Heartless vandals have daubed bright red paint on a wall near to where the body of murdered teenager Jodie Jones was found.
Louts have scrawled the message “J***** Killed Jodi” on a stone wall just feet from the site where the mutilated body of tragic 14-year-old Jodi was discovered in 2003. The teen’s boyfriend Luke Mitchell, then also 14, was convicted of her brutal slaying following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh and has served 17 years of a minimum 20-year life sentence.
But the badly spelled painted message seems to imply someone else may be responsible for the killing. Shocked residents have now slammed the “morons” who targeted the murder site after the bright red writing was spotted by a walker on Thursday, August 18.
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One woman, who did wish to be named, said: “This is such a terrible and pointless thing for someone to do at that particular spot.
“The vandalism is right at the gap in the wall where the body of Jodi was found all those years ago. The killing is still well remembered and often talked about around the village and for Jodi’s family to see this must drag up all those horrific memories again.
“I hope the police are investigating this as these morons need to be punished.”
But another local said the paint attack was sparked by a large group of residents who believe Mitchell may be the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
They said: “It is a shame that it has come to this but there is a growing number of people who believe Luke may be innocent.
“I think the paint attack at the site of where poor Jodi was found is trying to highlight how a lot of folk around here feel about the case. I’m not saying he is innocent or anything like that, but there are an awful lot of anomalies in the evidence he was convicted on.
“It looks like the person who has done this believes someone else might be responsible.”
An online petition demanding “a full, independent review” into the murder conviction of Luke Mitchell has gathered more than 23,000 signatures. A controversial two-part documentary Murder In A Small Town was aired on Channel 5 last year and examined the evidence as to whether Mitchell was the real killer.
In the show, former police officers John Sallens and Michael Neill queried a lack of forensic evidence linking Mitchell to the crime. Killer Mitchell, now 34, has always claimed he is innocent - despite losing three appeals.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “An investigation into a vandalism at a location in Mayfield is under way.”
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