****updated Thursday 22nd April 2010****

In the 1950s, a woman called Elizabeth Short was murdered in America. She was killed at a place unknown, her body mutilated and cut in half at the waist, before being laid out at the place she was eventually found. The murderer was never caught, and the case was dubbed the “Black Dahlia” murder.

Goth rocker Marilyn Manson painted a series of pictures depicting the body of Elizabeth Short as it had been found, and these pictures were available on his website.

Janine Jones, Jodi’s sister, was a fan of Manson, and had many of his cds and dvds. Jodi also liked Manson, and one track in particular.

Somehow, the police investigation became focused on linking Luke with the Manson paintings, in an attempt to show that this had been a “copy-cat” murder. Three raids on Luke’s house produced one Manson cd, and one torn up calendar.

The cd should have been something of a problem for the prosecution case, as it was, in fact, acquired after the murder. A music magazine had this cd included as a “freebie,” and it was the magazine, rather than the cd, which Luke had bought. None of the manson paintings featured anywhere on this cd.

The calendar had been given to Luke as a gift. None of the Manson paintings features anywhere in this calendar.

None of the computers to which Luke had, or even may have had, access had ever linked to the Manson site which depicted the paintings. The officer who found the Manson site admitted that it had not been a simple search which led him to the paintings – he said “You would have to know what you were looking for.” Yet it was claimed this officer had fortuitously stumbled upon these images, and made the connection between them and Jodi’s murder.

Therefore, there is absolutely no evidence, anywhere, that Luke had ever seen these paintings, or was even aware of their existence. In fact, what evidence there is points to it being highly unlikely that he had seen them. Yet Lord Nimmo Smith, sentencing Luke, said, “I think you carried these images in your mind…..”

How does one carry out a copy-cat anything, with no knowledge of what it is that is supposed to be being copied?

However, it was brought to the police’s attention early in the enquiry that another potential suspect was “obsessed” with the Manson paintings and the Black Dahlia murder. It is possible that somewhere in the chain of events, this information became detached from its original source, and somehow became a part of the “information” coming into the enquiry which was then attached to Luke.

The officer who “stumbled” across the Dahlia paintings openly admits that “You would have to know what you were looking for.” We would have to conclude, then, that he knew what he was looking for, and this was not just a “chance” find. The question then is why was he looking for these images?

There is no reasonable explanation for why the police should suddenly suspect Luke of having copied the Black Dahlia murder via exposure to Marilyn Manson paintings, when there was nothing to suggest any connection between Luke and Manson. In fact, during questioning, an officer asks Luke about his tastes in music, and Luke makes no mention of Manson. It is the officer who introduces Manson. The interview continues, and the officer again introduces Manson.  It is clear that the officer is trying to lead Luke into giving “information” about Manson which Luke does not actually have.

Finally, the pathologist admitted in the Frontline Scotland documentary that the “similarities” between the Dahlia murder and Jodi Jones murder were “superficial” and that there were far more differences than there were similarities.