being brutally honest...

[chirpychirpy]

Bearing in mind the British media's obsession with attractive young women, would people outside of Bristol have even been aware of the current murder case had Joanna Yeates not been precisely that: an attractive young woman? Would the Merdeith Kercher case have got international exposure were it not for 'Foxy' Knoxy being a babe? I'm sure there are plenty of other examples to illustrate the point I'm making...

[boxtops]

Yes, I think both would have anyway. I hadn't factored in any foxiness into either case myself.

[McMouse]

Murder gets national exposure whoever the victim is.

[daffy654]

I don't think that either woman you mention was/is particularly attractive. Both could be described as plain or average at best.

[DTCwordfan]

and its Christmas time on the Yeates case......though the Kercher/Knox one had some nice lurid angles to it...............

[sandyRoe]

Not all murders are treated equally. Most would get a few lines in the national press. This latest one is getting pages.

[chirpychirpy]

I would stake my mortgage on the fact that, had Chris Jefferies and not Joanna Yeates been the murder victim, we'd never have known about this.

[Count-A-Strong]

It's a very slow news time and also an emotional one, when family tragedies seem all the more poigniant.

[Sqad]

chippy....I have a certain amount of sympathy for your opinion and may I add that if the McCanns had not been high social profile then I feel that the case of Madeleine would have drifted into oblivion.

daffy........if you consider those two to be "plain or average at best" then I must have gone out with some "dogs" in my time.

An attractive victim, produces an "attractive" story which sells papers.

[rov1200]

Because of the pictures being shown prior to her death it allows the viewer to show some empathy towards her. We regard the forces of good should be on her side and collectively want to find the person responsible caught.

The fact that she was pretty and feminine gives strong masculine protection more of a cause. Also that over 50 policemen were assigned to the case shows the utter revulsion felt.

[karenmac60]

I don't know. A few years ago there was a young woman murdered in my town - she was dismembered and her torso thrown in the river with the rest of her body being burned in a barrel. It was a very violent and disturbing case, yet it got very little media attention. I don't think it all boils down to looks though - the girl here was involved with a certain 'element' whereas the Kercher and Yeates cases involve 'good girls'. I think background has a lot more influence in whether or not a case gets publicity or not.

[DTCwordfan]

well it probably takes 50 Zummerset police to figure out what 10 could do elsewhere......

And it looks like the case has taken a new twist perhaps as they were 'breaking' into a vehicle in the house next door, just after lunch. I keep reiterating until the arrested is charged...........he may be completely innocent but obviously a prime suspect as it does appear the murder was done by someone that JY knew.....

[bookbinder]

Has anyone noticed how often a man (or, at least, someone) walking his dog discovers human remains that the police have spent days searching for?

[daffy654]

Sqad, maybe you have!
I don't wish to speak ill of the dead but really, Joanna Yeats was nothing special to look at... the two men I just asked also agree with me.

[ummmm]

Wouldn't it have more to do with not knowing where she is/who done it? The police need the press..

[boxtops]

It does make a difference if it's a time of year when not much else is going on... sadly.

[ummmm]

I think she's pretty....just asked my OH and he said 'not really, she's alright I suppose'

[hc4361]

There was plenty of media coverage about Steve Wright, and although many people will know of the Suffolk Strangler, relatively few will be able to name his victims.

[anotheoldgit]

Of course they would, what makes you think otherwise, attractiveness has nothing to do with it, and who would say that Joanna Yeates was any less attractive than Merdeith Kercher?

I admit that some murders get more media coverage than some others for a variety of reasons, perhaps the death of a young black kid in the stairwells of Tower Hamlets, would not get the same coverage as a high-flying TV personality murdered on her own doorstep.

In the two cases you highlighted they gained wide coverage because of the strange disappearance of Joanna Yeates and the sexual implementations attached to the Merdeith Kercher case.

[milly143]

Bookbinder, I have noticed this before. I flatly refuse to get a dog for this reason.

(that's a joke).