Luke Mitchell
14 year old Jodi Jones was murdered last year near her home in Scotland. Both Jodi and her boyfriend Luke Mitchell also then 14 were associated with the popular goth genre known by it's dark lyrics, moody clothing and ocassional reference to satanism and various occultish practice. Jodi and Luke experimented with drugs and sex and were known to hang out at the well known Blackfriars cemetary in Edinburgh with other gothic teenagers.
On the 30 June 2003 Jodi was making her way to Luke's home taking a shortcut along Roan's Dyke, a wooden path, where she was to be murdered brutally taking numerous stabbings to the chest. Jodi was found later that evening by Luke and the Jones family when out searching for her. Luke's dog was said to have drawn them to the exact spot Jodi's body lay, a claim that the Jones family now deny.
On arrest Luke's knife pouch was found with his girlfriend's initials and the year they were going out on it. A tree in the wood were Luke and Jodi were seen smoking cannabis had their initials carved into it. There were several witnesses who saw a suspicious character near the crime scene on the day none of whom identified Luke, yet Luke was to become the prime suspect in the coming months despite the close relationship and the romantic engravings found on his personal effects and in the woods.
In the absence of any forensic evidence linking Luke to the crime the case fixated on the alternative teenage lifestyle Luke enjoyed. Lyrics from goth music that Luke had scribbled on his school jotters were gathered, and atheist quotations from Luke's school essay on God were reproduced for the jury.
On trial, a forensic psychologist gave his opinion that, that Luke had continued to try and lead a normal state of affairs by going to school, he was admitting to committing the offence. It was on these opinions and a hotchpotch of alternative teen culture representations that the jury, after 41 days of trial found Luke guilty by a majority of 10-2. He awaits sentencing on the 11 February.
posted by Wanderlust @ 4:18 PM
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8 Comments:
Ive followed the case on and off. Whilst not an expert on it by any means i would have to say my opinion is he didnt do it. It is unfortunate the 'system' has latched on to the goth aspect, and made it out to be some sort of indication of evil. When i was younger my bookshelf was filled with books about the occult, vampires, UFOs, serial killers etc. I often joked that if i ever got arrested for something the media would have a field day with that knowledge. In this day and age you would expect a more...rounded view on cultures such as this. If he hadnt been a goth i wonder how the trial would have been conducted.
Steven, thanks for the response, and I agree, without the 'goth' handle how could the case have been picked up by the media? More worryingly, if we take Luke Nitchell's gothic interests away and replace them with an interest in say, football, could the prosecution have put any sort of case together at all? It's probably about time that atheists like young Luke were treated the same as the everyone else. Were a vicar brought to court for the murder of Jodi Jones, it's uncontested that his religous beliefs would be brought forward to testify to his righteous moral standing. Something we now know to be a farce.
I think that it was unfair the way that the media trashed the whole goth thing as if that was responsible for what luke did. Im a goth and that does not mean that Im going to go and kill some one. Also to be honest i really dont think that luke did kill her even though all the evidence points that way but then if he did it why did he not just admit it. or why did it take the forensic dudes two years to find enough evidence to arrest and convict luke of the ritalistic murder. Any way that is my opinion any way laterz
luke did not do it
luke was a youngboy who like any young boy wanted to try something different, and why not.that doesnt mean he killed his girlfriend.let justice prevail.
I think he didn't do it.
Get him out!!!
ive followed the case too and know most of the people involved as ive been in that scene for the last 10 years. I and a lot of other people believe he is innocent, theres no forensic evidence linking him, theres sketchy evidence of someone else involved. some guy thought his friend could have done it so reported him n it took 3 years before they even acknowledged that. The scary thing is most people i know reported it as being a completely different person n its scary that persons still walking the streets today.
This young man will eventually be set free. It is reasonably apparent that his perfectly legal interest in counter culture musical trends were flagged up to impugn his reputation. Yet we are talking about a 14 year old boy. How smart would one have to be not to leave any DNA evidence at the crime scene of such a brutal murder? We now know an extremely likely candidate was put forward within days - a psychotic user of numerous drugs who frequented that very area. Yet this young man is still in custody..!
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