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Padraig · Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Posts: 7 Location: Belfast

http://sittingdock.blogspot.com/

website with some information on the Luke Mitchell Case.

david · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 52 Location: edinburgh

Very strange case and conviction considering not one piece of scientific evidence was used in the trial. No DNA or nothing. The victim was horrifically murdered and no DNA of the victim was found on the defendant and vice versa.
This conviction is very strange to say the least.

David

http://www.freewebs.com/ferniesidethreecampaign/

Angeline · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 148

That's only the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid. Most of the evidence in this case never made it into court.

DNA from other males found at the scene (none of it Luke's), not followed up, or not even identified. A non sexual attack, but semen found at the scene (none of it Luke's, some unidentified, some not followed up).

Other suspects identified at the scene, or placed there by their own admission - not followed up, or used as witnesses against Luke.

Prosecution witnesses who completely changed their stories by the time they got to trial, others allowed to give completely unsubstatiated testimony

A 14/15 year old child stripped, medically examined, samples taken, etc, with no adult present. Questioned with no responsible adult present. A social worker who sat in silence while the boy was bullied, harrassed, brow beaten by up to three cops at a time - behaviour which the appeal judges called "outrageous and to be deplored," the carefully chosen "snippets" used by the prosecution to prortray Luke as disrespectful aggressive, etc when he finally retaliated.

Four members of the search party - a 14 year old, a 17 year old (female) a 19 year old (male) 67 year old (female). Who do you think the police asked to go back over the wall and show them where the body was? You got it - the 14 year old. They later used this against him, saying he "refused" - if you were 14, and had seen what he'd just seen, would you willingly go back again?

Unsubstantiated "insinuations" - one teacher was "concerned" about the scribblings on his jotters. Others who would have testified that the same scribblings appeared year on year on dozens of kids jotters were not even called.

"The identification" - the prosecution's star witness, who was supposed to place Luke at the Easthouses end of the path with Jodi (and whose identification had been manipulated by extremely dodgy police tactics) failed to identify him in court, yet the prosecution and the judge referred to the "identification" by AB. She also failed to report the massive Deftones logo across the back of Jodi's hoodie, even though she claims to have seen this female from the back.

There is much, much, more. If any case ever made a laughing stock of Scottish Justice, it's this one. The police were utterly useless - failed to cover the scene, left the body out in the rain for 8 hours, allowed the body to be moved and items gathered up before forensics arrived, failed to take clothing and samples from other members of the search party - it just goes on and on.

A week into the enquiry, they were claiming that the results of DNA tests would "either prove or disprove their main line of investigation." Funny, that, since they only had reference samples from two people by that stage - Jodi and Luke. They didn't even get reference samples from the other members of the search party, or members of Jodi's family for 2 - 3 weeks after the murder.

Those involved (and the media has to take a big share of responsibility here) should be ashamed. Is this really how we are going to allow children to be treated? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? From the minute they took that boy to the police station (Within half an hour of the body being found) they had decided he was the perpetrator, then did everything in their power to pin the murder on him.
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As long as one heart still holds on, then hope will never really be gone

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 527

david · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 52 Location: edinburgh

This boy's conviction was trial by media and unfortunately this country doesn't overturn high profile miscarriages of justice like they do in England. If they do, it takes 20 years or so. Take the Barry George case. What are the chances of his conviction being quashed in Scotland. I believe none.

The Scottish justice system is corrupt and so are the judges in this case who heard the appeal. For one to conclude that this boy wasn't tried by the media is disgrace and a total cover up. Anybody with a brain can conclude Luke Mitchell was tried by the media yet High Court judges can't see that. Justice in this country is shocking to say the least.

david

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

I have never felt comfortable with the evidence in this case never mind the media coverage.

Angeline · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 148

The body was released for burial before (a) there was any official suspect and (b) before many samples had been sent for forensic testing. (Yes, you read that right - not "before DNA results were received" but "before they'd even been requested.")

In order to photograph and video the murder scene, police cut down overhanging branches before forensics had examined the scene.

For legal reasons, there are some things which cannot be posted for now, although they will be as soon as I have permission. However, I don't think I'd be breaking any confidences to suggest that in some cases, DNA testing comprises testing only for the chosen suspect, and not for anyone else. The result of such a test, if the donor is not the chosen suspect, will be a "no result" - not because no result was possible, but because they tested for only one person.

In spite of the SIO's claim that 85% of people who are murdered are killed by someone known to them, this investigating team failed to properly investigate around 99% of those who would fall into that category.

Luke's only alibi was his mother. His brother quite simply didn't know if Luke was in or not, and his grandmother, who spoke to him at around 4.30 on the phone was not called to give evidence.

Jodi's family members all provided alibis for each other, one of which is provably false, but this was never questioned.

No defence post mortem was possible because the body had been released before Luke was officially a suspect. Not a single expert witness was called by the defence, even though those witnesses were readily available.

There is a suggestion that the defence had agreed in advance "not to be too hard" on Jodi's family, so as not to "alienate" the jury. Luke Mitchell had been demonised in the press for 16 months prior to the trial - how much more alienation did anyone think the truth would cause??? It was supposed to be a murder trial, after all.
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As long as one heart still holds on, then hope will never really be gone

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 527

Angeline · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 148

Let me clarify. There were other people tested, and comparisons made, just not all of the comparisons that should have been made were.

The defence relied almost solely on cross-examination of crown witnesses - that's what I was banging on about the other day when I was tlking about lawyers taking on the mantle of "experts" in so many different fields.

A 19 year old youth was murdered in the same locality on Saturday evening

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/s...Jodi-Jones-has-been-battered.html

While I object to the gratuitous use of Luke's case as a "link" in this story, it does flag up some very interesting connections
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As long as one heart still holds on, then hope will never really be gone

Angeline · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 148

Guidelines for releasing the body are quite clear - it shouldn't be done before there is a "defence" to request a second post mortem. In this case, there was no defence in existence, because there was no official suspect.

Jodi was buried less than 10 weeks after she was killed

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As long as one heart still holds on, then hope will never really be gone