Tabak: I killed Jo Yeates when she rejected kiss

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12 April 2012

Vincent Tabak killed Joanna Yeates after he "completely misread" her friendly invitation to have a drink in her flat, a court heard today.

The Dutch engineer claims he panicked after she screamed when he tried to kiss her. He strangled her with one hand round her throat and the other over her mouth "until she went limp".

Bristol crown court was told that the 25-year-old landscape architect saw her neighbour, who she hardly knew, through a window and asked him in after coming home from drinks with friends.

Tabak, 33, admits manslaughter but denies murder. Opening the defence, William Clegg, QC, said: "Vincent Tabak never intended to kill her, nothing had been planned, nothing was premeditated. It was pure chance."

He said both Miss Yeates and Tabak were both
"home alone" in next door flats in the Clifton area of Bristol.

Mr Clegg said they were bored and
lonely and looking for company.

Arriving home, she put the oven on and opened a bottle of a cider, then through the kitchen window saw him passing by, the court heard.

"There was a nod and an acknowledgement between the two and she indicated or beckoned for him to retrace his steps and come in," said Mr Clegg.

"She opened her front door and invited him in. What happened next? He took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack in her hall.

"She offered him a drink. He declined as he was driving later. They introduced themselves to each other and chatted as neighbours would.

"She said her boyfriend was away and she was alone and he said his girlfriend was away and he was alone. As the two of them talked inside the flat, Tabak completely misread the situation that he had walked into.

"Joanna was only being sociable, as many neighbours would be, particularly as it was Christmas.

"He mis-read her friendliness towards him and made a move towards her as if he was about to kiss her on the lips.

"He put one hand behind her back, in the middle of her back, to pull her closer to him.

"She screamed, it was a loud piercing scream. He panicked. He put her hand over her mouth to stifle the screams. He said to her, 'Stop screaming'.

He apologised and said he was sorry. He took his hand away and she carried on screaming. He panicked. He put one hand around her throat and the other over her mouth.

"In seconds, far less than a minute, Joanna went limp. She was dead."

But after the killing Tabak was "frankly disgusting", said the QC, causing Miss Yeates's family untold anguish and agony and telling lie after lie to the police.

It showed him to be "very calculating" said Mr Clegg. But he added that Tabak was not on trial for hiding the body under snow and leaves in a secluded country lane in North Somerset and attempting to cover his tracks.

He was on trial for the jury to decide whether or not he intended to kill her, the court heard.

In a short speech to the jury, Mr Clegg said both killer and victim were victims of chance and bad timing.

"It's pure chance that they ever met that night. If Joanna had stayed for one more drink at The Ram pub she would be alive today," he said. The hearing continues.

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