Luke Mitchell v. Her Majesty's Advocate [2008] HCJAC28

Criminal Appeal Against Conviction:- On 30 June 2003 Jodi Jones was murdered in woodland near Dalkeith. Following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh the appellant was convicted of her murder. The appellant sought leave to appeal and six grounds of appeal were granted and a further ground put forward during the course of the appeal hearing. The grounds of appeal were:- (1) that the trial judge erred in not granting a motion by the defence prior to the trial to move the trial out of Edinburgh due to the extensive rpe trial publicity in connection with tyhe circumstances round the murder and the relationship between the deceased and the appellant; (2) that there was insufficient evidence in law led by the Crown upon which the appellant could be convicted.; (3) that the admission of identification evidence by a number of witnesses was "unfair"; (4) that the trial judge erred in allowing evidence to be led by the Crown about bottles of urine being kept under the appellant's bed; (5) that the trial judge erred in allowing parts of the appellant's police interview by admitted in evidence on the basis that the manner of police questioning rendered the interview inadmissible; (6) that certain evidence given by DC Michelle Lindsay, and Corinne Mitchell should not have been admitted in evidence; and (7) having regard to the totality of the evidence, the verdict returned by the jury was a verdict which no reasonable jury properly directed could have returned. Here the court considered these grounds of appeal. Here the court considered whether there had been a miscarriage of justice.