THE MOTHER of killer Luke Mitchell has claimed the real murderer of Jodi Jones is still on the loose.
Corinne Mitchell made the dramatic claims as her son’s defence team prepares an appeal based on new DNA evidence.
Mitchell, 21, was found guilty of the brutal murder of his girlfriend Jodi in January 2005 and was sentenced to a minimum prison term of 20 years.
Yesterday, his mother said a jury would never have convicted her son if the new evidence had been presented to them at his trial.
Jodi was just 14 years-old when she was repeatedly stabbed in a frenzied attack on a quiet pathway in Dalkeith, Midlothian.
Mitchell’s new defence team are thought to be preparing for a fresh appeal based partly on the original forensics investigation, the details of which have previously never been made public.
DNA match found
His lawyer’s are claiming the original police forensic report contradicts the prosecution case that the murder was not sexually motivated because semen was found on the young girl’s body.
The legal team also claim a blood sample found on her body produced a full DNA match and a second full profile was retrieved from a condom nearby.
It is thought the latter individual was identified three years later when he committed a crime and his DNA was matched on the police database.
And the new legal team hjave also lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights about his pre-arrest interview which, they say, was conducted without a solicitor present.
Ms Mitchell, 50, has heavily criticized her son’s previous defence team for failing to present the new details to the jury during the trial.
She said: “I’m very, very angry that this never came out at Luke’s trial because if it had, he would never have been in prison.
“A jury would never have convicted my son had they been given that evidence.
“What the public seem to forget is that whoever did kill Jodi is still out there, because it was not my son.”
Original defence team failed
John Carroll, Mitchell’s current solicitor, said: “It [the DNA evidence] could put two people, two associated people, at the locus in circumstances that require explanation.
“If the jury had heard of this, a number of things could have arisen.”
And according to Sandra Lean, an author who has been campaigning on Mitchell’s behalf, the original defence team had a copy of all the reports but failed to produce because of an issue over who would pay for an expert opinion on the documents.
Mitchell, who turned 21 last month, has recently been moived to Shotts Prison after serving the first eight years of his prison term at Polmont Young Offenders Institution.
