How did Luke find Jodi's body?
This blog is not to argue guilt or innocence, but to provide transcript notes and to look at what was stated at trial.
One of the prosecution's main points when it came to the case against Luke Mitchell for the murder of 14 year old Jodi Jones (2004/5), was that he had known the exact location of her mutilated body which lay behind a wall, out of sight from the main path - and that he could only have known this if he had killed her.
Luke's defence was that his trained tracker dog, Mia, alerted him to the position of the body.
Jodi's body lay over 17 yards (just over 50 feet) to the west/left of the V break in the wall where Luke climbed over to search, after allegedly being prompted by his dog. He crouched on the wall, then turned left and was able to see her body in the dark in seemingly a matter of seconds.
In his own words, he climbed over and turned "Immediately" left. He explained that he did this because as he and Jodi's gran (Alice Walker), sister (Janine) and her sister's then partner (Steven Kelly) were walking down the path searching for Jodi, not even 20 yards past the break in the wall, the dog alerted as if she had smelled something. Luke had been walking slightly ahead of the others, but turned back to climb over the V break and investigate. The trouble was that none of the other members of the search party agreed with his version events.
The theory is, if Luke simply walked directly to the V break and not past it, he couldn't have known to turn immediately left, without having guilty knowledge. That is, if the reason he provided for locating her body so quickly and easily, was untrue, then he must have lied - inferring that he already knew her body was there. During the trial, the others said that Luke did not walk past the V and their previous statements were discussed.
As a side note, Kelly's was seemingly the only full DNA profile recovered from Jodi's body. An excerpt shared by Luke's campaign, from the SCCRC statement of reasons, noted that DNA from a contact bloodstain mixed with soil on the front of Jodi's T shirt, contained DNA from Kelly. This did not seem to be a concern for Police in 2003, or the Crown, or even the SCCRC in 2014. Jodi's sister claimed at the trial, that the T shirt was borrowed from herself.
Luke's statements
First account (1st July from DC Towers transcript): "We walked past a V-shaped break in the wall and a few yards, not even 20 yards past that, Mia stopped and put her nose in the air and put her paws up on the wall as if trying to sniff over it. I went 'stop'. Jodi's gran and the others watched the dog. I said 'I think she's smelt something'. I handed the lead to Jodi's gran and asked her to hold on to the dog...
Further on..
At the other side of the wall, there are woods. I turned immediately left and followed a dirt path next to the wall for about six feet. There were no branches in my way, just a tree. As soon as a I walked along the path, I saw this white thing that stuck out on the right. I could see it was legs, like a tailor's dummy. It was just a few feet past a big oak tree and some undergrowth and greenery. After I saw these legs I just took another step to register it was a body lying there."
At the trial, Steven Kelly was asked how long had passed between Luke going to the V break and then shouting that he had found something. He is asked whether it would have been minutes or seconds.
Kelly replies "seconds". (page 953 of his transcript).
Steven and Janine had overtaken Luke on the path after he climbed over the V. None of the statements point to them having walked much further past the V before Luke shouted that he'd found something. All statements confirm that Alice stayed at the V break with the dog once Luke had handed her the lead.
Further statements from Luke:
4th July statement: "She suddenly stopped, sniffed the air, put her head right up and was sniffing the air, when she turned to the right and faced the wall and started darting over to the wall and like sort of trying to jump up against the wall and sniffing over it."
14th August statement (Sergeant Thomson's transcript): "When Mia stopped and air scented at the wall, then she started clawing up at the wall, we got to here, she sort of suddenly stopped, sniffed around, put her nose to the air, turned and went directly to the wall."
A statement from Janine is read out at the trial (transcript page 879 day 1):
"Luke's dog was on a lead at all times but started jumping about at the wall. Luke then climbed over the wall and started searching about."
The witness goes on to say she couldn't remember that happening but if it was in her statement, it must be correct. The precise location of the dog reacting is not given.
She is asked whether she had ever said Luke had walked past the V break (page 926, day two)
AT: Have you ever said to the Police at any time at all that Luke walked past the break and came back again?
Janine replies "No."
Steven Kelly's statements are read out during his testimony:
Kelly said in his first statement on July 1st: "At one point, Luke's dog went to a wall that had the top bricks missing, it was sniffing and jumping up. Luke Mitchell jumped over and said he could...something." (it is established a word is missing).
Further on, still July 1st:
"As we approached the V in the wall, Luke's dog started pulling in to the side of the wall as it had been doing. Because of this, Janine and I had walked a few footsteps in front, continuing to look. Luke had went to the wall with the dog pulling. I then heard Luke shouting something like 'I think there is something here."
12th July statement: The dog was sniffing about and then pulling him mainly towards the right into the undergrowth at the wall....(continued)...I seem to remember Luke's dog pulling us over to the wall prior to us reaching the broken part of the wall where we went over."
Continued: "I stopped to check some (incomprehensible) in the undergrowth, but Alice carried on a couple of steps. I was aware of the dog pulling Luke over to the wall and standing on its hind legs with its front paws on the wall."
"I was aware of the dog pulling Luke over to the wall and saw it standing on its hind legs with its front paws on the wall. The dog is an Alsatian and it's quite big. When it stood up, its head was level with the bottom of the V in the wall."
Alice Walker's statement from 5th July, 5 days after the murder (Page 1152 of her transcript):
"When Luke didn't see anything, we all kept walking. Just a bit further down, the wall had a hole in it, as if it had been knocked down at that particular spot. This is the part where Luke actually climbed over. I don't know what drew us to that part but I'm certain it was Luke's idea. The dog didn't seem to be bothered but I couldn't say whether it jumped at the wall or not. Luke handed me the dog's lead so as I could hold on to it as he had decided to climb over the wall. I remained at the hole in the wall whilst Luke was over the other side and Janine and Steven kept walking a few steps in front."
This statement from Alice Walker describes Luke handing her the dog lead at the V break while she waited/remained at that area. There is no mention of him doubling back, having walked past the V break.
At trial, she said, "The only people that walked past there (the v) was after Luke had went over the wall, Janine and Steven just kept on walking past."
The map - where did Mia react?
A map presented in court displayed marker points to the jury, relating to the events surrounding the finding of Jodi's body. It is established that X marks the location of Jodi's body and that X1 marks the point Luke claims Mia reacted on the opposite side of the wall. According to transcripts from the 14/08/03 Police interview with Sergeant Thomson, Luke confirmed, "That's where she went to the wall, yeah." (X1). He goes on to describe the dog sniffing around, putting her nose in the air, turning and then going directly to the wall. X1 is noted by the Advocate depute as, "A little bit beyond or to the west of the point indicating the position of the body." This seems to suggest the dog reacting past the point where Jodi's body lay (her body was found around 50 feet West of the V break), but that doesn't match up with the other given descriptions.
During the 14th August interview, Luke said:
"I stood on the wall, crouched on the wall, sort of checked. I couldn't see anything, so I decided to you know, go to parallel where Mia was, and I got to about here and I just saw what looked like a dressmaker's dummy's legs."
X2 marks the location on the map where Luke first stopped when he was aiming to reach the area he believed to be 'parallel' to where Mia had reacted on the other (main path) side of the wall. According to his first statement on July 1st, he only walked around 6 or 7 feet down to reach this point - "I turned immediately left and followed a dirt path next to the wall for about six feet...after I saw these legs I just took another step to register it was a body lying there."
Another marker, X3, shows the jury the point Luke reached after moving 'two or three more paces' from X2, where he was able to see that a body was lying there. This is the point he claimed to realise it was Jodi. "I just recognised her as soon as I saw her."
During the testimony of Steven Kelly, Advocate depute Alan Turnbull uses a marker point of 13.6 metres (as a comparison/reminder, Jodi's body was found around 16 metres from the V), at a reconstruction of the wall. This appears to correlate with X1 on the map, where Luke told Sergeant Thomson Mia reacted. The Advocate depute asks Kelly to stand at the V break and he walks to the marker point of 13.6 (just over 44 feet from the V). He asks Kelly if he saw Luke do anything like this. Kelly replies, "No, he never done that."
He is asked about the dog reacting at X1 on the map and responds, "It just wasn't what happened."
On August 14th 2003, Luke told Police about the hole in the wall. He said:
"I noticed it when I was down, when we were walking down, because we were going slower and had managed Mia calm in to tracking mode and I'd noticed it with the torch, but I hadn't taken it you know, know anything about it."
Luke said that he noticed the hole in the wall for the first time while walking past it on the way back down with the others and before Mia alerted, prompting him to turn back and investigate. But if he never walked past the V break, this can't be the case.
How far in front of the others was Luke?
Janine was asked how far in front of herself and Steven, Luke had been walking. She answered that he was no more than 15 feet (4.57m) in front (Kelly said "4 metres, something of that sort.") Janine said, "as I walked past, he was at the wall", seeming to refer to the V break (page 878 of her transcript). If Luke was 4.57 metres in front and had walked 13.6 metres past the V break to the point where it appears he claimed Mia reacted, then Janine and Steven would also have walked past the V break - if they had remained around 4.57 feet behind him. They would have been past the V themselves as Luke was making his return from the point Mia reacted back to the V - but Alice said the only time anyone walked past the V was when Steven and Janine overtook Luke when he went over the wall. However, in a statement, Kelly did describe stopping to look in the undergrowth at the time Luke went to the wall.
This map is not representative of the actual map shown to the jury; it is an interpretation of the evidence provided in court:
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