Police hunting for missing architect Joanna Yeates have found a body.
The discovery was made today by a couple walking their dogs in the Failand area of North Somerset, an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said.
A force spokesman said: "At 9am this morning a couple walking their dogs found the body of a young woman in a roadside verge in Longwood Lane in the Failand area of North Somerset.
"The area has been cordoned off and Longwood Lane has been closed at both ends by police, pending an examination of the scene by crime scene investigators.
"A pathologist will be attending the scene to examine the body.
"At this moment in time it is far too early to confirm the cause of death or any circumstances."
Miss Yeates has not been seen or heard from since Friday last week, following a night out with work colleagues in Bristol.
Her boyfriend Greg Reardon (27) reported her missing on Sunday night after returning home to their flat in Canynge Road, Clifton, from a weekend away in Sheffield visiting family.
Detectives are investigating the possibility that Miss Yeates was abducted and said it was one of several lines of inquiry.
She was last seen leaving the Ram pub in Park Street at about 8pm, walking up the street.
She went into a Waitrose on the way — where she was seen on CCTV — rang her best friend to arrange to meet on Christmas Eve and then went to the Tesco Express on Regent Street, a quarter of a mile from her flat.
Officers released footage of her buying a pizza in Tesco, which has become a key part of the investigation.
There was no trace of the pizza, the wrapping or the box in the flat that Miss Yeates shared with her boyfriend — despite the fact that the receipt, the coat she was wearing, and her mobile phone and keys were inside.
Thirty detectives are working full-time on the investigation and are being assisted by another 40 staff, including uniformed officers, forensic experts and search teams.
PA