Mitchell not given leave for appeal

CONVICTED killer Luke Mitchell has been refused leave to take his attempt to have his conviction overturned to the UK's highest court.

Mitchell, 22, was ordered to serve at least 20 years in 2005 for the "truly evil" murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones in Dalkeith.

He has sought permission from senior judges in Scotland to take his appeal to the Supreme Court.

However, Scotland's top judge, sitting with two other judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, ruled that leave to go to the London court should be refused.

Mitchell is now expected to appeal directly to the Supreme Court to hear his case.

Defence QC Maggie Scott argued that the London court should hear three "devolution issues". These centre on the way police interviewed Mitchell and on the Crown's use of identification evidence during his high-profile trial.