Joanna Yeates' murder police hope for Crimewatch breakthrough

Detectives appeal for help after reconstruction of murdered Bristol woman's final journey

The final steps of Joanna Yeates have been reconstructed in an attempt to jog memories and catch her killer.

The 25-year-old's last journey, which started after she left work on 17 December, was retrodden by an actress and filmed for BBC1's Crimewatch programme.

This came as police confirmed Yeates did not eat a pizza she was seen buying on her way home, just before she went missing.

The reconstruction focused on what the landscape architect did after she left the premises of her employers, BDP.

She went first to the Bristol Ram pub on Park Street in Bristol city centre, where she spent about two hours enjoying Christmas drinks with work colleagues. She left 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.

Seen on CCTV in a Waitrose supermarket at the Clifton Triangle, she then went to a Tesco Express in Clifton village where she bought a pizza.

During the filming of the reconstruction, the actress playing Yeates entered the Tesco Express dressed in the same style of cream-coloured coat as the murder victim was wearing on the night she disappeared.

She also had a black rucksack and was carrying two plastic bags a white bag, which held bottles of cider Yeates bought at Bargain Booze, and a black bag. Its contents have not been revealed, but police say they are not significant.

Inside the store, the actress was filmed picking up the Tesco Finest mozzarella, tomato and basil pesto pizza and taking it to the till. The pizza was paid for at a self-service till with a 10 note. After receiving her change, the actress left the store and headed up Regent Street towards Yeates's home.

Avon and Somerset police said tests on Yeates' body concluded she had not eaten the pizza before she was found dead on Christmas Day three miles from her flat.

Detec! tives sa id she had made it home to her flat because her shoes, coat, mobile phone, purse and keys were found there. However, the pizza, the wrapping and its box are still missing.

It is hoped the BBC Crimewatch film will jog the memory of anyone who may have seen Yeates as she made her way home that day.

The force has received more than 1,800 lines of inquiry since launching the murder investigation but said key evidence including Yeates's ski sock and the pizza had not been found.

The woman's body was found with one of her grey, knee-length socks missing, and detectives believe the garment may hold the key to solving her murder.

Officers are investigating whether she could have been strangled with her own sock, which her killer might have kept as a trophy.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, who is leading the murder hunt, said: "We use Crimewatch as an opportunity to refresh the public's memory in relation to Jo's movements on the night she went missing from her home.

"The programme allows us to visually recreate the route home she took with the aim of jogging the memories of those people who may have seen her.

"The reconstruction may also jog the memories of those people who used Longwood Lane in Failand on Friday December 17 or over that weekend and have not come forward. This is a valuable opportunity for us to reach out to the nation in their homes."

A massive police investigation was launched when Reardon reported his girlfriend missing after he returned to Bristol on 19 December following a weekend away visiting family in Sheffield.

Yeates was not seen again until dog walkers found her snow-covered body in Longland Lane, in Failand, north Somerset on Christmas morning.

Police have said there was no evidence Yeates had been sexually assaulted but they have not ruled out a sexual motive.

Her landlord Chris Jefferies, 65, was held for three days for questioning on suspicion of murder before being released on bail.

Anyone with i! nformati on is asked to contact the Operation Braid incident room on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


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