Jo Yeates murder police search flat

  • 13 years ago

Police have erected a scaffolding and green tarpaulin around the back of Joanna Yeates' building in Bristol.

The Victorian conversion in Canynge Road, Clifton, has been covered round the entrance of flat 2 which is registered to thirty-two-year-old Dutch architect Vincent Tabak. He lives there with his girlfriend.

The back of Miss Yeates' flat has also been covered.

Avon and Somerset police have sealed off both ends of the street while officers in white forensic outfits scour the property.

Police have arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of murdering the landscape architect.

The arrest followed a surge of 300 calls made to the Operation Braid incident room after filming started on a TV reconstruction of the 26-year-old's final movements.

Detectives believe Jo Yeates knew her murderer and are investigating whether she may have been murdered in a car or home.

It has been five weeks since the body of the landscape architect was discovered at Longwood Lane, Failand, North Somerset, on Christmas Day morning, sparking a huge police operation.

Her father David Yeates, 63, welcomed the development and said he was "pleased" the police investigation was "moving forward".

Avon and Somerset Police's senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones said: "I would like to thank the public for their continued support for the investigation and the information they have provided us.

"I would also like to pay tribute to Jo's family and to Greg who continue to be unfailing in their support to me and my team at what is an incredibly difficult and painful time for them."

Miss Yeates' last steps were filmed for a reconstruction on BBC's Crimewatch in an attempt to jog the public's memory. The programme focuses on what she did after she left her firm, BDP, in Bristol city centre.

She first went to the Bristol Ram pub on Park Street to have Christmas drinks with work colleagues.

Having spent two hours socialising with her friends, she then left at around 8pm to make the 30-minute walk home to her ground floor flat which she shared with her boyfriend.

Miss Yeates' was then seen on CCTV in a Waitrose supermarket at the Clifton Triangle, followed by a visit to a Tesco Express in Clifton village where she bought pizza.

The pizza, the wrapping and its box are still missing along with Miss Yeates's ski sock. Tests later revealed she had not eaten the pizza.

Her boyfriend Greg Reardon, 27, reported her missing after he returned to Bristol on December 19 following a weekend away visiting family in Sheffield.