Police to re-enact steps of murdered teenager

Detectives will stage a reconstruction today of the last movements of the murdered teenager Jodi Jones.

The final journey taken by the 14-year-old schoolgirl will be re-enacted by a female police officer, and passers-by and motorists will be questioned in a bid to shed light on the murder.

Jodi was last seen a week ago before setting off from her home in Easthouses, Midlothian, to meet her boyfriend. About six hours later, her partially clothed body was discovered in a pathway 270 metres from her home.

Her injuries, including a slit throat and multiple stab wounds, prompted one senior officer to call it the most violent crime he had encountered in his 30-year career.

Hundreds of people at more than a dozen churches in Midlothian have paid tribute to the schoolgirl in memorial services. The 200-strong congregation at St Luke's Church in Mayfield, near where Jodi lived, were asked to pray silently for the victim and her family, who were not present.

Father John McInnes said: "Let us not forget that in the midst of our happiness there are others facing tragedy and dismay. But I am proud to be part of this community more than at any other time for the dignity and respect with which Jodi's family have been held.

"We will continue to bless and support Jodi's family today and over the weeks and months to come."

He criticised the media attention that followed the murder, adding: "People want to know how we feel as if, because we live in Mayfield, we are somehow savages or do we have a sense of outrage about someone who was murdered in our community?"

Tributes included a candlelit mass attended by dozens of residents at St David's church in nearby Dalkeith and a service at Mayfield and Easthouses parish churches. Communities in the area where Jodi lived remain shocked at the brutality of the murder.

The motive of the crime remains unknown, despite widespread publicity following the murder and the release of home video footage of the teenager, which led to more than 500 calls to the police.

However, detectives have traced two teenage boys who were being sought as possible witnesses after being spotted on mopeds in the area.

The alarm was raised last Monday when she failed to return home after going to meet her 14-year-old boyfriend, Luke Mitchell. It was her boyfriend who discovered her mutilated body on a nearby wooded path known as Roman Dyke, after searching the area with her family. He was arrested and questioned by officers for eight hours on Friday night before being released.