Joanna Yeates: Armchair Detectives And The Suicide Bridge
JOANNA Yeates: The 25-year-old woman is dead. How the Bristol woman died and why are the subject of much speculation.
The Independent calls the death of a young woman a “tragic mystery”. The Telegraph calls it a “murder mystery”. It is neither. It is a criminal case being investigated by the police. But the press feel a need to get their readers involved. And so the death of Joanna Yeates becomes an episode of Armchair Detective.
Chief narrator is the Mail, which leads with a photo not of Jo Yeates on her own but of her with her boyfriend Greg Reardon. He lived with her and reported her as missing. Beneath the photo the Mail asks a question:
“WAS JO HELD PRISONER FOR HER EIGHT LOST DAYS?”
The paper tells readers:
The body of Joanna Yeates may have been dumped by the side of a road in the early hours of Christmas Day, it emerged yesterday.
Or as the Bristol Evening Post reports:
Her body could have lain undiscovered and obscured from view on the verge for more than a week.
What about clues? Well, the Star says there is “bridge clue”. The Sun and Mirror also leads with the “Bridge clue”.
The bridge is Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. It is close to where Joanna Yeates lived. The Sun tells us:
Thirty-two cameras scan Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge to deter jumpers at the notorious suicide spot.
Yeah, really. The cameras are nothing to do with traffic monitoring. All cameras are aimed at preventing suicides. So. What are the police looking for on CCTV footage? The Mirror knows:
POLICE believe CCTV may show Joanna Yeates’ killer crossing a bridge on his way to dump her body.
Not that murder has been proven by a post-mortem…
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Posted: 27th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink