THE mother of the teenager accused of the murder of Jodi Jones obtained a tattoo for her son using false identification, a court was told yesterday.

Natalie Wright, 20, who worked as a trainee piercer at a shop called Whiplash Trash in Edinburgh, told the High Court in Edinburgh that, on 7 October, 2003, two people whom she now believed to be Luke Mitchell, 16, and his mother, Corinne, 45, came into the premises to get a tattoo for the teenager.

The name given for the male was Ian Tyler, she told the court.

Mrs Mitchell, when asked if the teenager was over 18, replied: "Yes, he's over 18", the witness said.

Ms Wright said the tattoo the boy had done was similar to one she had, which she described as "not quite demonic. . . but it's dark art".

Raymond McCloy, 33, a tattoo artist who was working in the shop, told jurors he tattooed a male in October 2003 "who was identified to me as the accused in this trial".

He said that the male produced a birth certificate to show that he was a couple of months over the age of 18 and a photographic identity card.

The woman said the tattoo was a belated birthday present and was something of a "celebration" to help put a "difficult time" for the family behind them, it was claimed.

Before the witnesses gave their testimony, the judge had advised the jury that the final prosecution evidence they would hear was being led with a view to discrediting evidence given by Mrs Mitchell.

Mr Mitchell, who was 14 when Jodi died, denies murdering the girl on June 30, 2003, near Roan's Dyke, between the Newbattle and Easthouses areas of Dalkeith.

He has lodged two special defences, one of alibi and one of incrimination.

Mr Findlay told the jury he would not be calling Mr Mitchell to give evidence. Lord Nimmo Smith emphasised to the jury that, in law, an accused person was not obliged to give evidence.

Detective Chief Inspector Ronald Millar, of Lothian and Borders Police, a defence witness, told the court how concerned he was about how some of the gruesome details of how Jodi died had been "leaked" to the public. He said many of these details did not come from official sources.

He said he was also concerned about photographs of Mr Mitchell appearing in the press after he had been questioned by police after Jodi's body was found.

Marion O'Sullivan, 36, told the trial that she saw a male who looked "suspicious" standing at a pathway entrance on Newbattle Road, Dalkeith, just before 6pm on the day Jodi died.

She said the man, who was in his "late teens or early 20s", was wearing a green bomber jacket and dark jeans.

Asked by Mr Findlay whether his client was the male she saw, the witness replied:

"No, it's not", adding she was "positive" about that.

Her partner Derek Hamilton, 31, who had been driving the carwith Ms O'Sullivan past the spot in question, also gave a similar description of the male he saw.

Mr Findlay asked whether the accused was the person he had sighted.

"No, it wasn't, no, " Mr Hamilton replied. "How sure are you?" the lawyer went on.

"Positive, " the witness said.

The trial continues.