Luke Mitchell documentary

[IsurviveonCoffeeandWinein2021]

Did anyone watch tonight? I don't know much about the case originally as I was a teenager when it happened but I do remember how horrific it was and parents etc talking about it.

Was he on trial by media? The doc tonight certainly seems to be leaning that way. I think it's so coincidental it's been shown tonight when the whole Scottish institution is being questioned? I hope for Jodis family it is resolved one way or another

I can’t see this documentary helping any appeals for retrial.

I was wondering how did the private investigates get access to all those files ?

Also feel like Corrine Mitchell is in some self imposed form of purgatory
She said that her and Luke laugh that he has hot water and heat and she doesn’t.
How strange to come out with that.
It’s not funny at all , it’s sad and weird and strange and I thought shows the strange / off element of that relationship.

@Villagerista

I thought she was very implausible. When she started talking about how she had to "slop out" ie she had no modern flushing toilet in her home, I thought that was taking the victim mentality and trying to gain sympathy to the heights of ridiculousness

Is anybody local able to clarify about the caravan park? It was a caravan sales site in the past? It would be highly unusual for a workplace to not have running water and a toilet, no? None of this was relevant to the case at all but was included and it has made me curious.

I thought she must own the plot but not have paid any utility bills and therefore had no utilities for years.

Yes, I believe caravan sales and also a winter storage area for private vans. I would imagine that it probably wasn't open in the winter so it may not have been heated other than plug in heating but you would have thought it would have some mains connection for water. It may have been cold water only and otherwise using camping type equipment such as caravan toilets?

Which I guess is what she us using.

It wasn't a caravan site for holidays, just sales and storage. My dad used to buy spare parts and other bits and pieces from them. It was quite strange seeing the shop in the documentary, I remember going in there with him.
You'd assume the shop had a staff toilet and running water for making a cup of tea at one point, maybe she's not paid her bills. I suspect she's staying there to make some kind of weird point, I don't know. She doesn't seem very balanced. Or maybe she feels that so much has been taken away from her family she's determined to hold on to what she does have left. No winners at all in this case that's for sure.

Yes I also thought it was like some sort of self imposed purgatory!
She came across as quite mentally unwell. Some people suffering from long term mental illness live in strange living conditions.

Is it likely he'll be let out when the 20 years are up? So fairly soon. His sentence was a minimum of 20 years wasn't it? Will they keep him locked up for longer if he doesn't admit it?

I'm not sure @VivaLeBeaver. Does the parole board not look for some awareness of impact of the crime and how the person has changed/addressed their offending behaviour?
Hopefully someone knowledge will be able to shed some light.

@Rae36

It wasn't a caravan site for holidays, just sales and storage. My dad used to buy spare parts and other bits and pieces from them. It was quite strange seeing the shop in the documentary, I remember going in there with him. You'd assume the shop had a staff toilet and running water for making a cup of tea at one point, maybe she's not paid her bills. I suspect she's staying there to make some kind of weird point, I don't know. She doesn't seem very balanced. Or maybe she feels that so much has been taken away from her family she's determined to hold on to what she does have left. No winners at all in this case that's for sure.

She also said that she had to "slop out" and indicated that she didn't even have a functioning toilet.

Now that means she must have a septic tank, because otherwise the local authority would evict her for public health reasons. I'm pretty sure there are also discretionary grants in midlothian to install basic residential hygiene facilities, so choosing to remain so long with no flushing toilet or hor water is very strange. It's almost as if she's doing it deliberately to be a martyr, to say "Look at me. Look at how I'm a victim of this terrible miscarriage of justice too".

Completely unbelievable. And imagine a child being brought up in that environment. I'm sorry, but if yiu have the wherewithal to run a caravan sales and parts business, to order parts from wholesalers, etc then you also have the wherwithall to engage a plumber at some point to install a modern flushing toilet. A

Did the police ever search the septic tank for the missing jacket and knife?

I'd have though that whether he is still a danger would be a consideration? And effectively he'd be moving back or at least circulating in the same small community that the crime was committed in and where the victim's family live.

To me , how the mother has behaved and conducted herself points to guilt.

Lives like that to stay away from everyone and live with the guilt.

It’s not normal.

Even before the murder case she was clearly enabling her son to lead a deviant lifestyle, buying him knives , allowing him to smoke hash , allowing bottles of urine to build up in his room. ( what mother doesn’t go in their sons room , even for a cursory look around to check for plates / cups etc )?

She allowed all of that prior to this case , so she has been proven to turn a blind eye to odd things.

Just started listening to the Skinwalker podcast about this. So far seems more balanced. Interestingly lukes older brother says luke was not home. Brother says he was the only person in the house.

Which explains his lack of presence in the TV show

I think I remember at the time the brother was at home watching porn (was all over the paper day time!)
He told the police this was only something he did when he was alone in house. Not sure if he later said Luke was at home but this alibi was discredited.

According to the podcast he's sticking to his story of being home alone watching porn. Says he had his bedroom door open so he'd hear if anyone came in and nobody did.

No-one has really talked about whether he'd been planning it for a long time or not, but every time I read any sort of story like this I just think how life can change for so many people in the blink of an eye, a moment of madness, whatever. The effects ripple out so far- Jodi, her family, his family, completely random people who get caught up in it like the female witness the documentary was trying to discredit. She was local, people must know her and think about it when they see her in the street. And all for nothing. Just a terrible waste of life. Poor Jodi, just walking to meet her boyfriend. And her gran, imagine seeing your granddaughter like that. How do you put your life back together after that? Just so sad and pointless.

Did they ever talk about what Luke's motive was? Sex game gone wrong? It's a bit indelicate to ask but they said no evidence of sexual assault but does rule out that she had consensual sex?

@LizzieMacQueen

Did they ever talk about what Luke's motive was? Sex game gone wrong? It's a bit indelicate to ask but they said no evidence of sexual assault but does rule out that she had consensual sex?

I believe someone upthread.. mentioned that he was seeing another girl... and the need to get rid of this girl was becoming an issue..

it might go someway to explaining motive.. if this is true 🌺

not 100% sure though

The podcast talks about prior to the murder Luke had talked to some friends and (quite briefly I think) said killing someone would be fun. He wasn’t talking about a specific person....but just gave the impression that he might get a kick out of killing someone.

The judge said he was wicked but that he’d leave it to others to decipher why he’d done it.

No sign of mental illness.

Not sure the 2nd girlfriend would be an issue. They lived 50 miles apart so the chances of them bumping into each other are remote. He could have dumped one, he wouldn’t be the first teenager to have two girlfriends on the go for a while before dumping one. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah I've just listened to the podcast and 2nd girlfriend was a red herring. However, he did allegedly threaten his then girlfriend with a knife when they were 12 as she didn't want to have sex with him. The evidence of his brother re the alibi was quite damning given that alibi was one of his defences. Also that of Jodi's mum's partner about the phone call from LM after 5pm.

I think the main thing the podcast highlights is just how biased the tv programme was, shockingly so.

yes it does. It didn't tackle the bits of evidence that were actually more key to his conviction or was biased in not covering that. For example, as per the expert, if the attack happened from behind, there could easily have been no significant blood on the attacker and that it's more likely that there would be some transfer when removing the clothes. If the attackers clothing was destroyed and they were gloved and a face covering used, it's conceivable that hands and hair would still be dirty rather than with blood on them or clean. And as I said before, there is no reason to believe that he would have necessarily have gone home when he could easily go to the caravan park and organise things there - after all, his mum was there working. Getting a lift home from mum would explain why no-one saw a lad covered in blood walking home.

Did they ever forensically examine or take away his mums car

@VivaLeBeaver

Is it likely he'll be let out when the 20 years are up? So fairly soon. His sentence was a minimum of 20 years wasn't it? Will they keep him locked up for longer if he doesn't admit it?

He'll have to go before the parole board and given he doesn't accept his guilt, they won't let him out.

And was the caravan park ever searched just after the crime ?
If he wasn’t arrested til 10 months after the crime , I feel like there are lots of times evidence could have been “ got rid of” .

Ie . Bin collections from the caravan park
Would have still been weekly pick ups in 2003,lots of opportunity for bin lorries to take bins and rubbish away that contained evidence etc.