Convicted murderer Luke Mitchell has won the right to mount a legal challenge against a decision not to release him from prison.
Mitchell, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones, was denied his freedom at a parole hearing last year. He was 14 when he stabbed Jodi to death in woods near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, in 2003 and he was later sentenced to serve a minimum term of 20 years before being eligible for parole.
Mitchell, who maintains his innocence, instructed lawyers to lodge a petition for a judicial review of the decision of the Parole Board for Scotland not to release him on licence. The Court of Session in Edinburgh has now ruled the review can proceed and a one-day hearing has been set for February 6.
Mitchell, now 36, was denied parole last April after a psychiatric report branded him a “sexual risk” to women. He had been dating Jodi for four months when he killed her in what judge Lord Nimmo Smith later described as “a truly evil murder”.
Jodi had failed to return home on the evening of June 30, and Mitchell claimed to have been alerted to her body by his dog while out looking for her. She was discovered with her hands tied behind her back, her throat cut and her body repeatedly slashed.
Following a ten-month police inquiry, Mitchell was accused of her murder and was 16 when he was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2005. He has lost four appeals but has attracted a significant following of online supporters convinced of his innocence since a TV documentary was aired in 2021.
After Mitchell’s parole bid was refused, a relative of his victim said: “If this man was released, I would fear for women. He is a dangerous killer and should remain inside for a long time to come.”
Mitchell was jailed in February 2005 but became eligible for parole last April because the time he spent on remand ahead of his trial is taken into account. His solicitors declined to comment on the case.
A spokesperson for The Parole Board for Scotland said: “The Parole Board for Scotland does not comment on individual cases. More generally, there is no appeal against the decision of the Board. However, if the prisoner feels their case was not dealt with in the appropriate manner, they can apply for a judicial review of their case.”
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