I DIDN'T HELP TO COVER UP JODI MURDER; Denial by mother.
Byline: By Gordon McIlwraithTHE mother of the teenager accused of murdering Jodi Jones yesterday denied helping to stage a cover-up.
Corinne Mitchell, 45, admitted she had been surprised to learn son Luke carried knives and smoked cannabis.
But she told the High Court in Edinburgh: 'My son didn't kill Jodi Jones. That's the truth.'
Mitchell, now 16, maintains he was at home with his mother in Dalkeith, Midlothian, at the time on June 30, 2003, Jodi, 14, was killed.
Giving evidence for the second day, Mrs Mitchell told defence QC Donald Findlay: 'Luke was in the kitchen cooking dinner.'
'He physically couldn't be in two places at once.'
Advocate depute Alan Turnbull QC produced a psychiatric report in which Mitchell said his mother was quick-tempered and described himself as having a 'short fuse'.
Replying to a question from the prosecutor, Mrs Mitchell denied she could 'see no wrong in anything Luke did'.
Mr Turnbull asked: 'Isn't it nearer the truth to say you would be prepared to lie to cover up to protect him?'
Mrs Mitchell replied: 'That's not true.'
She said her son left home at 5.40pm - about 30 minutes after the time it's believed Jodi was murdered - and that he phoned her at 6.40pm.
She denied that he came back to change his clothes.
Mr Turnbull asked: 'Is it just a coincidence that between 6.30pm and 7pm neighbours noticed the smell of burning coming from your back garden?'
Mrs Mitchell replied: 'I could have been burning pampas grass because I was trimming it.'
Mr Turnbull: 'Did Luke go out again about 10pm to dispose of anything?' Mrs Mitchell: 'No.'
Mr Turnbull: 'Is it just coincidence he was seen a little after 10pm walking back to your house?'
Mrs Mitchell: 'Luke was in the house at that time.'
She then revealed that Mitchell phoned her at 12.30am after Jodi's body had been found but he never mentioned that.
She said: 'I kept trying to phone him as he was late and in trouble. He would not answer and then he finally phoned and said, 'I can't talk, I have to go.' 'He phoned back again and when I asked what happened he said, 'I can't tell you.' 'I heard a man's voice in the background and Luke said it was a policeman and I asked to speak to him.'
Mr Turnbull: 'Luke calls you twice and didn't tell you what had happened to Jodi?'
Mrs Mitchell: 'That's right.' Mr Turnbull: 'Because, Mrs Mitchell, you already knew.'
Mrs Mitchell: 'I didn't know.'
Cross-examined by Mr Findlay, she said she realised the prosecutor had effectively accused her of lying to cover up the fact she knew Mitchell killed Jodi.
Mr Findlay then asked: 'What's it like living your life month after month with people saying your son is a killer?'
Mrs Mitchell replied: 'It's hell ... because you know that your son is innocent and you know the truth.
'They were not there. They do not know.Yet they feel they have a right to call you names, to threaten you and to destroy things that belong to you and they have no right.'
Mitchell denies murdering Jodi on June302003near the Roan's Dyke path in Dalkeith, Midlothian.
He has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination and has also pleaded not guilty to carrying a knife or knives and supplying cannabis. The trial continues.
CAPTION(S):
EVIDENCE: Corinne Mitchell
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
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| Date: | Jan 15, 2005 |
| Words: | 572 |
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