Luke Mitchell's mobile - the call register and the twenty seven minutes past midnight Text

IB Page 159: "A civilian employee of Lothian and Borders Police analysed the mobile phone’s call records during the investigation. He said that only one number – Corinne’s - was stored in the phone’s recently made calls list. Asked by the prosecuting QC why no more calls were listed, Mr Morris said: “Basically because the call register had been deleted,” adding that “in all probability” the register had been deleted just after half past midnight in the early hours of July 1st, 2003… when the phone was already in the possession of the police.

The police officer who took Luke’s phone from him in the car park was not wearing gloves and the phone was not securely packaged in a sterile environment – instead, the officer switched the phone back on to call Luke’s mum."

IB page 160: "But not only was the call log deleted after the police took Luke’s phone - a text was also sent while the phone was in the hands of police investigators (who were prepared to lie about Luke checking his voicemail immediately after Jodi’s body was found – see Chapters 15 & 16), so it can no longer be accepted at face value that it was Luke, himself, who deleted those earlier texts. If police officers were interfering with phone evidence so early in the investigation, there can be little confidence in the reliability of any claims later made on the basis of that evidence."

IB Page 227: 

DC1: Right, not only do you phone your voicemail, at 27 minutes past midnight, again, your girlfriend is lying dead after you had found her, you send someone a text 

Luke: No 

DC1: No? At 27 minutes past midnight, you sent someone a text messsage 

Luke continued to deny having sent any text message at this time. He was told it was a joke text and still he denied it. He was absolutely correct - by 27 minutes past 12 - according to all statements, the phone was in the possession of the police."

What the transcripts say

17/12/2004 - evidence of DC Alan Towers 

Page 6 - The Police witness explains that when Luke was in the back of the Police Land Rover, he was speaking on his mobile phone. His colleague asked Luke who he was speaking to and he explained it was him mum. 

There were two calls to Luke's mum from his mobile - in a second call, an officer explained to Luke's mum that Luke would be taken to the station. 

The first call to Luke's mum's mobile (while he was in the Police Land Rover) was at 00:31:34, just after half past twelve. The call lasted about two and a half minutes. 

The second call, at almost twenty to one was also to his mum - with a duration of 50 seconds. 

Luke's phone had clearly not yet been taken from him at 00:31:34 if he was in the Land Rover calling his mum the first time (they must have taken it after the first call, seeing as they gave him it back for the second call to his mum).

The 00:27 text was clearly before the first call to his mum and before the Police had taken his phone. The text was not sent while the phone was in the hands of Police investigators, as Innocents Betrayed states. If a text was sent - it wasn't by the Police.