A FORMER schoolfriend of Jodi Jones told her murder trial yesterday that they discussed Jodi's relationship with her boyfriend, Luke Mitchell.

Rachel Quinn, 16, told the High Court in Edinburgh that she and Jodi would chat about Mr Mitchell on the school bus home.

Mr Mitchell, 16, denies murdering 14-year-old Jodi in woods near Roan's Dyke path, between the Newbattle and Easthouses areas of Dalkeith, on June 30 last year. He has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.

Miss Quinn said Jodi told her she would often go to Mr Mitchell's house on evenings to ''muck about''. The fellow pupil also said Jodi's mother told her she was not allowed to walk the path alone and that Mr Mitchell had to meet her at the top or at least halfway along.

Miss Quinn, a fifth year pupil at St David's High School, Dalkeith, said she was also a friend of Mr Mitchell, with whom she attended English classes. She said he wore ''scruffy, baggy clothes'', including a green jacket and black baggy trousers, to school.

Mr Mitchell is alleged to have applied a ligature round Jodi's arms and struck her repeatedly on the head, mouth and body with a knife. He is also accused of the unlawful possession of a knife or knives in public places, including St David's High School, and of being concerned in the supply of cannabis resin to a number of people, including Jodi.

Another witness, Andrina Bryson, 26, told the court that on June 30, 2003, she was passing the entrance to the path when she saw a male and a female. She told the jury she saw the male - whose hair she described as looking like that of the character Shaggy from the cartoon Scooby Doo - standing ''quite a few steps away'' from the female. She said his arms were by his sides with his palms facing out.

Advocate-depute Alan Turnbull QC, prosecuting, asked: ''How did you interpret that?''

Mrs Bryson replied: ''I just thought it looked very strange.''

She described the male as having ''sandy brownish'' hair, and told the court: ''He had a lot of hair, quite long, quite messy.''

The witness said he wore a green jacket and trousers of a similar colour. Mrs Bryson added that the female, whose face she did not see, had hair with a ''wave'' as if it had been tied in a ponytail and wore a navy blue, hooded jumper and trousers of similar colour.

Mr Mitchell claims that at the time Jodi died he was in or near his home at Newbattle Abbey Crescent, Dalkeith.

The teenager further claims his girlfriend was murdered by a person or persons whose identities are not known.

The trial, before Lord Nimmo Smith, continues.