Luke Mitchell, the Scottishs teenager who was jailed for life for the mutilation and murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Jodi Jones, in June 2003, yesterday lost his appeal against his conviction.

Lawyers for Mitchell, 19, had argued that media attention had meant that he did not get a fair trial and that he had been a victim of a miscarriage of justice. But three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh upheld the original verdict, but they criticised police for the “outrageous” manner in which they had interviewed the then 15-year-old Mitchell.

Miss Jones went missing after going to meet Mitchell - her boyfriend - one evening in June 2003. Her mutilated body was found near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian.

Judith Jones, the mother of the murdered teenager who had attended the hearing with other family members, covered her hand with her mouth as the judges delivered their ruling.

As she left court Mrs Jones said that she felt “relief, total relief”. She also described the ruling as “brilliant” and said that she could now achieve a sense of closure.

Mitchell's mother, Corinne Mitchell, claimed that her son had been wrongly convicted: “Luke's innocent, the fight will go on,” she said.

Miss Jones was stripped, tied up and stabbed in woods near to her home in Dalkeith, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, in June 2003, in a murder that shocked Scotland.

A hole had been cut in her windpipe and the main artery in her neck was severed virtually all the way through. The schoolgirl also had multiple injuries to her head and wounds to her face, breast and arms.

Her horrific death inspired one of the largest investigations ever mounted by Lothian and Borders Police. More than 200 officers were involved and 3,150 statements were taken from at least 200 people.

At the subsequent two-month trial of Mitchell at the High Court in Edinburgh - the longest murder trial of a single accused in Scottish legal history - prosecutors said that the killing was among the “most gruesome” in recent years.

The trial judge said that the murder appeared to have been inspired by the work of the Gothic rock star Marilyn Manson, while the wounds found on Miss Jones were said to resemble the injuries inflicted on Elizabeth Short, the victim of the so-called Black Dahlia murder in California in 1947.

In February 2005 Mitchell was sentenced to at least 20 years imprisonment for what was described by the trial judge as “a truly evil murder”.

Mitchell has always protested his innocence. The murder weapon has never been recovered and there was no reliable DNA evidence linking Mitchell to the killing.

When the case reached the Appeal Court in Edinburgh earlier this year, Mitchell's lawyers argued that there was an “enduring sense of unease” surrounding the circumstantial evidence used to convict him. Donald Findlay, QC, who represented Mitchell at his trial, claimed that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Mr Findlay argued that there was not enough evidence to find his client guilty beyond reasonable doubt and that police made errors as they investigated the case.

The lawyer also claimed that Mitchell did not get a fair trial because his case was heard too close to the crime scene, arguing that “emotional” media coverage after Miss Jones' death would have had the greatest impact in the minds of people living in and around the Scottish capital.

However, John Beckett, QC, claimed that the Crown case was “compelling, cogent and almost irresistible”.

In a 20-minute speech yesterday, recorded by BBC television cameras, Lord Hamilton rejected six separate grounds of appeal put forward by Mitchell's defence team, although he did condemn the conduct of police who interviewed the teenager. He said their “overbearing and hostile interrogation” seemed designed to elicit a “hoped-for” confession.

Mitchell's lawyers had claimed that the interview was conducted in circumstances which were wholly and manifestly unfair to the teenager.

“We are driven to the conclusion that some of the questions put by the interviewing police officer can only be described as outrageous,” Lord Hamilton said. “Such conduct, particularly where the interviewee was a 15-year-old youth, can only be deplored.”

Lord Hamilton added: “While there may be cases where the combined effect of a series of unsatisfactory features in a trial may result in a miscarriage of justice, we are not persuaded that this is such a case.”

A police spokeswoman said: “Lothian and Borders Police note the appeal decision. This was a grave crime and our thoughts are with the family.”

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