The Silent Evidence's Podcast

The Disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae (Part 2)

In November 1976, Renee and Andrew MacRae would go missing sparking one of Scotland's longest running mysteries. But now, 46 years later, in 2022, we finally have a conclusion to the case and justice has been served. This episode is about the court case that ultimately delivered that justice and ended this long running mystery. If you have not yet listened to the episode on the disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae, it was covered in The Silent Evidence Episode Number 006 I would encourage you to go back and listen to it before going any further. There you will learn all about the background to the case, the timeline of events, and theories on what may have happened, some of which still stands up in light of new evidence which was presented throughout the course of the trial. For those of you staying with me now, lets get back into the case.  Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/thesilentevidence]

The Murder of Jodi Jones (Part 2)

At around 5pm on Monday the 30th June 2003, Jodi Jones a 14 year old school girl from the village of Easthouses near Edinburgh in Scotland, left her home to go and meet her 14 year old boyfriend Luke Mitchell from the nearby village of Newbattle. When she hadn’t returned back home by 10.30pm that night her mother sent a message to Luke’s phone, as Jodi’s phone was broken, telling her to get home immediately. When Luke replied that he hadn’t seen Jodi that evening at all, the alarm was raised. A search party was put together consisting of LM and members of Jodi’s family. During their search they would come across the mutilated body of Jodi Jones lying behind a wall on a secluded woodland path that linked the 2 villages together. She had been the victim of a savage knife attack.  Suspicion fell on the boyfriend and stories emerged of his unconventional goth lifestyle, his fascination with the occult, his alleged devil worshipping, his prolonged cannabis use and his habit of carrying a knife. He quickly became the prime suspect and pictures and stories blazed across all of the newspapers for weeks and months as the case developed.  Ultimately LM would face a jury charged with murder, and would be convicted. But the conviction was not without controversy and in many ways would be just the beginning of a long quest for truth and justice.  New pieces of the jigsaw would be revealed over the years that followed and questions remain unanswered. Who was the stocky man that was seen following JJ as she made her way towards the path that fateful evening? Were the riders of a moped seen propped up against a wall at the time and location of the murder really not involved? Did the prosecutions star witness really see LM and JJ together that evening, or was her sighting manipulated to fit the narrative? And what of the story of a man appearing with scratches on his face the day following Jodi’s murder – a man who had allegedly written an essay about killing a girl in the woods – was he not involved either? How about the forensic evidence from the scene – a condom discarded nearby containing DNA that did not belong to LM. Or the DNA profile obtained from Jodi’s body, not belonging to LM either but rather to one of the other members of the search party. In the years following his conviction LM would maintain his innocence. In 2012 he would pass a polygraph test in which he denied involvement in Jodi’s murder, a result which re-invigorated the growing miscarriage of Justice campaign gathering behind him and fronted by Dr Sandra Lean, a prominent criminologist and author. So was this a case of prosecution of a lifestyle, or was the evidence against LM sound? Was justice done? Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/thesilentevidence]

The Murder of Jodi Jones (Part 1)

At around 5pm on Monday the 30th June 2003, Jodi Jones a 14 year old school girl from the village of Easthouses near Edinburgh in Scotland, left her home to go and meet her 14 year old boyfriend Luke Mitchell from the nearby village of Newbattle. When she hadn’t returned back home by 10.30pm that night her mother sent a message to Luke’s phone, as Jodi’s phone was broken, telling her to get home immediately. When Luke replied that he hadn’t seen Jodi that evening at all, the alarm was raised. A search party was put together consisting of Luke Mitchell and members of Jodi’s family. During their search they would come across the mutilated body of Jodi Jones lying behind a wall on a secluded woodland path that linked the 2 villages together. She had been the victim of a savage knife attack.  Suspicion fell on the boyfriend and stories emerged of his unconventional goth lifestyle, his fascination with the occult, his alleged devil worshipping, his prolonged cannabis use and his habit of carrying a knife. He quickly became the prime suspect and pictures and stories blazed across all of the newspapers for weeks and months as the case developed.  Ultimately Mitchell would face a jury charged with murder, and would be convicted. But the conviction was not without controversy and in many ways would be just the beginning of a long quest for truth and justice.  New pieces of the jigsaw would be revealed over the years that followed and questions remain unanswered. Who was the stocky man that was seen following Jodi as she made her way towards the path that fateful evening? Were the riders of a moped seen propped up against a wall at the time and location of the murder really not involved? Did the prosecutions star witness really see Luke and Jodi together that evening, or was her sighting manipulated to fit the narrative? And what of the story of a man appearing with scratches on his face the day following Jodi’s murder – a man who had allegedly written an essay about killing a girl in the woods – was he not involved either? How about the forensic evidence from the scene – a condom discarded nearby containing DNA that did not belong to Mitchell. Or the DNA profile obtained from Jodi’s body, not belonging to him either but rather to one of the other members of the search party. In the years following his conviction Luke Mitchell would maintain his innocence. In 2012 he would pass a polygraph test in which he denied involvement in Jodi’s murder, a result which re-invigorated the growing miscarriage of Justice campaign gathering behind him and fronted by Dr Sandra Lean, a prominent criminologist and author. So was this a case of prosecution of a lifestyle, or was the evidence against Luke Mitchell sound? Was justice done? This is episode 8 the murder of Jodi Jones. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/thesilentevidence]

The Murder of Victoria Hall

On Saturday the 18th of September 1999, 17 year old Victoria Hall and her best friend Gemma Algar went out dancing in the town of Felixstowe in the south east of England. They left the bandbox nightclub at approximately 2am and began the 2 mile walk home to nearby Trimely St Mary, talking and laughing as they strolled along.  They went their separate ways just a few hundred meters from Victoria’s home, but Victoria would not be seen alive again. A week later her naked body would be found by a dog walker along a secluded farm track some 25 miles from her home. The police would receive over 2,000 calls from the public in the week following the discovery of Victoria’s body, and followed up dozens of leads. They would ultimately arrest a suspect – a man who had been in the bandbox nightclub at the same time as Victoria on the night she went missing, and who lived only a few hundred meters from her family home in Trimely St Mary.  But despite the police officers insistence that they had the right man, the jury at his trial seen it differently and he was acquitted of the murder. In the years that followed, a new team re-investigated the case, and new evidence would come to light that perhaps pointed at a new suspect – a man who was convicted of several other murders in the local area, and who was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 some 9 years after Victoria’s murder.  But was this responsible for Victoria’s murder? Did it fit his Modus Operandi? Or did the police have the right man at the start? Or could it be that someone else entirely was responsible? This is the officially unsolved murder of Victoria Hall. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/thesilentevidence]

The Disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae

On Friday 12th November 1976 Renee MacRae, from Inverness in the north of Scotland, dropped off her eldest son, Gordon jr aged 9, with her estranged husband Gordon Sr at the offices of his building company in the city, so that the child could spend the weekend with his father. She arranged to pick him up again on the following Monday morning in order to take him to school, and left the building shortly after 5pm, taking her youngest son, Andrew aged 3, with her. Neither she nor Andrew have ever been seen since. Renee was planning to drive to Kilmarnock in the south of the country, some 300 miles away, to visit her sister for the weekend, taking Andrew with her. But just over 4 hours after leaving Gordon Sr’s office, at around 9pm on that Friday night, Renee’s BMW would be found ablaze in a layby some 12 miles south of Inverness. The car was empty, but a bloody rag found it the boot alerted the police to potential foul play.  When they discovered that that not only had Renee not made it to her sister’s house in Kilmarnock that weekend, but that her sister knew nothing of her intended visit at all, their concerns intensified. And they intensified further when Renee did not return to Inverness on the Monday morning to take Gordon jr to school as she had promised to do. A complex investigation followed, which ultimately revealed that Renee had been living a secret life; a life in which she had been having an affair with a married man, and had told a friend of her plans to leave Inverness with him for a fresh start elsewhere. But the investigation failed to turn up any conclusive evidence that Renee had run-away; the married man in question was discovered and denied having any such plan to start a new life with Renee. All of her possessions were still at home, and her bank account remained undisturbed.  But nor did the investigation uncover any conclusive evidence that the pair had been the victims of foul play. The bloody rag found in the car did not contain enough blood on it to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person had sustained a life threatening injury.  So what happened to Renee and Andrew? Did they run away? Did they set off to start a new life? Or were they murdered and disposed of? And if so, by whom? This is the case of the disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae, the UK’s longest missing persons inquiry. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/thesilentevidence]