Yvonne Annesta Fitt

Yvonne Fitt was stabbed to death.

She had worked as a prostitute for about ten years in the Leeds and Bradford areas and by late 1991 she was heavily addicted to crack cocaine. It was reported that she had been arrested more times by the vice squad than anyone could remember.

She had come from Bradford, but was last known to have been living in Chapeltown with a friend up until Christmas 1991.

She was last seen around the summer of 1992 and was found bound and gagged in a shallow grave at Warren Point, Norwood Edge by a man that was out looking for fungi on 12 September 1992.

Her body was found in a natural hollow in the ground that had then been covered over with branches.

It was badly decomposed when found but it was determined that she had stab wounds to the chest and back.

She was identified about two weeks later.

Yvonne Fitt often worked in the Manningham area of Bradford as a prostitute and was well known in the area. It was noted that she was one of a few black prostitutes that worked in the area and that she had not been seen since summer 1992.

It was heard that by December 1991 things were going badly wrong in Yvonne Fitt's life and that she was addicted to crack cocaine and was becoming anxious and paranoid. Her friend with whom she was living with in Chapeltown around that time said that Yvonne Fitt told her that she couldn't go back to Bradford as there were people there that would do her in saying that she had got into some debt and owed some money. Her friend added that Yvonne Fitt said on several occasions that someone was going to find her one day and that she was going to come to some harm and that she was sure that she was being followed and that someone was watching her. However, her friend said that Yvonne Fitt vanished at Christmas time.

Yvonne Fitt was next seen in May 1992 at the Duncan pub in Leeds town centre by a friend shortly before 7pm. The friend said that Yvonne Fitt looked terrible and that she stayed for a drink during which she told her that she was looking for someone. The friend said that she told Yvonne Fitt that she should see a doctor and told her that she looked as though she had really let herself go. The friend said that Yvonne Fitt left the pub, but came back that evening at about 10pm and that when she did so she looked completely different to how she had done before, saying that she was laughing and appeared happy and was talking to a well-dressed middle aged man with grey hair. The friend noted that she had never seen the man since.

However, the man was seen again with Yvonne Fitt about two months later in July 1992 and the police said that they were interested in identifying him.

Later, in Bradford, between June and September 1992, a policewoman who worked with the vice squad who knew Yvonne Fitt said that she was driving along Bertham Road in an unmarked police car when she saw Yvonne Fitt walking along the pavement. She said that when she saw her she was scurrying along and looked like a frightened rabbit and behaving as though she didn't really want to be seen.

Another event that the police said they were not sure really happened, was that of Yvonne Fitt being seen to be bundled into a green van on Bertram Road by three men. The incident was reported by an anonymous caller who didn't call again and who left no personal details.

During the police investigation, the police said that they were keen to find out where Yvonne Fitt had been between January and May 1992, noting that she often stayed away with friends for two or three weeks, but had never been away for that long before, and said that they wanted to find out where she had been and who she had been with.

During the police appeal, the police noted that they didn't think that the murderer would have ever expected Yvonne Fitt's body to be found and identified and said that when Yvonne Fitt was found and identified that her murderer would have possibly reacted to that in some way that someone else might have picked up on as a change in behaviour or an increase in anxiety.

Yvonne Fitt had an 11-year-old daughter and was herself one of seven children.

Three people were questioned during the investigation but none were charged.

In September 2019 the police appealed for a caller that had called into the Crime Watch episode in November 1992 naming a suspect to call them again.