JF didn't say he cut his hair to avoid looking like the Stocky man

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This blog isn't to argue guilt or innocence - I believe that facts are important, and looking at the source of a claim, is imperative. In high profile cases, evidence can often be sensationalized and contorted - if there is any valid argument to be made for the guilt or innocence of an individual, tweaking of the truth to fit a narrative should not be required. 

A paragraph in the book 'A long walk to justice', by Scott Forbes, claims that John Ferris, one of the 'moped boys' who was in the vicinity of the murder scene around the time Police believe Jodi was killed, cut his hair so as not to look like the 'Stocky man'. 

16 days after the murder, the press released an appeal for information on a Stocky man seen following a girl who resembled Jodi Jones at around 5pm. Police believe Jodi was killed at 5.15pm - her boyfriend Luke Mitchell was convicted of the murder in 2005. It was never ascertained who the 'stocky man' was - but the author of A long walk to justice has stated in videos as well as his book, that he believes the stocky man was Jodi's brother. An alleged excerpt from the SCCRC's statement of reasons from Luke's 2014 appeal was shared on X, covering the female witness who reported seeing the stocky man. She initially said that Jodi's brother was very like the man, but in Jan 2004, told Police she'd saw someone else who was also very like the stocky man. This witness identified two different individuals she believed could have been the man she saw on 30th June 2003. Nothing came of either sighting and by the trial, Police were telling the jury that the girl seen walking near him, was not Jodi.

This paragraph from the book (below) features quotation marks around "stocky man", giving the reader the impression that this term was used by Mr Ferris himself. 

But was it?


Page 1889


It specifically says here that Mr Ferris "said" he didn't want to be mistaken for the "stocky man".

Did he say this?

Below is a paragraph on the subject from Innocents Betrayed, a book by Dr Sandra Lean, page 92: 



The claim here is that there was a suspicion for some time afterwards, that Ferris had cut off his hair in response to the description of the Stocky man. 

It does not mention that he actually said this. Stocky man is also in quotations here, although it is not attached to a statement made by Ferris himself.

It does say that in one statement, Ferris alluded to cutting off his hair in response to the stocky man sighting, by saying that he was afraid of being wrongly accused. 

What isn't clear, is whether the 'afraid of being wrongly accused' statement was even made in relation to the cutting of hair. 

There is no mention of 'Stocky man' featuring at all in the statement where Ferris apparently said he had a fear of being wrongly accused.

So, we have a statement which doesn't appear to mention the stocky man, but a fear of being wrongly accused, morphing in to this being a hint that he didn't want to look like the stocky man, evolving in to it's final destination in A long walk to justice, where the claim is made that Ferris himself said that he didn't want to look like the stocky man. 

Both Mr Ferris and Mr Dickie (the two moped boys) gave evidence at trial for a total of over 11 hours - none of which has yet been transcribed, meaning not even Luke's legal team have seen it.









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