DNA technology advances prompted the re-opening in August 2001 of the case of the rape and murder of Yiannoulla Yianni, a 17-year-old schoolgirl, at her family home in Belsize Road, Hampstead, on Friday, August 13th, 1982. Because there was no sign of a break-in, police believe she knew the man who strangled her.

On the day she died Yiannoulla, from a Greek-Cypriot background, spent the morning at home with her mother. She then briefly visited the family’s shop in nearby Fairhazel Gardens, before returning home to prepare lunch while her mother stayed on at the shop. Her body was found by her parents when they returned home at around 3 p.m.

Witnesses reported seeing Yiannoulla talking to a man, possibly Greek, in his early 20s, on the doorstep. Despite the case reappraisal, there have been no new developments.