A TV criminologist has waded into the Jodi Jones murder case by claiming Luke Mitchell should never have been arrested, let alone convicted, of the killing.
Professor David Wilson, currently touring the UK discussing his career studying violent criminals, said there was "nothing" that suggested Mitchell had committed the crime.
Instead, Prof Wilson believes schoolgirl Jodi's killer has "still to be brought to justice", 19 years on. Fourteen-year-old Jodi was killed in woodland in Dalkeith, Midlothian in July 2003 report the Express.
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Mitchell, who was also 14 and Jodi's boyfriend at the time, is serving a life sentence in prison having been ordered to spend at least 20 years behind bars and will be due for parole in 2025.
He has maintained his innocence throughout but several appeals to overturn his conviction have been rejected. Supporters also claim he was not responsible and cite a lack of forensic evidence as proof.
And Prof Wilson seems to agree. Writing in The Herald on Wednesday, the professor compared the case to the death of Margaret McLaughlin in 1973.
Local man George Beattie was convicted of that killing but Prof Wilson is convinced police had the wrong man. He adds "My fear is that Jodi's killer has never been caught and punished at all".
The emeritus professor of criminology at Birmingham City University concedes his knowledge of the case is limited to transcripts from court, newspapers, TV shows and podcasts.
But he said: "...even accepting that I could not access all of the materials I would have wanted, there is literally nothing - nothing - I could uncover that warranted Luke even being charged with Jodi's murder, never mind being sent to trial."
Prof Wilson added: "Instead there seemed to be a concerted press campaign to damage his character which served to support the police's actions and in much the same way that George's reputation got tarnished by his pseudo-confession.
"He's alluding to the pop group Slade with his reference to men wearing tall hats with mirrors on them - Luke gets similar treatment but this time it's the American goth-rocker Marilyn Manson that's harnessed to do the damage.
"There is no forensic evidence whatsoever to connect him to Jodi's murder, despite the horrifying way in which she was killed. As with George, there were no 'signs of murder' on his person, and nor is it true that his clothing was destroyed by his mother after the event.
"Witness testimony is weak, inconsistent and more than likely wrong, and about the only thing that I could see that needed to be investigated more fully was his part in the initial discovery of Jodi's body. However, this was not just a case of circumstantial evidence leading to a conviction, but one of literally no evidence at all."
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It recently emerged that DNA samples recovered from Jodi were never tested by police. Police Scotland also destroyed more than 100 pieces of protected evidence relating to the case.
Mitchell, now 34, was branded "truly wicked" by Judge Lord Nimmo when he was sentenced in 2005. Despite a lack of forensic evidence, a witness said they had seen two people resembling Mitchell and Jodi near the woods shortly before the murder.
Mitchell's brother also cast doubt on the killer's claims he was at home when Jodi was murdered while his knowledge of the location of the corpse and interest in other, similar murders were also used by the prosecution.
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