The bottles of urine - evidence obtained by trickery?

 

Innocents Betrayed Page 261 

"on July 15th (2003), Michelle Lindsay entered Luke’s bedroom alone with him. She asked him for videos in his possession, which he handed over and asked about liquid in bottles in his room. On opening these bottles and smelling them, she concluded that they contained urine. The “bottles of urine” evidence, used to devastating effect to suggest that Luke Mitchell was weird, was obtained by trickery – Luke was never cautioned, Michelle Lindsay was not corroborated and she was actively misleading the family, not only about her role, but about their status in the investigation as suspects. (Both Shane and Corinne were arrested and charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice). But Michelle Lindsay’s influence went further still"

IB Page 231

"It is in this respect that the role of Michelle Lindsay, the Family Liaison Officer, cannot be underestimated. It was she who took bottles of urine from Luke’s bedroom and questioned Luke, without caution or corroboration, about why he kept them."

What the transcripts say

Transcripts for PC Anita Dow - page 1264 16/12/2004

https://lukemitchelltrialtranscripts.blogspot.com/2023/12/pc-anita-dow-full-transcript-16122004.html

PC Anita Dow was the officer who removed items from Luke Mitchell's home on the 14th April 2004 - the day that Luke was arrested upon the execution of a petition warrant.

"And this is a picture taken of course in the previous July. But you see there are some bottles lying around the bed there?

PC Dow: Yeah

Did you in fact come across some bottles containing liquid when you searched the bedroom in April of this year?

PC Dow: Yeah, that's correct.

A number of them?

PC Dow: In excess of 20 bottles.

Where were they? 

PC Dow: Littered all over the room.

There are some drawers and things and cupboards and things we've seen in the bedroom. Were they in any of those?

PC Dow: There was some in cupboards, some on shelf units, some on the floor, some on the window ledge.

And did they appear to contain anything?

PC Dow: Yes, they all contained urine."

So it wasn't just DC Michelle Lindsay who noted the urine - PC Anita Dow also gave evidence in regards to the bottles found in the room. Luke also discussed the bottles during the August 14th 2003/section 14 interview.

The urine bottles were also a ground for appeal in 2008:

https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/judgment?id=e2988aa6-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7

"[131] At a later stage the Crown sought to lead a passage from a police interview with the appellant on 14 August 2003 in which the appellant explained why he had kept the bottles - broadly, that he had started urinating in bottles because one time he had fallen off his bed when he got up to go to the toilet during the night, that he had hurt his head and had woken everyone up in the house. Again objection was taken on behalf of the appellant on the basis that the evidence was irrelevant, but potentially prejudicial. The Advocate depute indicated that in circumstances where the evidence was that on 14 April 2004 there were still numbers of bottles filled with urine in the bedroom, notwithstanding that the appellant was no longer sleeping on the upper level of the cabin type bed, he was seeking to lay a basis for a possible challenge to the veracity of the appellant's explanation in the event that he gave evidence. By this stage evidence had indeed been given by PC Anita Dow that during a search of the house on 14 April 2004 a number of bottles containing urine were found in the bedroom. No objection was taken to the leading of this evidence."