08/03/2006

Jodi killer set to appeal

The teenager convicted of the murder of schoolgirl Jodi Jones has been granted leave to appeal against the conviction.

Luke Mitchell, who is now 17, was convicted of the 14-year-old's murder in January 2005.

Jodi's body was found on a secluded woodland path in Dalkeith in June 2003. She had been stripped, her hands had been tied behind her back and she had been stabbed to death. Her throat was cut and her body was badly mutilated.

Mitchell was jailed for life for the murder and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. He denied murdering Jodi.

His lawyers began working on an appeal last August. The appeal paper is understood to have been examined by one judge and will now be able to go before a full hearing.

Mitchell's solicitor, Nigel Beaumont, said that most of his appeal paper had passed the examination.

(KMcA/GB)


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11 February 2005
Mitchell receives life term for Jodi's murder
Luke Mitchell has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for the murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Jodi Jones. Sixteen-year-old Mitchell was found guilty of Jodi's murder last month, at the High Court in Edinburgh. The teenager had been stabbed to death in a savage attack in 30 June 2003, after being stripped and tied-up.