The childhood home of convicted killer Luke Mitchell has gone up for sale at a knock-down price.
The detached three-bedroom home is situated on a quiet woodland estate near Dalkeith. Mitchell was living at the house when he brutally murdered his girlfriend Jodi Jones in 2003.
In the 10 years since the killing, Mitchell’s mother Corinne, who has always protested her son’s innocence, has continued to stay at the address.
Urquharts Estate Agents have placed a value on the property of £180,000 around £30,000 less than the average house price on the street.
Last year a property nearby sold for £257,000. Mitchell’s home is decorated in muted colours and features a conservatory and large garden.
The house also features a secure door entry system. Included in the sale is the dining table and some of the bedroom furniture.
However, buyers will have to contend with a large amount of ivy covering the property as well as a large tree obscuring its front.
Neither Corinne Mitchell nor Jodi’s mum Judith were available for comment when contacted by The Courier this week.
Mitchell was just 14 when Jodi was brutally murdered near their homes in Midlothian after she left her house to meet him.
He was first to find the schoolgirl’s mutilated body, which was hidden from view by a high wall in a wooded area near her home in Easthouses.
Prosecutors argued that only the killer could know the exact location of Jodi’s body. Mitchell denied killing Jodi, claiming he had been at home cooking at the time of the murder.
However, his brother testified that he had been alone in the house at the time Mitchell claimed to be there. Mitchell was 16 when he was found guilty after the longest and most expensive trial of a single accused in Scottish legal history.
He was condemned as being “truly wicked” by Judge Lord Nimmo Smith, who ordered him to be jailed for a minimum of 20 years in 2005.
Jodi suffered a slashed throat and post-mortem cuts to her eyelids, right cheek, left breast, abdomen and right forearm. There was also a penetrating wound to her mouth and her hands had been tied.
Mitchell insists he isn’t guilty of the murder, but has repeatedly failed to have his conviction overturned on appeal.