CCTV footage released

The killer who strangled landscape architect Joanna Yeates and dumped her body by a roadside is being hunted by police.

Detectives leading the murder investigation said they were pursuing a number of lines of inquiry and maintained they were keeping an “open mind” over whether the 25-year-old was held captive or killed on the lane where she was found.

Newly-released footage showed a relaxed-looking Yeates strolling into an off-licence on the night she went missing.

The short clip follows the 25-year-old as she enters Bargain Booze in Bristol’s Regent Street before buying cider.

Police released the video in a bid to jog the memories of those who may have seen the murdered woman in the hours leading up to her disappearance.

Ms Yeates’ father on Tuesday spoke of how he felt “relief” after being reunited with the graduate’s body, which was found on a grass verge in Failand, North Somerset, by dog walkers on Christmas morning.

David Yeates, 63, also said his family was trying to “rationalise” what had happened and hoped his daughter’s killer will be brought to justice. He told the Solent News and Photo Agency: “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. 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.”

Police confirmed that Ms Yeates’ boyfriend Greg Reardon, who reported her missing on Sunday night after returning home from a weekend away in Sheffield visiting family, was being treated as a witness and not as a suspect.