Jodi Jones killer Luke Mitchell set to have first freedom bid REJECTED after damning psych report | KFAR7YH | 2024-04-23 06:08:01
JODI Jones killer Luke Mitchell's first bid for freedom is set to be rejected following a damning psych report.
Mitchell's legal team insist there is "no basis" to reject his first freedom bid — despite shrinks ruling that he is still a danger to women.
The convicted killer's adviser Dr Sandra Lean told how he's due for a parole hearing tomorrow nearly two decades after being caged for the horror slaying of schoolgirl Jodi Jones, 14.
But she has already accepted the release plea will be knocked back by law chiefs after a psychiatric report ruled the 35-year-old is a "sexual risk" to women.
The criminologist slammed the findings and claimed Mitchell's human rights have been breached.
She insisted: "Luke's been incarcerated since he was 15 in all-male prisons.
"He's never had a complaint against him. No female has ever made any allegation.
"So it can not be anything that's happened in the 20 years he's been in prison. There is no basis in fact or evidence."
It is understood cops also contributed to the report which was based on jail officials' two dossiers following his move from a maximum-security prison to Greenock nick.
By Doug Walker
</div> Mitchell — who has always denied the blade murder of then-girlfriend Jodi in June 2003 — has since been hauled back to tough HMP Shotts in Lanarkshire after speaking on a podcast.
But Dr Lean maintained: "Both assessments found nothing that made him a risk.
"He would never have been moved to Greenock had there been anything in them."
Claiming she's been left in the dark over the psychiatrists' assessments, Dr Lean added: "To not let Luke or his lawyers see all of this new report has to be a breach of his human rights.
"We don't know if they'll allow us an independent psychiatrist to give a second opinion."
It's understood Jodi's family will be able to watch the hearing via a video link.
Jodi's brutal murder shocked the country 21 years ago. Her throat was slit and neck compressed.
Ear, mouth, breast and abdomen wounds were also inflicted.
Mitchell claimed his dog led him to her mutilated body in woods near Dalkeith, Midlothian.
He insisted his innocence but a jury found the then-16-year-old guilty of murder in January 2005 and he was jailed for at least 20 years.
After the verdict Jodi's mum revealed she'd been happy with Mitchell after the trauma of losing her dad Jimmy to suicide in 1998.
Bereaved Judith told how she would not have liked the "notoriety" her death brought.
She added: "She had come to a point in her life of getting through her low self-esteem and was happy in having her first boyfriend."
Jodi's uncle Kevin Walker branded Mitchell "evil" after the sentencing, adding: "The family has had to bare its soul to ensure that justice could prevail.
"We will not and cannot speak after today of the effect on us individually and as a family. To do so would only feed the evil that has caused our grief."
But as the bereaved loved ones maintained their silence no DNA link was ever established leading campaigners to argue Mitchell, of nearby Newbattle, was victim of a miscarriage of justice.
In 2012 he took a lie detector test in a bid to prove his innocence.
And top criminologist David Wilson said last year: "My fear is that Jodi's killer has never been caught."
The Birmingham City Uni professor added: "There is literally nothing I could uncover that warranted Luke even being charged, never mind being sent to trial."
But cops remained convinced Mitchell was the killer while three bids to have his conviction quashed were rejected.
We told in 2022 how police started destroying forensic evidence never made available to his legal team.
The development came months after a TV documentary raised fresh doubts about Mitchell's guilt. Detectives took away scrapings from Jodi's fingernails which would likely contain her killer's DNA.
The bombshell emerged following a request from Mitchell's lawyers amid a push for an inquiry into his conviction.
The Lord Advocate's solicitors wrote to them admitting key samples had been taken away but that the destruction had subsequently been halted.
The note to the lawyers revealed: "The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland has been in the process of disposal of productions retained by the police in relation to your client's prosecution."
The force's rules state all "productions" relating to serious crime cases must be kept for 12 years.
As Mitchell's last appeal was in 2014, the evidence should have been secured until 2026.
Some samples remain but have yet to be released to Mitchell's legal team for tests.
The Parole Board for Scotland has been approached for comment.
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