10:22 PM
sha
The father of Joanna Yeates said he believed the police knew far more than they were letting on as they launched a murder investigation into his daughter’s death.
Delayed post-mortem results showed that the 25-year-old architect had been strangled before her body was dumped in a country lane in Bristol.
David Yeates said he was worried that her killer would never hand themselves in and added that the family had always feared she had been murdered.
Miss Yeates went missing on Dec 17 and her fully clothed body was found on Christmas Day.
Avon and Somerset Police said they did not believe there was an increased risk to the public, but added that they had received calls from several women since the disappearance.
Asked if Miss Yeates’s boyfriend Greg Reardon was under suspicion Det Chief Insp Phil Jones said: "He is a witness."
Details of how Miss Yeates died were delayed until Tuesday because her body had been frozen by heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures.
On Tuesday, more than 70 officers continued searching the woodland where she was found, Durnford quarry nearby and the flat she shared with Mr Reardon.
Detectives are also trawling through hours of CCTV footage in the hope of capturing Miss Yeates with her killer.
They believe her body had been dumped several days before she was found, and they focused their appeals for information on the first three days she was missing.
Her 63-year-old father and 58-year-old mother, Theresa, travelled on Monday from their home in Hampshire to formally identify their daughter’s body but returned home on Tuesday.
Speaking from their home in Ampfield, Mr Yeates said: “We are sure the police know more about what happened than they are telling us but at the moment we are not questioning them because we feel they are doing their best.
“I fear that whoever has done this will never hand themselves in but we live in hope that the police will catch who is responsible.
“Hearing Jo had been murdered was not a surprise because we had been told to prepare for the worst.”
Mr Yeates, who works in IT, said the family felt a sense of relief when they saw the body.
“Things were made just that little bit less terrible when we saw Jo’s body yesterday.
“It was a relief to see her again - we just said: 'Welcome back.
“Last week was the worst of our lives and we are hoping that we will never have to go through anything like this again.”
Miss Yeates’s body, which bore no other significant signs of injury other than compression of the neck, is being held by the police.
Her father said they were keen to arrange her funeral but had been told her body would not be released “for a while”.
Further details emerged last night about Miss Yeates’s last known movements before she disappeared on December 17.
She had met friends at the Ram pub in Bristol city centre before leaving them at 8pm and walking to Waitrose and onto Tesco, where she bought a pizza.
Police said she also stopped at Bargain Booze, close to Tesco, where it is understood she bought a £2 bottle of cider.
She was last seen alive at 8.40pm before she returned to her flat on Canynge Road, where she had recently moved with Mr Reardon.
He raised the alarm about her disappearance on Dec 19 when he returned from a weekend visiting his half-brother in Sheffield and realised she had vanished.
Miss Yeates’s purse, bank cards, keys, mobile phone and coat had all been left in the flat, along with a receipt for the pizza, which was missing.
It is understood that there were no signs of a struggle in the flat. Although Miss Yeates was found fully clothed, sexual assault has not been ruled out.
Details of how Miss Yeates died were delayed until Tuesday because her body had been frozen by heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures.
On Tuesday, more than 70 officers continued searching the woodland where she was found, Durnford quarry nearby and the flat she shared with Mr Reardon.
Detectives are also trawling through hours of CCTV footage in the hope of capturing Miss Yeates with her killer.
They believe her body had been dumped several days before she was found, and they focused their appeals for information on the first three days she was missing.
Her 63-year-old father and 58-year-old mother, Theresa, travelled on Monday from their home in Hampshire to formally identify their daughter’s body but returned home on Tuesday.
Speaking from their home in Ampfield, Mr Yeates said: “We are sure the police know more about what happened than they are telling us but at the moment we are not questioning them because we feel they are doing their best.
“I fear that whoever has done this will never hand themselves in but we live in hope that the police will catch who is responsible.
“Hearing Jo had been murdered was not a surprise because we had been told to prepare for the worst.”
Mr Yeates, who works in IT, said the family felt a sense of relief when they saw the body.
“Things were made just that little bit less terrible when we saw Jo’s body yesterday.
“It was a relief to see her again - we just said: 'Welcome back.
“Last week was the worst of our lives and we are hoping that we will never have to go through anything like this again.”
Miss Yeates’s body, which bore no other significant signs of injury other than compression of the neck, is being held by the police.
Her father said they were keen to arrange her funeral but had been told her body would not be released “for a while”.
Further details emerged last night about Miss Yeates’s last known movements before she disappeared on December 17.
She had met friends at the Ram pub in Bristol city centre before leaving them at 8pm and walking to Waitrose and onto Tesco, where she bought a pizza.
Police said she also stopped at Bargain Booze, close to Tesco, where it is understood she bought a £2 bottle of cider.
She was last seen alive at 8.40pm before she returned to her flat on Canynge Road, where she had recently moved with Mr Reardon.
He raised the alarm about her disappearance on Dec 19 when he returned from a weekend visiting his half-brother in Sheffield and realised she had vanished.
Miss Yeates’s purse, bank cards, keys, mobile phone and coat had all been left in the flat, along with a receipt for the pizza, which was missing.
It is understood that there were no signs of a struggle in the flat. Although Miss Yeates was found fully clothed, sexual assault has not been ruled out.
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