Schoolgirl ‘may have known her killer’

THE killer of schoolgirl Jodi Jones may well have known her and was likely to live locally, an expert said yesterday.

Ian Stephen a forensic psychologist who advised the makers of TV's Cracker also believed the killer may have a history of violence and mental illness.

Mr Stephen, 63, from West Lothian, said: "In these cases it's very unusual for the killer and victim not to know each other.

"Whoever it is, this is someone full of anger. Police will focus their inquiry on people close to her."

Jodi's body was found partially clothed by relatives on a secluded woodland path near her home in Easthouses, Dalkeith, Midlothian on Monday. Senior Detectives have described the frenzied knife attack as the most violent crime seen in the area for almost 30 years.

Mr Stephen said: "It's likely to be a white male under 30 and he lives in the local community - that explains his knowledge of the pathways.

"This is a severe attack, an outburst of extreme violence totally uncontrolled and frenzied, someone has totally lost it for some reason."

Mr Stephen said if the person police were looking for was a serial killer and this was their first victim, then they were doubly likely to live locally.

"If it's a serial killer, they tend to start in the local area and then as they get confident work their way out in concentric circles around their home," he said.

Mr Stephen, who has 30 years of expertise in his field, said: "This seems to be someone dealing with a disturbance of a psychiatric nature.

"Police will be looking for people with a record of violence whether it's to household pets or people."

Mr Stephen, who works in Lanarkshire, said that the killing was likely to have significantly altered the behaviour of the murderer.

"The police will be interested in people with unusual patterns of behaviour, who have changed since Monday night.

The key to finding out if Jodi knew her killer may lie in the arrangement of the partially clothed girl's clothing, Mr Stephen believed.

"If clothing was removed, was it before the attack began? In that case she may have arranged to meet her killer, possibly for a tryst," he said.