Police find new leads in Yeates murder hunt

Detectives were following up several new leads in the hunt for Joanna Yeates’s killer today after retracing her last-known steps.

In a high-profile operation last night, police spoke to more than 200 people who may have seen the 25-year-old on the evening of December 17.

They spoke to customers in the pub where the landscape architect went for a Christmas drink, talked to people in the streets close to her Bristol home and stopped cars where her body was found.

Avon and Somerset Police described the response as very positive.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, who is leading the murder hunt, said: “Once again I would like to thank the public – for their patience and understanding last night, and ongoing support.

“I would like to stress that every piece of information we receive is taken seriously and we will continue to work tirelessly to find justice for Jo.”

After leaving work on December 17, Miss Yeates went to the Ram pub in Bristol city centre with colleagues.

Yesterday, on the three-week anniversary of her disappearance, detectives spent two-and-a-half hours at the popular Park Street nightspot, talking to customers to see whether they were there on the same night as Miss Yeates and saw anything suspicious.

They also put up posters inside the premises in the hope of jogging people’s memories.

Miss Yeates spent around two hours socialising with her colleagues before leaving at about 8pm to make the 30-minute walk home to the ground-floor flat in Canynge Road, Clifton, that she shared with her boyfriend, Greg Reardon, 27.

She was caught on CCTV in a Waitrose supermarket at the Clifton Triangle and then went to a Tesco Express in Clifton village where she bought a pizza.

Detectives said Miss Yeates had arrived home because her shoes, coat, mobile phone, purse and keys were found there – although the pizza, the wrapping and its box are still missing.

Both uniformed and plain clothes officers were in Canynge Road and surrounding streets last night to speak to people who may have been there as the university graduate made her way home.

They were there between 8pm and 10pm and spoke to pedestrians and stopped motorists, whose routines took them through the area.

Police also went to Longwood Lane in Failand, North Somerset, where Miss Yeates’s snow-covered body was found on Christmas morning. She had been strangled.

It is not known exactly when she was dumped in the lane, which is three miles from her home, and police would only say she had been there for “several days”.

For four hours in Longwood Lane, between 8.30pm and 12.30am, police spoke to motorists to see if they could help the investigation.

Police chose the three locations because they believe it could help identify further witnesses.

The operation was taking place partly because last night was the first Friday since Miss Yeates went missing that people’s routines would be back to normal following Christmas and New Year festivities.