Mitchell is Scotland's costliest criminal

Published on Wednesday 28 December 2005 00:06

Key points

• Teenager convicted of Jodi Jones killing costs 452,687.22 in legal fees

• Bill will rise further due to appeal

• Scotland's legal aid bill was 152.4 million last year

Story in full

TEENAGE murderer Luke Mitchell is officially Scotland's most expensive criminal, costing taxpayers nearly half a million pounds in legal fees, new figures reveal.

The total amount of legal aid paid to defend the 17-year-old during the trial was 452,687.22. The sum is the biggest ever paid from the legal aid fund for one criminal case in Scotland.

In January, Mitchell, 17, was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh of murdering his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones. Her throat was cut, her hands tied and her body mutilated on a secluded woodland path in Dalkeith, Midlothian, in June 2003.

Figures obtained by The Scotsman under freedom of information legislation show that nearly two-thirds of the bill - 290,783 - was paid to counsel, led by veteran lawyer Donald Findlay, QC, while 82,046 was paid to Mitchell's team of solicitors, and the remainder - 79,857 - was classified as other "outlays".

The Scottish Legal Aid Board said the fees were paid over 2004/05 and the current financial year. "These payments make this the most expensive criminal legal aid case," said a spokesman.

Mitchell's defence team has launched a bid to overturn his conviction and sentence - meaning the final bill for the case is destined to rise well beyond the half-million mark.

Lord Nimmo Smith ordered that Mitchell serve a minimum of 20 years for what he described as a "truly evil murder". The trial lasted 42 days - the longest single-accused murder trial in Scottish legal history.

The police investigation that preceded it was long and tortuous and it was ten months before Mitchell was charged. Lothian and Borders Police took 3,150 statements from 2,237 people, and 2,243 items were collected as possible productions in the case. The final report to the procurator fiscal consisted of 26 volumes and around 7,200 pages.

In the end, the jury took six hours to find Mitchell guilty of murder.

Mr Findlay said the case was one of the most complicated and intensive in which he had ever been involved. "For eight months I spent virtually every waking hour working on the case, going over the various possibilities in my mind," he said.

Scotland's legal aid bill last year rose 4 per cent to 152.4 million. The amount paid out to advocates has doubled in five years and reached 13.95 million in 2004-5.

Mr Findlay earned 321,300 in legal aid last year, second only to Paul McBride, QC, who was paid 357,600. Most of the legal aid in the Mitchell case is being paid out in this financial year, increasing the likelihood that Mr Findlay will return to the position of Scotland's highest-paid legal aid lawyer.

While the legal aid bill in the Mitchell case is the biggest ever paid for a trial on Scottish soil, the cost is dwarfed by that of the most expensive case in Scottish legal history - the Lockerbie bombing.

The trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, held at a specially-constructed court in Holland, cost 75million, a sum met by the British and US governments.