Joanna family formally identify Bristol architect’s body

Joanna Yeates

The family of Joanna Yeates, the landscape architect from Bristol who went missing more than a week ago, have formally identified the body found in Long Ashton.

Police have revealed that the family has also been to Longwood Lane in Failand, to see where Joanna was found on Christmas Day.

The results of a post-mortem examination have been delayed until Tuesday, due to the freezing conditions in which Joanna was found. Temperatures in the area where her body was discovered by a couple walking their dog on Christmas morning had fallen to -10C.

Avon and Somerset police said the frozen condition of her body means that the post-mortem examination has still not been concluded, and  they are not going to be in a position to confirm the cause of her death until Tuesday at the earliest.

Police are treating her death as suspicious, and are appealing for anyone with any information about her death to come forward.

Earlier today, Joanna’s parents David and Theresa laid a bouquet of flowers in honour of their daughter in the lane close to Bristol and Clifton Golf Club – the spot three miles from her home where the body was found.

The Sun reported that as Joanna’s parents, her brother Chris and boyfriend Greg Reardon visited the scene at 2pm, they hugged each other for support.

There was a picture of Joanna on her graduation day tucked inside the bouquet of yellow roses left by her parents.

Greg wearing a brown jacket and black woolly hat, also left his own floral tribute of red and yellow flowers.

He and the family stood by the flowers for around two minutes hugging each other.  Their total visit lasted around 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, detectives are to examine CCTV from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, on the main route from Joanna’s house to where she was found.

She had not been seen since December 17 when CCTV showed her in a Tesco store on her way home to her flat in Canynge Road, Clifton.