Jodi Jones killer ‘still at large’ and Luke Mitchell ‘wrongly convicted’ of her murder, says TV crime expert

Professor David Wilson fears Jodi’s killer has never been caught and punished at all

One of the UK’s leading criminologists has claimed Luke Mitchell should never have been arrested, let alone convicted, of killing Midlothian schoolgirl Jodi Jones.

Professor David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, said there was “nothing” that suggested Mitchell had murdered his then-girlfriend, whose mutilated body was found in woodland in Dalkeith, on June 30, 2003.

Having been convicted in 2005, Mitchell, now 34, has had several appeals to overturn his conviction rejected, with the Appeal Court previously concluding there had not been a miscarriage of justice.

Leading criminologist David Wilson, left, has claimed Luke Mitchell, right, should never have been arrested, let alone convicted, of killing Midlothian schoolgirl Jodi Jones, inset.

But Prof Wilson, who presents BBC Scotland show Crime Files, believes Jodi's killer has “still to be brought to justice”, nearly 20 years later.

Writing in the Herald, he said: “Over the last few months, prompted by several emails I have at last been able to devote time to look more fully at Luke Mitchell’s case, and what I’ve seen gives me cause for concern.

“What happened to Luke almost echoes all the mistakes that took place within the investigation, trial and conviction of George Beattie and so my fear is that Jodi’s killer has never been caught and punished at all.

“Even accepting that I could not access all of the materials I would have wanted, there is literally nothing – nothing – I could uncover that warranted Luke even being charged with Jodi’s murder, never mind being sent to trial.”

“There is no forensic evidence whatsoever to connect Luke to Jodi’s murder, despite the horrifying way in which she was killed.

“The Scottish Criminal Justice System never seems keen to admit to its mistakes but, as I have always argued, a judicial system cannot call itself mature and civilised unless it’s prepared to hold its hands up and admit when it gets things wrong.

“And that’s what they did in Luke Mitchell’s case – it got things wrong, and so for me Jodi’s killer is still to be brought to justice.”

Mitchell and Jodi started going out in about March 2003 after attending the same school – St David's Roman Catholic High School. They had only been dating for four months. The schoolboy lived in Newbattle, near Easthouses, with his mother Corinne and his older brother.

At his trial, Mitchell was found guilty of attacking Jodi by hitting her on the head and body and compressing her neck, restricting her breathing.

He was also found guilty of stabbing the teenager with a knife before and after she died, inflicting wounds to her face, ear, mouth, breast and abdomen.

The jury in the trial heard Mitchell was a fan of controversial American rocker Marilyn Manson, who painted pictures depicting the gruesome “Black Dahlia” 1940s murder of Holywood actress Elizabeth Short. Detectives believed Short’s murder was the inspiration for Jodi’s killing. Prosecutors also told the jury how Mitchell was obsessed with Satanism.

The trial is believed to be the longest of a single accused in Scottish criminal history. The jury took just over five hours to reach their decision, and in January 2005 Mitchell was convicted.

In 2021, in a Channel 5 documentary titled Murder in a Small Town, two ex-cops questioned a lack of forensic evidence linking Mitchell to Jodi’s brutal slaying.