Like most other people I've been following the Joanna Yeates disappearance now murder enquiry with interest.
For the benefit of my non-UK readers, I will quickly give some background details.
The 25-year-old landscape architect was last seen on the evening of Friday, 17th December 2010. Her disappearance was reported by her boyfriend on Sunday, 19th December 2010.
An ever expanding string of clues follows her home from the Ram pub on Park Street to Canynge Road in the Clifton area of Bristol. She stopped off at Waitrose, then the Bargain Booze off-licence, then Tesco before arriving home shortly before 9 pm that night.
CCTV and eye witness accounts have revealed that Joanna bought a pizza at Tesco and two bottles of cider at Bargain Booze.
Today, according to reports on Sky News, Joanna's landlord told police that he might have seen her leaving the flat with two thus far unknown people at around 9 pm.
Joanna's fully clothed body was found by dog walkers early on Christmas Day. Their gruesome discovery was at Longwood Lane, Failand, about 2 miles south west of Joanna's flat across the Avon Gorge. Heavy snow and hard frosts delayed post-mortem results on the body until yesterday, when it was revealed that Joanna was strangled.
Far be it for me to second guess the police investigation, but a few reasonable deductions can be made about the night of her disappearance.
She left the pub early at about 8 pm, bought a decent-sized pizza and two bottles of cider. Her boyfriend was away, so she was home alone at the time. Photographs have shown Joanna to be a slender girl, so is it likely she was going to eat the pizza and drink the cider by herself? I suggest not. It's probable she bought them because she was expecting company later in the evening.
If the landlord is correct with his observations and timings then Joanna left her flat very shortly after arriving home from the pub. In the space of that 15 or 20 minutes the two unknown people arrived, half a bottle of cider was consumed and Joanna was somehow coaxed back out of her home. Again, I don't think it's likely Joanna downed half a bottle of cider by herself in such a short space of time. I don't think it's likely that two complete strangers managed to get Joanna back outside, seemingly without struggle or disturbance, on such a bitterly cold and dark evening.
Her mobile phone and keys were left behind, as if she wasn't expecting to be away for very long. As she left her keys behind, it's a reasonable assumption that she left the door unlocked on the way out. A person would only do that if they were just nipping out, not going far at all. Was she lured outside on the pretence of briefly looking at something?
Whatever the ins and outs, the only possible conclusion is that Joanna knew her visitors and willingly left the flat with them. The fact that these two visitors haven't come forward implicates them in her disappearance.
Curiously the pizza box, empty or otherwise, has never been found. Did Joanna take it with her when she left with these two people? Did it even get as far as Canynge Road? If it didn't, why did the cider not get left at the same place?
So many questions but only a few plausible answers, which makes me think the police are quite close to making a breakthrough.
The police continued their detailed forensic examination of Joanna's flat today, with the outside door and intercom being removed for closer scrutiny.
God speed the investigation and I wish the police the best possible luck in identifying the killers and bringing them to justice.
Edit (@30/12/10): Police arrested the landlord on suspicion of murder this morning.
For the benefit of my non-UK readers, I will quickly give some background details.
The 25-year-old landscape architect was last seen on the evening of Friday, 17th December 2010. Her disappearance was reported by her boyfriend on Sunday, 19th December 2010.
An ever expanding string of clues follows her home from the Ram pub on Park Street to Canynge Road in the Clifton area of Bristol. She stopped off at Waitrose, then the Bargain Booze off-licence, then Tesco before arriving home shortly before 9 pm that night.
CCTV and eye witness accounts have revealed that Joanna bought a pizza at Tesco and two bottles of cider at Bargain Booze.
Today, according to reports on Sky News, Joanna's landlord told police that he might have seen her leaving the flat with two thus far unknown people at around 9 pm.
Joanna's fully clothed body was found by dog walkers early on Christmas Day. Their gruesome discovery was at Longwood Lane, Failand, about 2 miles south west of Joanna's flat across the Avon Gorge. Heavy snow and hard frosts delayed post-mortem results on the body until yesterday, when it was revealed that Joanna was strangled.
Far be it for me to second guess the police investigation, but a few reasonable deductions can be made about the night of her disappearance.
She left the pub early at about 8 pm, bought a decent-sized pizza and two bottles of cider. Her boyfriend was away, so she was home alone at the time. Photographs have shown Joanna to be a slender girl, so is it likely she was going to eat the pizza and drink the cider by herself? I suggest not. It's probable she bought them because she was expecting company later in the evening.
If the landlord is correct with his observations and timings then Joanna left her flat very shortly after arriving home from the pub. In the space of that 15 or 20 minutes the two unknown people arrived, half a bottle of cider was consumed and Joanna was somehow coaxed back out of her home. Again, I don't think it's likely Joanna downed half a bottle of cider by herself in such a short space of time. I don't think it's likely that two complete strangers managed to get Joanna back outside, seemingly without struggle or disturbance, on such a bitterly cold and dark evening.
Her mobile phone and keys were left behind, as if she wasn't expecting to be away for very long. As she left her keys behind, it's a reasonable assumption that she left the door unlocked on the way out. A person would only do that if they were just nipping out, not going far at all. Was she lured outside on the pretence of briefly looking at something?
Whatever the ins and outs, the only possible conclusion is that Joanna knew her visitors and willingly left the flat with them. The fact that these two visitors haven't come forward implicates them in her disappearance.
Curiously the pizza box, empty or otherwise, has never been found. Did Joanna take it with her when she left with these two people? Did it even get as far as Canynge Road? If it didn't, why did the cider not get left at the same place?
So many questions but only a few plausible answers, which makes me think the police are quite close to making a breakthrough.
The police continued their detailed forensic examination of Joanna's flat today, with the outside door and intercom being removed for closer scrutiny.
God speed the investigation and I wish the police the best possible luck in identifying the killers and bringing them to justice.
Edit (@30/12/10): Police arrested the landlord on suspicion of murder this morning.
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