June.
There was also a Valentine’s Day visit.
Just two days before her murder, Jodi left (Luke) Mitchell’s house, by taxi, about 10pm.
After that there was a series of long telephone calls, totalling more than three hours.
Mr Beckett said it was an example of how (Luke) Mitchell was prepared to lie, even in the face of known evidence.
Sandra Lean went on to state in her keeping the record straight video;
So whatever kind of relationship he was having with Kimberley
After that was not sexual
Sandra Lean
The video then played a sound bite by YouTuber What They Found, who stated;
Jodi at one point believed that Luke was cheating on her when confiding with best friend Kirsten Ford
What They Found
Sadistic, Sexual Deviant Luke Mitchell Was Targeting Numerous Girls All At Once
Sandra Lean replied in response to this statement;
That makes me very sad
There was a point at which Jodi wondered if Luke was cheating on her
Not with Kimberley
Somebody else
And do you know what made her wonder about that
Her mum suggested it
There was another good friend that, female friend, that they went about with
All the time
And her mum suggested that maybe Luke had something going with the friend as well
Jo, eh Jodi approached both of them
They were both absolutely horrified
And reassured her that that was absolutely not the case
Sandra Lean
Target/Girlfriend Laura Wightman
In reality Sandra Lean has no idea why Jodi Jones “wondered if Luke was cheating on her”.
The “good friend” referred to by Sandra Lean was Laura Wightman.
Kirsten Ford, one of Jodi Jones closest friends spoke to reporter Jane Hamilton about Laura Wightman and Luke Mitchell “cheating” on Jodi.
Jane Hamilton’s article stated in part;
Months before she was killed, the 14-year-old told closest pal Kirsten Ford: ‘Luke has all these knives in his bedroom. Isn’t that weird?’
Last night, Kirsten, now 16, said: ‘Jodi was disturbed by it. She wouldn’t have said it otherwise.
But only weeks into the relationship, Jodi became worried about (Luke) Mitchell’s close friendship with Laura Wightman, a girl he would later take to her graveside.
“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”
When he interviewed the killer on the 14th of August 2003 during a section 14 interview, detective constable George Thomson asked sadistic killer Luke Mitchell about whether or not he had two-timed Jodi with other girls – this included Laura Wightman.
As was usual for killer Luke Mitchell – he bare faced lied!
A BBC article stated;
Detective Constable George Thomson carried out the interviews with Luke Mitchell in August 2003, when the boy was just 15.
“During the time you were going out with Jodi did you see other girls?
Did you two-time Jodi?”
Mr Mitchell told him:
“No”
He said he had not seen Kimberley since New Year and the last time he had phoned her was “about January-ish”.
By the time of this meeting Luke Mitchell and Laura Wightman were known to be having a sexual relationship, as is clear from the following excerpts by reporter Maggie Barry;
KILLER Luke Mitchell was a violent thug – but girls flocked to be his lover.
The teenager’s reputation as a moody rebel captured the hearts of girls in Dalkeith.
But behind his mask, (Luke) Mitchell was a woman-hater who tried to force his lovers to have sex at the point of a knife.
Within days of Jodi’s murder he had replaced her with another girl.
Jodi had been unaware when she began dating (Luke) Mitchell that he already had a girlfriend who looked “almost identical”.
(Luke) Mitchell conned both girls into thinking their relationship was special and exclusive.
He introduced her to cannabis, she got a lip piercing and had sex with him.
Within weeks of Jodi’s death, (Luke) Mitchell was having sex with one of her best friends.
Sadistic killer Luke Mitchell (right) with “girlfriend” Laura Wightman (left) on 3rd September 2003
When he was banned from Jodi’s funeral, (Luke) Mitchell took his new girlfriend to her graveside knowing it would attract attention.
The blonde teenager clutched a red rose as she stood, wearing a Nirvana T-shirt, beside (Luke) Mitchell.
Ever the showman, (Luke) Mitchell knelt down to comfort her as she wept while reading cards and tributes from Jodi’s classmates.
Sadistic, Sexual Deviant Luke Mitchell Tagetted, Conned & Abused Many Girls
Laura Wightman appears to have made two police witness statements, one in July 2003 and one in September 2004.
It also appears it was sometime before the killers trial that Laura Wightman became “estranged” from Luke Mitchell, as was reported by Lucy Bannerman;
…one friend sided with (Luke) Mitchell forming an intimate relationship with him in the aftermath of the killing
Despite her initial loyalty, she and (Luke) 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 (Luke) Mitchell’s innocence may have contributed to her condition.
It also seems that Laura Wightman was exempt from giving evidence during killer Luke Mitchell’s trial after being diagnosed with a “severe depressive disorder”.
Target/Girlfriend Kara Van Null
Sadistic killer Luke Mitchell appears to have targeted Kara Van Null around the same time he targeted Jodi Jones.
It is not known if Luke Mitchell ever told Laura Wightman about Kara Van Null or about any of the other girls he had targeted.
However reporter Grace McLean’s following article on Kara Van Null told of how he also attacked Kara with a knife to her throat in the lead up to his murder;
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.
(Luke) 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 (Luke) 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 (Luke) 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 (Luke) 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.’
(Luke) 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 (Luke) 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.
By Grace McLean for the Daily Mail article dated 22nd January 2005 – Source here
Target Kimberley Tait
Reporter Lucy Bannerman made reference to another girl called Kimberley, who had also been threatened by Luke Mitchell with a knife after refusing “to sleep” with him;
Another fling ended on a more threatening note, with another West Lothian girl, Kimberley Tait, claiming (Luke) Mitchell once pulled a knife on her after she refused to sleep with him.
(Luke) Mitchell claimed the knife incident was only a joke.
Another 14 Year Old Girl & Her 5 Month Relationship With Killer Luke Mitchell Where He Also Threatened Her With A Knife In The Lead Up To His Murder
The following article by Chris Mooney refers to another 14 year old target of Luke Mitchell’s, who was also threatened by him with one of his knives;
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, (Luke) 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 (Luke) Mitchells aggressive and unpredictable behaviour which disturbed his friends.
The pretty 14-year-old, who dated (Luke) 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 (Luke) 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 (Luke) Mitchell was seeing another girl – who she is now sure was Jodi.
It now appears (Luke) 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.
(Luke) 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 (Luke) 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 (Luke) 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 (Luke) 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.”
Excerpts by Chris Mooney’s article for Edinburgh evening news dated 21st January 2005
The Other Younger Kimberley Thomson
In reality killer Luke Mitchell appears to have been targeting and abusing a minimum of 5-6 other girls, as well as Jodi Jones.
He also targeted another girl called Kimberley Thomson.
This Kimberley is believed to have been 2-3 years younger than Kimberley Thomson from Kenmore, Perthshire.
In 2021 Kimberley made the following Internet post;
I was one of 3 girls he was seeing at the time, unbeknown to us of course, including Jodi.
1 blatant lie I keep hearing is that he didn’t have a parka jacket before the incident. YES HE DID.
And he carried his knives in it and bragged about it…
Killer Luke Mitchell’s Violent Nature & Knife Attacks Increased Before He Committed His Murder
Killer Luke Mitchell’s knife attacks on girls are reported to have started when he was 12 years old, as is evidenced by Kenny Farquharson in the below excerpts;
When he was 12, (Luke) 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.
Tap on the button below to read a TIMELINE which includes some of killer Luke Mitchell’s reported violent and disturbed nature and previous knife threats, beginning from when he was aged 7;
1999 Image of replacement front door to Jill Dando’s home, following removal of the original door for forensic examination
Killer Barry George’s murder of Jill Dando took place on the 26th of April 1999 on the doorstep of Jill Dando’s home in Gowan avenue in Fulham, Southwest London.
It is thought predatory stalker, sexual deviant and assassin Barry George laid in wait for Jill Dando to return home before shooting Jill once in the head at around 11:32am.
Born on April 15 1960, at Hammersmith hospital, Barry Michael George was the youngest of his parents three children, and the only son.
Alfred, his father, was a lorry driver and special constable in the Metropolitan police.
He had met George’s mother Margaret in London and married her in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in July 1954, when she was 18.
George’s childhood was not easy.
His parents’ marriage was unstable and led to bitter divorce in December 1973, when Barry was 13.
Even then George had a fertile imagination, weaving fantasies around his favourite programme, Thunderbirds, which irritated his father, who believed his son was an “oddball” who had been “born naive”.
Writer David James Smith stated in his book All About Jill, which was published in 2002, that “Alfred had been a bus driver in those days and in addition to being a prison officer, was also a fire officer and a special constable. He had been in the Army on National Service after the war”.
Mike Burke (Bourke) Barry George’s Uncle
Margaret (Barry George’s mother)
Uncle Mike Burke, a brother of Margaret’s, stated in his book;
I first met Barry in 1964 when Margaret brought him from London to the family house in Limerick for a holiday.
He was four and I was nine.
I thought that he was very spoilt by Margaret but he was an only son.
I next met him in 1973, when I moved to London.
Barry was now thirteen, his parent’s marriage had ended and his father had left for a new family.
He was attending Heathermount School ‘for difficult boys’, but would come home to his mother for holidays.
His sister Susan was also living at home in East Acton.
Barry and Susan were always bickering, as kids do. ‘
The terrible twins’ we would call them, though Susan was two years older than Barry.
He was very quiet at first, withdrawn, but he slowly came out of his shell.
I fixed up his old fashioned ‘High Nellie’ bicycle, and while the other kids in the street had modern choppers Barry could be seen doing quite impressive wheelies up and down Fitzneal Street.
He liked my David Bowie records, and my Honda CB 250cc motorbike.
‘Mike the bike’ he would call me.
He showed me around London, and he was quite streetwise.
His sister Michelle lived in Barnes with her father and his new partner Barbara, or Babs and their fierce little Chiwawa dog which kept Michelle’s boyfriends at bay.
It was a friendly lively household which I visited a few times; taking along some of my LP’s which we would play.
In late August 1973 Michelle borrowed my suitcase, went to Ireland for a holiday, liked it and stayed ever since.
Barry missed his father and Michelle, some say that he felt abandoned.
One evening around midnight he still had not come home, and his mother asked me to make some checks.
I went around to the public phone box and phoned his father in Barnes, but I was told that Barry was not there.
I then phoned the police and explained the situation to them.
Some time later Barry and his father arrived at the house, and there followed an interesting conversation between both parents at the front door as they complimented each other with regard to their parenting skills.
One morning in the summer of 1974 we were having an argument, quite nasty I suppose, as teenagers can be.
As I was walking to the kitchen Barry seemed to come out of nowhere and floored me with a kick.
He had been hiding, waiting in an alcove for me.
I was winded, and Barry immediately bolted for the front door and was well away before I could catch him.
He did not return to the house until late in the evening.
He lived at home for a time after leaving school but could not get on with his stepdad Eddie who though being an honest hard worker found it difficult to tolerate young people.
Barry managed to persuade the council to house him and everybody was happy again.
In 1977 I took a temporary job as a Security Guard, working with a collection of Australian and New Zealand backpackers and ex Rhodesian and South African soldiers at the Earls Court motor show.
We worked in close cooperation with the police who would back us up if hostile members of the public ignored the instructions of us ‘Little Hitler’s’.
One of my main tasks involved guarding Sir Donald Campbell’s 400mph + Bluebird record setting car and the new Four Wheel Drive vehicles on which the gorgeous Woolworth girls would daintily sit to the song ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’, every 30 minutes.
I was sick of that song.
I would also check visitor’s bags and briefcases with a sniffer device for detecting explosives etc.
Barry thought it was hilarious that I, a ‘Paddy just off the boat’ was selected as one of the ‘guards tasked to keep the royal fans in check when Princess Margaret performed the official opening ceremony.
Looking back I also find it a little surprising but I guess the police would have checked us all out by then.
Excerpts by Mike Burke from Mike’s Story: The Battle to Clear Barry George of the Jill Dando Murder published in June 2011
Sister Michelle (Michealina) Diskin Bates Re-Writing History
Michelle Diskin Bates
Michelle Diskin Bates, who was mentioned in Part 19o here is the oldest sister of Barry George.
Michelle and Barry’s sister Susan, who was born on the 5th of February 1958, passed away at the age of 28 after apparently having “swallowed her tongue during an epileptic fit”.
Uncle Mike Burke omits any reference to the tragedy of his niece Susan’s passing from his book and Michelle Diskin Bates stated in her book that her sister Susan “..had died in 1987 in an epileptic seizure”.
While Michelle Diskin Bates did refer to having mourned the loss of a house she once lived in, in Creightonclose, White City, it is not known exactly what impact Susan’s passing had on either Michelle Diskin Bates or Barry George.
Although aunt Elizabeth did state “Barry never got over Susan’s death. He missed her terribly”.
Referring to killer Barry George, David James Smith wrote in his book on the passing of sister Susan Towler;
Susan later spent time in locked psychiatric wards.
She died in April 1986 when she choked after swallowing her tongue during a seizure, while in the early stages of pregnancy.
His sister Susan died in 1986 and his father returned from Australia for her funeral, which Barry did not attend.
His father had been home before for a couple of years and there had been sporadic contact between them, after no contact at all for eight years.
They had met at Michelle’s wedding in Ireland to which Barry had apparently hitchhiked.
Alfred had visited Barry while he was on remand in Brixton prison accused of rape and Barry had told him he had stopped when the girl said no.
His father terminated all contact with him again after that.
He didn’t want Barry around his daughters in his second family, he said.
He bumped into Barry in the street a couple of weeks after Susan’s funeral and noted the expensive looking camera around his sons neck.
Barry said he was keen on photography.
Barry had asked for some money, and his father had given him a fiver and they had parted.
They had not spoken again after that, although his father had written occasionally and sent birthday and Christmas cards.
Excerpts by David James Smith from his book All About Jill published in 2002
Why The Different Stories?
Michelle Diskin Bates told a different story to the story told by her uncle Mike Bourke regarding her father Alfred George and his partner Barbara/Babs.
Michelle Diskin Bates referred to living in Creighton Close in White City and Fitzneal Street in Shepherds Bush, but made no mention of Barnes.
Which is odd given the fact her uncle Mike Bourke made reference to his niece Michelle living “inBarnes with her father and his new partner Barbara”.
Barnes is a district in south London and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Michelle Diskin Bates also didn’t refer to her uncle Mike’s previous statement on how Barry missed his father and Michelle. Nor did Michelle make any comment on Mike’s statement that Barry Georgehad felt abandoned.
Instead Michelle Diskin Bates story reads;
Mum and Dad separated acrimoniously in 1967, eventually divorcing in 1973.
I was twelve at the time of separation, and we children stayed with Mum in the flats in White City.
Excerpt by Michelle Diskin Bates from Stand Against Injustice (Published in October 2018)
It is not known exactly why Michelle Diskin Bates chose to go and live with her father Alfred George and his new partner Barbara.
It is also not known in what year exactly Michelle moved in with her father and his partner or for how long she lived with them.
However by August 1973, at 18 years of age, Michealina George, as she was called back then, moved to Ireland.
She stated in her October 2018 book;
Not having lived in the UK since 1973, I hadn’t really been following the case about the senseless murder of a much-loved TV presenter; it was a crime that had taken place in London and I’d felt somewhat removed from it.
Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice
Although recently, Michelle Diskin Bates claimed on one of her social media accounts that she “..arrived in Cork in 1974”;
A media article from 2001 read;
“I lived with him up until he was 13, when I moved to Ireland.
“There was nothing odd or different about him then.
It wasn’t until I was older I realised Barry had disabilities.
“His problems are quite subtle but my sister Susan overshadowed him with her disabilities
“I suppose she had the limelight.
Barry was quiet and always very polite and well spoken”
Ms Diskin said she hadn’t seen her brother much over the 20 years they were apart but she did know he had problems with normal life.
Unfortunately, Barry did go on to acquire a criminal record.
He was convicted of indecent assault in 1981 and was given a suspended sentence.
In 1983, he was convicted of an attempted rape and was imprisoned for eighteen months, serving both sentences consecutively.
I visited him in prison during this period, but it was not a comfortable time for Barry.
I was incensed at his behaviour and let him know it.
Excerpts by Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in October 2018
However Michelle Diskin Bates had also stated that she saw her brother Barry George on a “rare” visit to London in 1988. Excerpts from her book regarding this read;
Having moved to Ireland, it was rare for me to travel back to London.
Fares were prohibitive, especially if you were travelling with children, so the next time I recall meeting up with Barry was in 1988 when I brought my two children to stay with Mum in London.
Sadly, Barry and I lost touch after this
Excerpts by Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in October 2018
Their uncle Mike Bourke made reference to his nephew Barry being at Michelle’s wedding in 1982, which their sister Susan also attended, along with their mother Margaret (Mike’s sister) and their father Alfred.
Michelle Diskin Bates omitted the fact her brother Barry George had caught the ferry over to Ireland to attend her wedding to Pat, which took place on the 31st of July 1982.
Michelle also omitted to mention her step-dad Eddie.
Killer Eddie Guilfoyle
The only Eddie mentioned in Michelle Diskin Bates book was the man who murdered his eight and a half months pregnant wife Paula Guilfoyle on the 4th of June 1992 – Eddie Gilyfoyle.
According to Alfred George, his young son Barry George “rushed to put a spoon” in sister Susan’s mouth when he was four years old.
Susan George had been diagnosed with having epilepsy.
Excerpts from a 2001 media article reads;
Although poor academically, Barry was practical.
His sister Susan was epileptic and when he was four, he rushed to put a spoon in her mouth when she was having a fit to stop her biting her tongue.
‘No one taught him to do that,’ says Mr George. ‘He just picked it up from watching.’
Excerpt by Geoffrey Levy and Stephen Wright for the Daily Mail article headed Mad, sad and dangerous 3rd July 2001
Alfred George
According to a seizure first aidsite, “placing a spoon or anything else in a person’s mouth during a seizure is a MYTH. Never put anything in a person’s mouth during a seizure. Instead, remember Time, Safe, Stay”.
There is no mention of the spoon incident by Michelle Diskin Bates, uncle Mike Burke or David James Smith in any of their books.
According to David James Smith, “dates and timings are cloudy and obscured by the passage of years and perhaps a preference to forget”.
For context, David James Smith stated the following;
Barry’s Auntie Elizabeth would say that his parents were inadequate parents, physically and emotionally punitive with their children.
His mother, in her view, could not cope and would rather go out than care for her children.
During Barry’s adolescence, Auntie Elizabeth says, before his father left, the family home was a war zone.
Dates and timings are cloudy and obscured by the passage of years and perhaps a preference to forget.
Barry says his father had left home when he was eight, around the time that he was sent away to board at Heathermount, a school for children with special needs
Alfred George himself has said that he and his wife, Margaret, had separated after their son Barry went away, Alfred maintained contact with Barry until 1974, when he went to Australia with his new wife, Barbara.
He moved to Australia to escape abuse and hassle from his ex-wife and because he had seen an advertisement for a job as a prison-officer in Melbourne, and applied and had been accepted.
Excerpts by David James Smith from his book All About Jill published in 2002
Barry George Taken To See A Specialist (Age 5)
Further excerpts from the 2001 media article on young Barry George read;
Barry went to Wormholt Park Primary School in White City, West London, but his progress was slow and it became apparent that he had learning problems.
His father says his boy ‘wanted to play all the time’ and was taken to see a specialist.
Aged five, he switched to Northcroft School in Hammersmith for children with educational and behavioural disorders.
For two years there were no problems, but he changed after his parents parted.
Aged only seven, he was deeply shocked.
Others remember him as ‘withdrawn and sulky’ and the general feeling was that he was ‘weird’.
Excerpt by Geoffrey Levy and Stephen Wright for the Daily Mail article headed Mad, sad and dangerous 3rd July 2001
According to one of Michelle Diskin Bates stories from her book, there was an alleged incident at a “local outdoor swimming baths”.
Michelle Diskin Bates stated;
One summer, when Barry was five, he and I went to the local outdoor swimming baths. In the summer holidays we could spend all day there for the princely sum of sixpence in old money. As usual, after I had been playing in the pool with friends, I’d bought us both lunch: a crispy bread roll with real butter and a thick hunk of cheddar cheese. We accompanied this with a large cup of beefy bouillon to warm us up. Barry had already eaten his lunch and had wandered off to play when I suddenly realised I couldn’t see him or his distinctive Tarzan-patterned swimming trunks. “Barry? Barry!” I called out, getting more and more frantic. I searched the dressing rooms and shouted into the men’s toilet building, but to no avail. Then I spotted something floating, a child, face down on the top of the water. It was the unconscious body of my brother. “Help, help!” I called to the lifeguard, who was sitting directly over the place where Barry was doing the dead man’s float. He was chatting to a bevy of young women. “Help me! I can’t swim and my brother is drowning . . .” He told me to stop mucking about and turned back to his adoring fan club. There wasn’t time to do any thinking; I jumped into the deep part of the pool, spluttering and struggling to keep afloat, and reached out my arm to grab Barry by his trunks, pulling him to me. I thought we might both drown together now, because I really couldn’t swim, and I hadn’t the strength to lift either of us out of the pool. All at once there were hands everywhere, pulling us both to safety. A person sauntering by had seen Barry walking near the deep area as some kids ran past, knocking him into the pool. Barry was unconscious when we pulled him out, but came around shortly after and, at ten years old, I was left to dress him and walk him home after this ordeal. Mum didn’t think about complaining to anyone, but after that I rarely got to spend a leisurely day by the pool. Barry was now terrified of water, and I was only allowed to take him to the kiddies’ paddling pool in the park.
Excerpts by Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in 2018
Michelle Diskin Bates tells a few stories in her book (under her header Family Background) about her young brother Barry George.
One of Michelle’s stories is about when her brother was apparently hospitalised following burns to his stomach.
Another story Michelle told was of an “infernopouring out the back” bedroom window of the council house they lived in, in Creighton Close, White City. Michelle Diskin Bates stated;
Another of his escapades landed him in hospital in an isolation ward. Barry had gone missing again; he often went off on his own. This time, he’d arrived home smelling of what seemed to be petrol. His white cotton shirt and grey short pants were soaked through, and when Dad removed them we could see that his abdomen was burnt and the skin was pink and raw and peeling off. He was unable to tell us what had happened to him, and he seemed dumbstruck with shock. All thoughts of telling him off were abandoned and he was rushed to Hammersmith Hospital immediately.
At the age of seven, he had been playing quietly in the bedroom that we three children shared when he emerged with a black face and hands, eyes like saucers, and ran out of the front door. “You go in and see what he’s done,” Mum cried out to me. “I just can’t.” Mum stayed in the kitchen, wringing her hands, a fearful look in her eyes.
Cautiously opening the bedroom door, I stared in horror at the sight before me. The pretty floral print curtains were ablaze, smoke and flames billowed out of the open sash window. A matchbox and spent matches sat beside the timber window-frame which looked like charcoal, blackened and charred through. As I returned to the room with yet another bucket of water, I could hear the fire service approaching along Bloemfontein Road, sirens blaring. Someone else had seen the inferno pouring out from the back window and had reported it. By the time the fire brigade reached us, four floors up, I had put the flames out. The council then had to come and replace the window, since it could not be salvaged.
Excerpts by Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in 2018
According to the London fire service;
Children and young people start to play with fire for various reasons, ranging from natural curiosity in toddlers to older children using firesetting to express feelings of anger or emotional distress.
Michelle Diskin Bates also told a story about her brother Barry aged 9, when he was apparently caught stealing from a shop and coming home with a note from the shop manager. Michelle stated;
Coming home from school one day, Mum met me at the door. “Barry went out and I don’t know where he is . . . he hasn’t come back.” Just as she told me this, the doorbell rang. Opening it, there stood the bold Barry, but he looked worried and held out a letter. It was from the manager of the local Woolworth’s.
Dear Mrs George, Please would you come to the store to speak with the Manager. Your son has been caught shoplifting, and we’d like to discuss this with you before we call the police. Sincerely, The Manager
Mum fell to pieces before our eyes. “What have you done now, you idiot?” she shouted out to her son. “Can’t you ever just behave yourself? I’m not going around there to talk to anyone, you can forget that!” “But Mum, the man said he’d call the police if you don’t go.”
“You’ll have to go, Michelle, I can’t do it. I can’t face it.” She was speaking to me! I was just fourteen years old, what could I do? Who would listen to me? Dragging Barry by the arm, though I’d have preferred the neck, I marched him back to the Woolworth’s store. “What the hell were you thinking?” I bellowed at him, tugging at his arm some more. “How am I supposed to get you out of this? Why did you do it?” Barry trudged along beside me and nervously began his explanation. “Mum is always crying and I wanted to make her feel better. I wanted to get her a present, but I didn’t have any money,” he told me with a worried expression. “I thought she’d be happy if I came home with chocolates and she wouldn’t cry anymore or shout at me!”
We arrived at the shop, and at fourteen years old I had to try to justify what my nine-year-old brother had done. The manager was not inclined let us off lightly, though, and he was angry that our mother had not come herself. He described to me how Barry was stopped from leaving the store with his black bomber-style jacket bulging with chocolates: After Eights, a Dairy Box, and a couple of large bars of Cadbury’s.
“He didn’t even seem to realise that his plunder was clearly visible to anyone who looked!” the manager exclaimed in flabbergasted tones. “Why shouldn’t I call the police, tell me that?” Hanging my head in shame, I had to beg him to let Barry off for our mother’s sake, giving Barry’s account of how ill and how sad he thought she was.
Excerpts by Michelle Diskin Bates from her book Stand Against Injustice published in 2018
Geoffrey Levy and Stephen Wright stated via their 2001 media article;
When Mr George visited his son he found him glum. He took him to see the football team he followed, Fulham, and the boy had his picture taken with Jimmy Conway, the Eire international.
So did other boys, full of excitement. But when the pictures were developed they showed Barry looking ‘very sullen’, says his father.
Excerpt by Geoffrey Levy and Stephen Wright for the Daily Mail article headed Mad, sad and dangerous 3rd July 2001
The Rifle Range at Heathermount School (Aged 12 & 14)
Heathermount School, Sunningdale, Near Ascot
Nick Hopkins and Steven Morris stated in their 2001 media article that Heathermount school, where Barry George boarded from age 14 to 16 “built a small-bore rifle range”;
George attended at least three schools before settling at Northcroft juniors in Shepherd’s Bush, west London. It had just opened to deal with – in the parlance of the time – “maladjusted children”.
Following his parents separation, George’s father remarried and emigrated to Australia.
Though he moved back to Britain and now lives in Wales, he has not seen his son for 20 years. Margaret told her friends that “when he divorced me, he divorced the kids too”.
Aged 14, George moved to a council boarding school for boys who had “emotional and behavioural difficulties”.
Staff at Heathermount, set in 14 idyllic acres in Sunningdale, Berkshire, remembered him as a “mummy’s boy” who followed one of the matrons “like a lost lamb”.
The less academic pupils, like George, were encouraged to concentrate on woodwork, metalwork, weaving and gardening, and to perform in ambitious theatre productions, such as La Boheme and The Mikado.
It was here that George’s obsession with celebrity began to emerge, insisting to friends and teachers that they should call him Paul Gadd, Gary Glitter’s real name.
“He didn’t just have posters on his walls like the other kids,” said one former member of staff. “He knew every movement, song and dance.”
At Heathermount, George may also have had his first contact with guns. In the spring of 1972* the school built a small-bore rifle range, much against the wishes of some parents and governors. Although it closed a year later, George would have known about and probably used the facility.
This grasp of the practical, enhanced by later experience in the Territorial Army, helped convince the police that he was able to modify the gun and the bullet that killed Jill.
*Barry George would have been aged 12 in 1972. Therefore if, as Nick Hopkins and Steven Morris stated in their article, Barry was aged 14 when he first attended Heathermount and the rifle range closed a year later in 1973 (when Barry was aged 13) he would not have used the facility.
It is extremely hard to digest that anyone so young is capable of such brutality.
Surely the only sides are, that of Luke Mitchell V Her Majesty’s Advocate.
The Jones family – Lost Jodi, she was murdered.
The Mitchells – Luke was found guilty of this murder. They are not the same, where did this split begin that sought to make them so? Here I will mention Sandra Lean, yet again.
Sandra Lean
I make no bones over Sandra Lean, that is apparent, as it is with others over time on these forums. Of her manipulation of evidence, the additions and tall tales. Which for me highlights, the strength of the reasoning behind these attempts to show that of the evidence against Luke Mitchell to be Incorrect. That one’s attention has to be drawn away from the facts and into fiction. But where did this case of Luke Mitchell V Her Majesty’s Advocate morph into Luke Mitchell’s V these others? primarily the Jones family? Did this not stem from Sandra Lean? Of “Why were these two families treated differently?” From a time, long before this case came to court. Of those days of attention and focus on Luke Mitchell. Why the Mitchells and not the Jones’s? Of course, the simplest, obvious reason is that of suspicion. Therefore should the question, primarily not have been, what kept suspicion upon Luke Mitchell?
Cover of Sandra Lean’s book ’No Smoke’ published in 2008 by Stephen T Manning/Checkpoint press
And she does focus on this but introduces many new ideas to these discussions, from those early days of ‘Jigsawman’ of “But what if I were to tell you?” – That power of suggestion? backed with, I have “all” the evidence. But this came long before having this claim to “all” the evidence did it not? Both Colin Bowman and Frontline Scotland using much of Sandra Leans work to highlight and discuss this case, from those days of research and of writing “No Smoke”
And she is brought into discussion consistently as she enters these very discussions herself, has done from the beginning. With these very claims. Which in turn morphs Luke Mitchell V Her Majesty’s Advocate into Sandra Lean V ‘others? It is no longer the defence from the trial that is primarily used but that of these books and so forth – heavily laden with this very bias. Is not the counteraction to this, that mainly of the Crown, of the evidence used? The agenda by posters to simply call out on this misinformation?
Truth be told – There is far more to this case than that of being different, a ‘goth’ of being ‘picked upon’ because he was different. Of carrying knives, two timing and smoking cannabis or urinating in bottles, these are mocked to simplify the case against Luke Mitchell. Used for distraction purpose. There is sound reason and evidence stacked against Luke Mitchell. The most fairest point in all of this is that Q? Was there enough evidence to show proof ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ But many come to the conclusion of no without actually looking at the case in detail. Declare innocence instead, whilst there is most definitely no proof beyond reasonable doubt of this? – And move onto trying others instead? Are they not confused with the confusion that is spread?
You can’t take one or two areas of information, of multiple people and add them together to = one Luke Mitchell? To this “compelling story” against him?
The duo were on the path, they lied, Mark Kane wore a Parka, he had a scratch, James Falconer left a condom with DNA he stood over the body?! Stephen Kelly had no alibi, Joe Jones, his parents left him alone for a short while therefore no alibi. They all have history of some format or other, and? – Why were they eliminated? that is the sensible question is it not?
Perhaps the biggest misleading piece of information in all of this is – “they were never investigated”
A 14 year old boy, as you rightly point out. This factor alone brings about disbelief. A horrific attack on a 14 year old girl. The police. – Is it not foolish to claim that anyone was simply not investigated, that Luke Mitchell was simply chosen because he was different? Or because one police officer out of three ‘may’ have noted “with the boyfriend” Why is either side of this verbatim extract missing? Why is either side of Stephen Kelly’s statement of “the dogs head being level with the V” missing? For that matter, why any of it? The reason is simple, is it not – it would not fit the narrative given around it. The bias.
To claim – That all of this search party were in agreement with Luke Mitchell that it was Mia who found Jodi. I have found nothing in this research to show this to be the case, more so, do we not go on the simple basis, first and foremost that if this were indeed the case, why were the police suspicious? Surely there is no ‘self interest’ (Colin Bowman) from this search party at all, if they all agreed with Luke Mitchell from the very beginning? That common sense does tell us, simply that there had to have been substantial difference in those statements for suspicion to stay/remain upon Luke Mitchell. Time being prominent, of scaling the wall at the ‘Gino’ break. That none of the search party had walked past this V.
That is why I chose my question “Why did suspicion fall upon Luke Mitchell?” Why were these ‘others’ eliminated, why did he remain at the fore, this 14 year old boy. For I took the stance two years ago of discounting first and foremost, that the police, in such a brutal murder case, kept Luke Mitchell in the loop, rather than Luke Mitchell keeping himself in the loop?
Assuming, as usual of course that it was not – supporters of Luke Mitchell have a very odd habit of repeating that which is not true.
In short, the main giver of such information is somewhat renowned for claiming evidence to be undisclosed, not known to the defence, purely on the basis that it was not inclusive of the hand me downs received from Donald Findlay’s original defence of Luke Mitchell.
Quite the list there over time, does one really believe there is mountains of undisclosed evidence that no defence team has picked up on to use??
One does however make an interesting comment, that which is consistent to every question around the why’s?
Of what the defence chose not to use or introduce.
A sexual element to this crime is one such area: p-228 of Innocents Betrayed by Sandra Lean.
When talking of one such report:
The report addressed this issue specifically, pointing out that the post mortem injuries may have reflected “piquerism“—–“
This was no ordinary means of gaining sexual pleasure, yet was completely ignored by the investigators, the prosecuting team and, sadly, it seems the defence team as well (although, if the prosecution did not suggest, in court, that the murder was sexual in nature, it would have been difficult for the defence to introduce this evidence)
Sandra Lean
The problem with this analysis and the authors inability to grasp realism, is. It is not, that they would not have believed there was no sexual element to the crime, it was of proving it to be so.
In line one could say with premeditated murder, believing there was an element of this here, but difficult to prove.
What had to be proved was that of Luke Mitchell being the killer, first and foremost.
This was a circumstantial case, the burden of proof was of showing that Luke Mitchell had carried out this murder and so forth.
If there had been concrete forensic evidence to show him to be the killer, then the sexual element or premeditation would have been an option to add in to it.
In short, one follows the other.
But of course, most with sense know this already.
Why therefore bother at all with attempting to gain insight? –
It is called investigating.
The police may or not have travelled there by direction of the Crown, we do not know.
Inclusive of the investigation files and disclosed, then there is simply no proof in the slightest that it was not disclosed.
Not being part of Donald Findlay’s hand me downs does not equate to non disclosure, as we have seen with statements, R Kelly (father of Steven Kelly) being one such statement.
Why did the police seek to gain insight here and we can look at those multiple areas of DNA.
Those that have previously been discussed, that law of averages and the one clear male.
From semen/sperm, underwear and Luke Mitchell.
A route that resulted in the case progressing along a circumstantial road, the agreement made around the intimate relationship had with the deceased.
That knock back in August 2003 for an arrest warrant, the DNA, was not, going to be able to be used?
There was nothing that could directly place Luke Mitchell at the scene of crime without causing multiple problems. Without being answerable to.
No one trashes your name, more than someone who is afraid you will tell the truth
Scott C Forbes
Scott C Forbes has chosen to “trash” Mark Kane’s name, and many other peoples names, not because these people are “afraid” as he claims, but because Scott C Forbes thinks he is entitled to do this.
Scott C Forbes also thinks he is entitled to say or write whatever he wants about the family members of Jodi Jones.
All of whom were ruled out as suspects!
Scott C Forbes’s “trashes” the name of anyone he chooses to target or who disagrees with the trash he chooses to talk and write about.
There will be more on Scott C Forbes statement “No one trashes your name, more than someone who is afraid you will tell the truth” in further parts of this blog series.
However to reiterate from Part 1 here, Scott C Forbes has chosen to not publish a copy of his witness statement, which he made about Mark Kane – which is a massive red flag!
There are numerous red flags regarding Scott C Forbes behaviour, far too many to count.
Scott C Forbes showed no real interest in Jodi Jones’ sadistic and psychopathic killer’s innocence fraud until around 2006.
If Scott C Forbes was really concerned about his “friend” Mark Kane’s behaviour, why did he leave it so many years before he finally tracked down and spoke to Jodi Jones’ killer’s mother Corinne Mitchell?
And why did Scott C Forbes choose to speak with Jodi Jones killers mother?
If Scott C Forbes was so sure Mark Kane was responsible, why didn’t he speak to the police?
Why did Scott C Forbes wait so many years before speaking out?
And why did Scott C Forbes only jump on Jodi Jones’ killer, and his enablers, fraudulent public relations innocence fraud spin campaign in/around 2006?
More importantly, why did Scott C Forbes contact the former RUC officer on the “confidentialhotlinenumber” here when he did (as referred to in Part 1here) and why wasn’t Scott seemingly speaking to Sandra Lean?
Again, where is the hard evidence that Scott C Forbes has ever been a practicing lawyer in Scotland? Has anyone bothered to ask him to provide documentation to back up his numerous assertions?
Instead of publishing his own statement, what Scott C Forbes has chosen to do is manufacture stories, seemingly from his warped imagination (or the warped imagination of others) and has attempted to attribute these manufactured stories to people like Mark Kane – who passed away in May 2018.
Mark Kane obviously cannot defend himself against Scott C Forbes false allegations, manufactured stories and preposterous nonsense.
Is the reason he hasn’t published his statement, because Scott C Forbes knows the content will cast yet further doubt on his false, malicious and manufactured allegations.
Many of the people who have chosen to listen to, or read, Scott C Forbes false and malicious claims and manufactured stories, know very little about Scott’s history and previous actions in murderer Luke Mitchell’s fraudulent public relations spin campaign.
Scott C Forbes stated;
Reading statements from staff at Newbattle Abbey College I couldn’t believe just how pathetic the police were.
One statement from an English teacher, Ms. McGillivray, who was asked if she had a copy of an essay about a man killing a ‘woman in the woods’ written by Mark Kane, denied having one and this somehow confirmed Kane wrote no such essay.
John Beckett, QC argued to the appeal court that a lecturer who receives thousands of essays in her career and who couldn’t remember receiving one essay, “confirmed Kane wrote no such essay”. This wasn’t even challenged by the defence.
Total Lack of Reasoning
It is not surprising Scott C Forbes appears unable to recognise his own lack of reasoning.
However it is unlikely a female English teacher, or any female, who could have read and received “thousands of essays in her career” would forget about one of her students writing an essay about “a man killing a woman in the woods”.
It is also not surprising why someone like Scott C Forbes does not appear able to recognise or understand why an essay by a student about “a man killing a woman in the woods” would stand out to most females reading it.
The below photograph is a screenshot from a 2003 promotional video here for Newbattle Abbey collage, and the person playing snooker is the late Mark Kane.
According to another tweet made by Scott C Forbes, he claimed Mark Kane was “onmethadone, valluim, speed, hash and alcohol on day Jodie was murdered” (sic);
Does the footage of Mark Kane from the Newbattle Abbey college promotional video here look like he was clean from drugs, like his mother Norma stated in 2021;
OK, he was a drug addict years ago but he was turning his life around.
He got off the drugs completely and was accepted into college.
In reality, it sounds like Mark Kane may have got drunk on that particular night and might of fallen over and got a “tiny” scratch on his face from falling.
All of this I reported to the police. Just to set a couple of things straight I never had big cuts on my face the day after the murder I had a tiny scratch is all, he did not drive me to the police station the day after
Mark Kane – 1st of August 2014
If Scott C Forbes has nothing to hide, he would have no problems publishing his witness statement in full, with no redactions, so the public can see for themselves what he told police.
On 2nd of March 2021 Scott Forbes tweeted the following;
Screenshot of statement made by Scott Forbes on Twitter on the 2nd of March 2021
The same Newbattle Abbey collage promotional video here also includes footage of Scott C Forbes.
Still of Scott Forbes taken from the Newbattle Abbey college promotional video
Behaviour Patterns of A Sexually Deviant & Dangerous Adolescent Killer
Murderer Luke Mitchell didn’t have any real hobbies around the time he chose to commit his murder, instead he appears to have been fixated on having sex with numerous girls and threatening and harming them with knives.
Some people reading this may view this as normal behaviour for a 14 year old boy, and some people reading this may think it’s normal for a 12 year old boy to threaten an 11 year old girl with a knife for a kiss.
It isn’t and it’s disturbing!
These patterns of behaviour in a young boy are not normal, and alarm bells should be ringing loudly, especially to all the parents with young children of their own, who have chosen to blindly support murderer Luke Mitchell’s fraudulent public relations campaign.
None of the people who are blindly being taken in by Scott C Forbes stories, have the knowledge of all of the intimate details and behaviour patterns of murderer Luke Mitchell.
A few photos of the killer as a young child with a pony, does not paint the picture of the murderer he was turning into.
He had a fixation with knives and a sexually deviant streak.
He had been showing signs of sexual aggression since at least the age of 12.
You won’t hear about these behaviour patterns from people like Scott C Forbes, because he chooses to play down these behaviours patterns, and pretends they didn’t happen.
Excerpts from a 2005 media article, which has been reproduced in full here read;
The girl, who was just 11 at the time, was visiting Mitchell’s father Philip, a family friend. Mitchell, who was only 12, was also staying in the house in Livingston and the two youngsters were sharing a twin bedroom. In the middle of the night, he climbed on top of her, held a knife to her throat and demanded she kiss him. Last night she said: ‘I just can’t tell you how I feel about the verdict.’
Excerpts from a Daily Mail article by Grace McLean dated the 22nd of January 2005
The above wasn’t an isolated incident.
Showing signs of sexual aggression at the age of 12, and holding a knife to an 11 year old girls throat to coerce her into submission for a kiss, is a violent act.
Other young girls made similar allegations, which demonstrated a pattern of behaviour that was developing over time.
The sadistic, adolescent murderer was seeing several girls at the same time, and playing them off against each other.
A Killers ‘Well Being’ & His ‘Token of Remembrance’
The below photograph shows a memento murderer Luke Mitchell chose to inscribe and keep.
Many types of criminals will keep “trophies” or “Souvenirs” as a memento of their crime.
In most cases these same items will be used against them later as evidence and direct links to their involvement of the crimes.
But why do criminals do this? It seems like a strange thing to do especially in cases where the person has made extra efforts in other areas not to get caught, such as clearing evidence from the crime scene that may link them to it, or disposing of other evidence such as the weapon used or clothing worn during the crime itself.
Well the answer to this has many reasons behind it, and the types of trophies kept will vary from criminal to criminal.
Humans as a species are known to collect items we put value onto. This value can vary from sentimental or sexual value to monetary value.
Many adults will collect things that remind them of their childhood for example or will have a passion or hobby for something that requires them to accumulate a collection over time such as a coin or card collection.
A person may have no real use for such items to get them through daily life, however having these items will give them a sense of well-being.
This is a permanent reminder of the events leading up to that persons death, its a personal connection to them for the Killer and in many ways is symbolic of the perceived relationship they have with their victims.
Their successful crimes are achievements, in the eyes of a criminal they are worth remembering and what better way to remember than to keep a piece of it for yourself that you can look back on and relive the moment.
The items are valuable to the criminal in some way, as discussed above it could be to relive the moment, it could be for pride to display, it could be for gratification or even comfort.
INNOCENCE FRAUD WATCH 