Jodi's murderer to serve 20 years

Mitchell will serve a minimum of 20 years in prison

Luke Mitchell has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Jodi Jones.

Mitchell, 16, was convicted last month of killing 14-year-old Jodi in June 2003, in Dalkeith, Midlothian.

Judge Lord Nimmo Smith said Mitchell's cannabis smoking and his fascination with gothic rock artist Marilyn Manson's work appeared to be factors.

Defence QC Donald Findlay said the fight to clear Mitchell's name would continue.

Jodi was stripped, tied up and stabbed to death in woods near her home, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

'Affection and trust'

Lord Nimmo Smith told Mitchell, of Newbattle Abbey Crescent, Dalkeith, that he must serve 20 years before being considered for parole - and told him the term would have been longer if he had not been so young.

He described Jodi's killing as "one of the worst cases of murder of a single victim to have come before the court in many years".

The judge told Mitchell: "Jodi regarded you with affection and trust, she went out joyfully to meet you and she did you no harm.

"Yet you inflicted a horrible death on her and mutilated her body.

You found evil attractive and you thought that there might be a kind of perverted glamour in doing something wicked Lord Nimmo Smith

"Looking back over the evidence I still cannot fathom what led you to do what you did.

"Perhaps you do not even know yourself."

He said he could not dismiss Mitchell's fascination with Satanism as "mere adolescent rebellion".

"I think that is a sign that you found evil attractive and that you thought that there might be a kind of perverted glamour in doing something wicked," he said.

Lord Nimmo Smith said he could not ignore the similarities between the injuries inflicted on Jodi and those in Marilyn Manson's paintings of Elizabeth Short.

Jodi Jones was 14 when she was killed in June 2003

The would-be Hollywood actress was killed in 1947 in what became known as the Black Dahlia murder.

"I think that you carried an image of the paintings in your memory when you killed Jodi," he told Mitchell.

Lord Nimmo-Smith said he believed there was a degree of premeditation behind the killing, which he thought the teenager had carried out as if he were "acting out a scene" in his mind.

His relationship with another girl, who bore a striking resemblance to Jodi, may also have been a factor

"I do not know how far in advance you decided to kill Jodi," said the judge.

"A trigger for deciding to do it then may have been her discovery that you were also carrying on a relationship with Kimberley Thomson and had planned to see her on holiday."

Cannabis use

The judge said that nothing in the reports prepared on the teenager would have suggested that he was liable to commit such a serious crime.

With hindsight, he said, the teenager's upbringing may have contributed.

The trial heard evidence of Mitchell's cannabis use and the judge said he did not consider it a harmless recreational drug.

So long as that young man maintains to me he did not kill Jodi the fight to clear his name will go on Donald Findlay QC

"I believe that in some instances at least it can seriously damage the mental processes of those who habitually consume drugs," he said.

"In your case I think that it may well have contributed to your being unable to make the distinction between fantasy and reality which is essential for normal moral judgments, and that this, along with other factors I have mentioned, may have meant that when you killed Jodi you were unable to recognise what a truly wicked deed this was."

Lord Nimmo Smith also spoke of the lack of emotion shown by Mitchell during the court proceedings.

"It may be that a lack of emotional response made you more readily able to inflict harm on others.

No emotion

"Your lack of emotion may account for the callous charade in which you pretended to help search for Jodi and inflicted on members of her family the pain of the discovery of her body," he said.

Mitchell, who was wearing a blue shirt, stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as the judge announced the sentence.

His mother Corinne, 45, who had protested his innocence, also showed no sign of emotion. She had a hurried meeting with her son in the cells before leaving the building.

Corinne Mitchell left after seeing her son in the cells

Jodi's mother Judy was also in the court for the sentencing.

As Mitchell was driven away, he was cheered by a number of young girls.

Mr Findlay told the court: "So long as that young man maintains to me he did not kill Jodi the fight to clear his name will go on."

Speaking in mitigation, he said: "It is my client's position that an injustice has been done and that the righting of that is for another occasion."

Mr Findlay told the court that during the trial he had developed "something akin to a personal relationship" with his client.

He said Mitchell was never anything other than "courteous" and "respectful".