Talk:Murder of Jodi Jones/Archive 1

Cleanup
The first half of the article is great, but the last half seems like a rant. -RomeW 06:45, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I changed part of the sentence that read (hardly abnormal in a rebellious teenager) to 'hardly abnormal in a rebellious tenager'. Replacing the parentheses with quotation marks makes it look more like the original author was citing criticism than giving an opinion. The later parentheses' are fine in regards to the 'urine' imo. Could do with some more details: background on Jodi, her relationship with Mitchell, media response, actual grounds for appeal. Great article so far. - K.Smythe — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.155.249.253 (talk • contribs) 10:42, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Notable person?
Is this person notable in any other way? Or are we going to list everyone who has been accused of something by someone? 8-(--Light current 19:28, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * He wasn't just accused but found guilty (with very limited evidence too) in the longest criminal trial in Scottish history. Notability surely isn't a problem. Jizz 11:40, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

this was a high profile case, for what other reason would he have to be notable? 217.42.166.79 13:48, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Satanist?
There is a link from this page to the page on Satanists. For goodness sake, this was a 14 year old boy who had scribbled some song lyrics and video game related phrases in his school jotter. Yes, he had written an essay at school claiming to worship the devil, but what teenage boy doesn't do that sort of thing at some stage?

I'm for removing that link, I think it's a disgrace. This person will be up for parole one day, and having served his time shouldn't be recorded as one of history's notable satanists. He may be a murderer, he may be screwed up, but technically I doubt he can be classed offically as a satanist.

I'd be interested in the views of other before I remove the link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.12.116.232 (talk • contribs) 22:01, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Marilyn Manson
so he was a fan of marilyn manson.why is this important? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grantyboy14 (talk • contribs) 20:20, 13 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Please sign posts... Marilyn Manson has recorded songs on the subject of murder and it was a plank of the prosecution's case that Mitchell was a fan of the singer. The implication was that he might have been re-enacting scenes from the songs. --Oscar Bravo (talk) 06:23, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Not Accurate
I feel that this article is not accurate.

The article states that Mitchell may have been found guilty only because of his taste in music. The article however neglects to inform that during the search which was at night and in bad weather Mitchell managed to find the body almost straight away.

The article also fails to inform on two key elements of the trial.

1.That the crux of the case was that Mitchell and possibly another conspired to destroy evidence. That other was lucky not to be prosecuted for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

2. That Mitchell's brother who gave evidence during the trial contradicted the alibi Mitchell gave, which was crucial to the Prosecution case.

This alleged conspiracy and destruction of evidence explains the length of time it took to get the case to Court.

Holden 27 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.152.80.88 (talk • contribs) 03:23, 12 February 2005 (UTC)


 * This is clearly absolute nonsense to anyone who followed the trial in any detail. The prosecutions claim that clothing was burnt by Mitchell following the murder was never actually established.  The perjury allegation made above, again, is factually nonsense because no one else was ever charged with any offense relating to the trial or the murder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.9.253.132 (talk • contribs) 11:12, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hardly absolute nonsense... The "person concerned" (I guess we all know who we're talking about) was arrested and questioned. That the police did not decide to press charges does not necessarily mean that that person was found to be entirely innocent of any wrong-doing. Being released without charge covers a wide spectrum of situations all the way from pristine innocence to the Procurator Fiscal being uncertain that the evidence would lead to a conviction. Where that person falls in this spectrum is a matter of conjecture. So to say something like it is absolute nonsense that evidence was destroyed is unjustified. The best we could conclude is that there was a suspicion that evidence had been destroyed, but this was never proven. --Oscar Bravo (talk) 06:37, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
 * It says something about a conviction when the crux of the case lies on the accused possibly conspired to destroy evidence. Jizz 11:44, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality
This article seems to focus on the fact that he, supposedly, was s satanist, listened to Marilyn Manson, was "goth", etc. It seems like those are being given as motives for the crime. I dont think it should be as skewed towards the bend as it is. Any insight? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.174.62.65 (talk • contribs) 21:59, 18 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that the article is far from neutral. As currently edited, it is basically a rebuttal of the evidence against Mitchell and so reads like an appeal to him being innocent. I propose neutralifying it... --Oscar Bravo (talk) 10:40, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with most of the changes you've made. However, it seems from the appeal judgement that there are additional claims/counterclaims without which the article will be incomplete, particularly Luke's account of going to meet the victim and meeting someone else (David High) instead when she did not appear (having been murdered either by him or "person or persons unknown") and the evidence presented against that. What about giving a chronology of the night of the murder? Billwilson5060 (talk) 09:59, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Conflicting statements
Some very unreliable witnesses here. The leadng paragraph says Jodi was 13. The first line of the body of text says she was 14. Can we trust the rest of this article? Amandajm (talk) 07:36, 21 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I wrote that in October and have corrected it now. I must just have been thinking that he was older than her. Is there anything else you noticed? I was thinking of expanding the description of the murder and the evidence. Billwilson5060 (talk) 20:13, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

How about a rewrite of the first para?
A recent edit caused me to look at the first line: Luke Muir Mitchell (born July 1988) is a Scottish teenager... This was certainly true at the time of the murder and trial, but it is now 2010. He is 22 years old so he's not a teenager anymore. In fact, the whole first line (which is what appears in Google) is a mess.

Going further, the first para has more about the murderer protesting his innocence than about the victim or the circumstances of the case. Given that prisons are full of innocent men (in the opinions of the incarcerated), it is not very notable that a convict should protest his innocence. If people feel there is enough to raise concerns of a miscarriage of justice, this should be put in a separate section and doesn't really belong in the summary.

I propose something like (bearing in mind we don't have to enter every detail into the summary);


 * Jodi Jones was a teenage girl who was murdered by her boyfriend, Luke Muir Mitchell (born July 1988) in Easthouses, Scotland in June 2003. After Jodi was reported missing on the evening of 30 June 2003, a search was made by local people and Mitchell found the body. The case was the subject of widespread media coverage and was unusual in that the arrest of the suspect occurred 10 months after the murder and that the conviction rested on circumstantial evidence. Mitchell was convicted in January 2005 and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. In 2008, his appeal against his conviction was rejected.

--Oscar Bravo (talk) 09:47, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Please feel free to re-write and please take a look at The Murder of Amanda Dowler The Soham Murders and The Murder of Danielle Jones for examples of how a lead in a murder article should be.--Lucy-marie (talk) 14:00, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

I certainly agree the “teenager” opening should be cut; I changed it to “man” when teenager became incorrect but it’s been changed to “was a schoolboy” and back to “teenager” while in the meantime the article has changed to Murder of Jodi Jones rather than his name. I’d broadly support the proposed alternative opening, although the search was by family members and Mitchell rather than what “local people” suggests. Billwilson5060 (talk) 13:43, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Proper sentence?
"Jones and others at the school used cannabis that Mitchell was supplying to his circle of friends; he had used cannabis on the school premises." I like using semicolons, but I'm not exactly sure how to, and I don't think you are either. In any case it would be better to have the phasing clearer. Overagainst (talk) 16:33, 20 January 2013 (UTC)