Yeates ‘may have been strangled with her own sock’

MURDER victim Joanna Yeates could have been strangled with her own sock, which her killer may have kept as a trophy.

Police believe the missing grey ski sock may hold the key to solving the murder of the landscape architect whose snow-covered body was found on Christmas morning.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones has not ruled out the possibility the 25-year-old’s killer may have used the sock to strangle her or that they kept it.

Yeates was found dead in Longwood Lane, Failand, North Somerset, wearing just one sock.

She was not wearing her coat or boots either but those items were recovered from her flat in Canynge Road, Clifton, Bristol.

Holding up a box containing a similar long, ski-style size five grey sock, Jones said: “I am here this morning to talk to you about a missing sock.

“When Jo was found on Christmas Day morning in Longwood Lane, although she was fully clothed, she was not wearing her jacket, she was not wearing her boots and she was only wearing one sock.

“The jacket and the boots have been found at her home address. That would indicate that Jo had returned home.

“However, at this present time the sock has not been found. It hasn’t been found at Longwood Lane and it hasn’t been found at her home address. It is described as a light grey sock with lighter detail on the toes, heel and shin.”

The detective said he was “keeping an open mind” about whether the killer or killers could be keeping the sock as a trophy or whether Yeates was strangled with it.

Following the appeal for the missing sock a man approached police outside Yeates’s flat and handed over a grey sock.

The unnamed man, who had white hair and was wearing a black and khaki-coloured jacket, put the sock he was carrying in an evidence bag presented to him by police.

Police then spoke to him at the side of the property.

Following his conversation with the police officers by the side of the building, he left the premises via the front gate, telling waiting media only that he had been told not to say anything.

He was then escorted away by a police officer.

Jones also confirmed the killer or killers may have tried to put Yeates’s body over a wall into the quarry on Longwood Lane but instead left her on the grass verge.

“There are a number of theories about how Jo came to be in Longwood Lane and this is a possibility, yes,” he said.

Jones would not confirm directly that police were using a criminal profiler but said his team were receiving assistance from various expert sources.

“We continue to use all the available professional resources available to us including accredited experts who are specialists in their fields rather than generalists,” he said.

“I can assure you that we will find Jo’s killers.”