By Ryan Kisiel, Luke Salkeld, Arthur Martin and Sophie Freeman
Last updated at 5:58 PM on 12th January 2011
Killer could have avoided every CCTV camera from flat to where body found
'Saliva of killer' discovered on Joanna'a body
Jo's best friend: 'I am desperate to see justice done'
The best friend of murdered Joanna Yeates today dismissed speculation that the architect could have been seeing another man before she was killed, claiming she was 'besotted' with her boyfriend Greg Reardon.
Speaking about the killing of her friend, devastated Rebecca Scott described Joanna and Greg as 'happy together'.
She said: 'I was not aware of anyone else on the scene. Jo was besotted with Greg, and he was with her. As soon as I met him I was really happy for her
'Desperate for justice': Rebecca Scott, left, on a night out with best friend Jo Yeates. Miss Scott has appealed for the public's help in finding Jo's killer. Her body was found on Christmas Day
'He is a lovely guy and they had a lot of feelings for each other. Anyone close to her could see how happy they were together.'
She added that the pair had met at Winchester College when they were 15 and had often gone away together.
'Everyone who knew her, loved her. She was full of life and energy, really bubbly. she had so much life left in her to live.
'Every memory I have of Jo is a good memory. We spent our first nights out together, our first holidays together without our parents.
'We used to go down to Cornwall - we would spend a couple of weeks down there camping. We both loved the sea, being near the sea.'
Happy holidays: Best friends Joanna Yeates and Rebecca Scott used to go to Cornwall together
Rebecca spoke hours after it was revealed that a DNA sample found on Joanna's body came from saliva.
Detectives hope the discovery, reported in The Sun newspaper, will hold the key to solving the murder.
It also emerged today that shortly after she disappeared, a mystery car was seen driving up and down the road where Jo's body was later found.
A couple became suspicious of a vehicle passing them several times on Longwood Lane, Failand, on December 18, where Jo's body was found seven days later.
They thought the car was so suspicious they reported it to police even though they were unaware at that point that Jo, 25, had gone missing.
Today Jo's best friend Rebecca Scott said she was 'deperate to see justice done'.
It comes as a police source revealed that Jo's killer could have driven from her flat to the roadside where her body was found without being recorded on a single CCTV camera.
The entrance to Longwood Lane, in Failand, where the body of Joanna Yeates was found. A couple reported a suspicious vehicle driving up and down the lane on December 18 - the day after Jo disappeared
Sadly missed: Floral tributes line the road close to where Jo's body was found. Police have found a saliva sample on Jo's body which they are hoping will provide a DNA breakthrough
Police are understood to have concentrated on more than 100 hours of footage taken from the most direct route between the landscape architect’s home and the lane where she was dumped, which is over the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
'PLEASE HELP CATCH MY BEST FRIEND'S KILLER'
Jo's best friend today said she is 'desperate to see justice done'.
Rebecca Scott was the last person known to have spoken to Miss Yeates as she walked home after enjoying Christmas drinks with work colleagues on the night she disappeared.
Miss Scott, 25, said they were 'inseparable' after meeting at college in Winchester, Hampshire, more than 10 years ago and remained close friends despite going to different universities.
In a heartfelt appeal, the PhD student said: 'We are now all desperate to see justice done, so if anyone has information I urge you to call the police.
'You may not have seen or heard anything but think back - has a friend or family member been acting strangely or suspiciously?
'If so please call the police and think about how you'd never want your best friend found murdered on Christmas Day.'
The Clifton Suspension Bridge has become a key part of the investigation into Jo's murder, linking her flat in Clifton to where her body was found in Failand, north Somerset, but Miss Scott said it was a special place to Jo while she was alive.
'When I came to Bristol to visit, we'd often sit by the Clifton Suspension Bridge - this was one of her favourite places - and talk about everything best friends do,' she said in a statement issued by Avon and Somerset Police.
'She was a great friend and I have many fond memories of her, everyone did.'
Anyone with information is urged to call Avon and Somerset Police on 0845 456 7000
But a second route between the two locations, which adds only a few minutes to the journey time, is almost free of cameras.
Police have already appealed for information about a light-coloured 4x4 seen on the same road around the time Jo went missing.
Detectives have not issued a description of the new car and would not say if they are linking the two vehicle sightings.
A spokesman said: 'We take every piece of information we receive from the public seriously and this is one of many lines of inquiry we've pursued.'
The alternative course that the killer may have taken - through Clifton Village, Clifton Wood and Hotwells and over the Avon Bridge towards the outskirts of Bristol - is used by residents familiar with the winding streets of this affluent part of the city.
It has the added bonus of avoiding the 50p toll on the suspension bridge, which is paid by motorists travelling in both directions.
Surprisingly, any motorist or pedestrian making the four-mile downhill journey past rows of Georgian townhouses would encounter only a single camera positioned high on a lamp post.
But that does not even record footage and is simply used to monitor traffic flow.
It has also been suggested that because of the side of the road on which Miss Yeates’s body was found on Longwood Lane, the killer is likely to have arrived from the southerly direction of the second route.
There are fears that detectives searching through CCTV footage from the suspension bridge, a notorious suicide spot with many cameras on it, might never find the 25-year-old’s killer on film.
A police source said yesterday: ‘We believe that the killer would have most likely gone over the suspension bridge where there are lots of cameras.
‘However, if they didn’t, there are routes through Clifton Wood that are residential and don’t have any CCTV. Everyone thought there would be traffic cameras on the Avon Bridge, but there aren’t and some that cover it are very poor quality.’
The revelation of a camera-free route between Canynge Road and Longwood Lane in Failand comes after police played down reports that the lights on the suspension bridge blurred some of its CCTV footage at night.
Around 20 per cent of its cameras are unable to read licence plate numbers clearly, but there are traffic-light CCTV stands at the Ashton Court and Beggar Bush Lane junctions across the bridge that the killer or killers must have driven past if they crossed the bridge.
Sports mad: Jo Yeates on sports day in 1996. New forensic evidence has been handed to police
Around 20 per cent of its cameras are unable to read licence plate numbers clearly, but there are traffic-light CCTV stands at the Ashton Court and Beggar Bush Lane junctions across the bridge that the killer or killers must have driven past if they crossed the bridge.
Yesterday the building where Miss Yeates lived with her boyfriend Greg Reardon in Canynge Road was again the subject of intense forensic examination.
The visit by six forensic officers followed reports of a piece of crucial new evidence handed to police.
POSSIBILITY OF HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW OF THE CASE
A high-level review of the Jo Yeates murder inquiry could be ordered within days.
So far, Avon and Somerset Police have arrested only one man, whom they later released on bail, leading to some questioning their progress in the high-profile case.
And if the situation continues for another 11 days, a ‘28-day review’ will be held by a senior investigating officer either from within the force - or from outside it.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346275/Joanna-Yeates-murder-Best-friend-hits-secret-lover-speculation.html#ixzz1Arovp8cA
