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Police have named the key suspect in an investigation into human remains found in suitcases in Bristol, as they announced more body parts had been discovered in London.
After taking over the manhunt, the Metropolitan Police named the wanted man as 24-year-old Colombian national Yostin Andres Mosquera on Friday evening.
The force said that during a search of a flat in west London as part of the investigation, further human remains had been discovered.
“Bloody” suitcases were discovered near the Clifton Suspension Bridge on Wednesday evening after Avon and Somerset Police were called to reports of a man with a suitcase acting suspiciously on the bridge.
Eyewitnesses have described how the man, who arrived at the bridge in a taxi, was challenged after the “tatty” suitcase was seen to be leaking blood. He then fled the scene, reportedly chased by a cyclist, and made off in the direction of Leigh Woods, leaving the suitcase behind.
A major manhunt was launched, with officers releasing images of key suspect Mosquera, who the Met said is thought to have travelled to Bristol from London earlier that day.
The force said on Friday night that officers found more human remains while searching a flat in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, earlier in the day after a new crime scene was set up on Scotts Road.
Police believe the latest body parts are from the same two male victims discovered in Bristol and that the men are thought to have been known to Mosquera.
Officers believe they know the identity of the two victims, although they have not yet been formally identified. Enquiries continue to locate and inform their next of kin.
A 36-year-old man who was arrested at an address in Greenwich early on Friday has since been released without charge.
The Met said the remains found in London are in the process of being removed and additional post-mortem examinations will be arranged after previous results were “inconclusive”.
A helicopter was circling above the crime scene in Shepherd’s Bush on Friday afternoon, as four police officers guarded tape, which cordoned off an area of bins below a high-rise building. A private ambulance arrived at the scene at 6.30pm.
Local resident Anthony Priest, 85, said: “I heard them all tearing down here in the early hours of the morning. I heard a police car coming down, with lights flashing.”
Warning the public not to approach Mosquera, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine, who is leading the investigation for the Met, said: “This is a fast moving enquiry with detectives in London and Bristol actively pursuing a number of lines of enquiry.
“Locating Yostin Andres Mosquera, however, is the priority and I appeal to anyone with information on his whereabouts to get in touch.”
Avon and Somerset Police said officers arrived at the scene on Wednesday within 10 minutes and discovered that the suitcase, along with a second located a short distance from the bridge, contained human remains.
Searches, including with the police helicopter and the Coastguard, have continued since the incident but the suspect is yet to be located.
The force has released two pictures of him, showing a Black man with a beard, wearing a black Adidas baseball cap, black jeans, a black jacket and black trainers with thick white soles and carrying a black backpack.
Clifton Suspension Bridge was closed on Thursday while forensic investigations took place.
Police confirmed a taxi had been seized and said the taxi driver was helping officers with the investigation.
It is understood that the man was picked up by a taxi near The Mall pub in Clifton on Wednesday before exiting the vehicle on the Leigh Woods side of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a distance of around 0.4 miles or 644 metres.
Acting Bristol commander Vicks Hayward-Melen, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: “It is believed the man wanted in connection with this incident had travelled to the Clifton area of Bristol from London earlier on Wednesday before taking a taxi to Clifton Suspension Bridge where the suitcases were unloaded.”
Other witnesses described seeing two men with suitcases in the Clifton area of Bristol, a short distance from the bridge, on Wednesday evening.
Giles Malone told ITV News West Country he had been waiting for an Uber near The Mall pub when he saw two men lifting suitcases across the road shortly after 10.30pm.
He said: “We were stood there waiting for our car and a man and another man got out of another car across the street and they were lifting these suitcases across the road for some reason, right by us.
“Another lady started to help them and the lady who was helping them said ‘These are the heaviest suitcases I’ve ever lifted – what’s in them, bodies?’”
Mr Malone, who lives in North Carolina but is in Bristol visiting his father, described the cases as “big” and “tatty”.
Another witness, University of Bristol student Reece Wright, told the BBC he had been walking near the bridge with his girlfriend on Wednesday evening.
“As we were walking along and got towards the other end, we thought we could see blood on the pavement of the bridge,” Mr Wright said.
“As we kept walking further along, we went down and turned and heard commotion behind us and we saw a cyclist chasing after a man who was just running away.
“He was making a lot of noise. They stopped and the guy managed to get away.”
Mr Wright said one of the suitcases, which was blue, had two wheels broken off and “red stuff which we now know to be blood leaking out of the side near the zip, it was quite graphic”.
Anyone who sees the suspect, or has information about his location, is urged to call 999, quoting reference 5224180010 to the call handler.
People with information should submit it through Avon and Somerset Police’s major incident public portal, or by calling the major incident room on 0800 056 0944, if calling from the UK, or 0207 158 0010 from abroad.
