The bridge was closed for traffic during forensic examination on 11 July 2024 [9]
Police blocking access to the bridge while members of the media await a police statement on 11 July 2024
| Date | 10 July 2024 |
|---|---|
| Time | 23:57 BST (22:57 UTC) |
| Location | Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°27′16″N2°37′45″W / 51.454416°N 2.629117°W |
| Motive | attempt to dispose of dead bodies |
| Perpetrator | Yostin Mosquera |
| Casualties | |
| 2 dead | |
| Trial | ongoing, at Old Bailey |
In the late hours of 10 July 2024, two suitcases containing human remains were found on Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, in the South West of England. The suitcases were found by bystanders who stopped a man acting suspiciously. A manhunt soon ensued, with police searching for one person in connection with the remains. The person was identified as Colombian national Yostin Andres Mosquera. Police arrested him on 13 July 2024 at Bristol Temple Meads railway station [1] [2] [3] and he is currently on trial at the Old Bailey court in London.
On the evening of 10 July 2024, right after the late-goal victory for England in the semi-final match of Euro 2024 tournament, some game watchers leaving a pub in Clifton saw three people struggling to get two heavy suitcases across a street. Not assuming anything nefarious was going on, one witness asked them:
"'That looks really heavy, what have you got in there, a body?' - jokingly like you do." [4]
An hour later, a male suspect was reported to the police after acting suspiciously while lugging two suitcases on the opposite end of the bridge. Having dropped the suitcases, he started running away; he was trailed by a cyclist but managed to escape into the woodland of Leigh Woods. Soon after, police arrived on the scene and a police helicopter was dispatched but to no avail. The bridge was then closed for all traffic for the entire day [5] and a police tent erected for forensic examination of the suitcases which were found to contain human remains. [6]
On 12 July, it was announced that the victims were two males, and that the murders were committed in a flat in London where additional human remains were found. The murders were classified as a hate crime based on the fact that the victims had previously been in a relationship. In the morning of the following day, a 34-year-old Columbian national Yostin Andres Mosquera was arrested at Bristol Temple Meads railway station. [6]
On 15 July, Mosquera appeared in court charged with murdering two men, Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, between 8 and 10 July in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 17 July. [7] At the court hearing on 17 July, he was charged with two counts of murder and remanded in prison to appear at a trial set for 14 April 2025. [8] At further court hearings, Mosquera's trial was moved back to 29 April 2025. [9] and was scheduled to last for three weeks. [10]
Trial for the double murder began on 29 April 2025. Initially, Mosquera pleaded guilty for manslaughter, but not murder, and only of Alfonso but not of Longworth. Prosecution rejected his plea, meaning Mosquera would face trial over both killings. [5] [11]
It was revealed that Alfonso had died from at least 13 stab wounds, and Longworth from at least ten blows to the head. [12] Gruesome details emerged about the way Mosquera murdered Alfonso during sexual intercourse which was recorded on camera. [13] Mosquera was accused of dismembering the victims' bodies and freezing some of the body parts. In order to dispose of them, he hired a van, initially to go to Brighton, before changing the destination to Clifton where he intended to dump them off the bridge. [14] Mosquera was also accused of premeditating the murders and trying to steal from the victims' bank accounts afterwards. [15] But he denied killing Longworth, saying that he was killed by Alfonso. [13]
However, in May 2025 the jury was discharged and the trial stopped because some of the evidence was unclear. A retrial was provisionally scheduled for 30 June 2025, to be held at Woolwich Crown Court in London. [16]
