Why tabak kill

He denied suggestions of a struggle, claiming to have held Yeates by the neck with only minimal force, and "for about 20 seconds". He told the court that after dumping the body he was "in a state of panic". The jury was sent out to deliberate on 26 October, and returned with a verdict two days later.

On 28 October , Tabak was found guilty of Joanna Yeates' murder by a 10 to 2 majority verdict. He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 20 years. Passing sentence, Mr. Justice Field referred to a "sexual element" to the killing. The manner in which certain aspects of the case were reported by the British media led to one television broadcaster being temporarily banned from attending press conferences, and the instigation of legal proceedings against several newspapers by both Yeates' former landlord, and the Attorney General.

Following a television news report on 4 January that criticised the handling of the investigation, ITN reporters were banned by the Avon and Somerset Constabulary from attending a press conference convened to give updates on the murder case. The item, presented by journalist Geraint Vincent claimed police had made little progress with their investigation, and questioned whether they were following correct procedural methods. A former murder squad detective told the report that "certain routine inquiries" such as looking for fresh evidence at the crime scene were not being carried out.

The police subsequently lifted the sanctions against ITN, but said that they would "not hesitate to adopt similar tactics in the future. The contempt of court charges were dropped after the tweet was removed.

Writing in London's Evening Standard on 5 January , the media commentator Roy Greenslade expressed concern over a number of negative articles that had appeared in newspapers concerning Yeates' landlord, Chris Jefferies, following his arrest, describing the coverage as "character assassination on a large scale".

He cited several examples of headlines and stories that had been published, including a headline in The Sun describing Jefferies — a former teacher at Clifton College — as weird, posh, lewd and creepy; a story from the Daily Express quoting unnamed former pupils referring to him as "a sort of Nutty Professor" who made them feel "creeped out" by his "strange" behaviour; and an article from the Daily Telegraph, which reported Jefferies "has been described by pupils at Clifton College…as a fan of dark and violent avant-garde films".

In an interview following Tabak's conviction, Jefferies commented: "It has taken up a whole year virtually of my life, that period of time has meant that everything else that I would normally be doing has been in abeyance. Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General for England and Wales, stated on 31 December that he was considering action under the Contempt of Court Act to enforce the obligation of the media not to prejudice a possible future trial.

Criminology professor David Wilson commented on the resonance of the murder case with the national news media: "The British public loves a whodunnit It's a particularly British thing. We were the first nation to use murder stories to sell newspapers and that culture is more ingrained here than elsewhere. On 1 January, Yeates' boyfriend Greg Reardon commented on the media coverage surrounding the arrest of Christopher Jefferies: "Jo's life was cut short tragically but the finger-pointing and character assassination by social and news media of as yet innocent men has been shameful.

On 12 May , the Administrative Court granted the Attorney General permission to move a motion for committal for contempt of court against The Sun and the Daily Mirror for the way they had reported the arrest of Jefferies. The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Judge stated that "in our judgment, as a matter of principle, the vilification of a suspect under arrest is a potential impediment to the course of justice.

The Yeates case was mentioned during a Parliamentary debate on a private member's bill that would have imposed a six-month sentence on any journalist who names an uncharged suspect. The proposed legislation was introduced into the House of Commons in June , by Anna Soubry, the Conservative MP for Broxtowe, a former journalist and criminal law barrister. In a debate on 4 February Soubry told the House: "What we saw in Bristol was, in effect, a feeding frenzy and vilification.

Much of the coverage was not only completely irrelevant, but there was a homophobic tone to it which I found deeply offensive. The slurs on the man were out of order. Jefferies gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, established by Prime Minister David Cameron to investigate the ethics and behaviour of the British media following the News of the World phone hacking affair.

Jefferies told the inquiry that reporters had "besieged" him after he was questioned by the police; he said: "It was clear that the tabloid press had decided that I was guilty of Miss Yeates' murder and seemed determined to persuade the public of my guilt.

They embarked on a frenzied campaign to blacken my character by publishing a series of very serious allegations about me which were completely untrue. Prayers for her were also said at the church on 17 December , the first anniversary of her death, while visitors left tributes and messages of condolence for her family. Greg Reardon started a charity website in Yeates' memory to raise funds on behalf of families of missing people. Yeates' friends and family planted a memorial garden at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey where she had worked as a student.

Other plans for memorials included a garden of remembrance at the BDP firm's studio in Bristol, a published anthology of Yeates' work and an annual landscape design prize named after her for students of the University of Gloucestershire.

BDP announced it would dedicate a charity cycle ride between its offices on its 50th anniversary, with proceeds to go to charities selected by her family. As she had not written a will, the sum was inherited by her parents. Following the release of her body on 31 January , Yeates' family arranged to hold her funeral at St Mark's of Ampfield, Hampshire, and have her interred in the churchyard. Yeates was buried on 11 February; approximately people attended the service, which was led by vicar Peter Gilks.

Vincent Tabak kept a sick trophy from his murder of Jo Yeates, says man who led hunt. Vincent Tabak kept a sick trophy from his murder of Joanna Yeates, said the detective who led the hunt today. Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones revealed that the killer kept the defenceless landscape architect's sock, after removing it during the attack at her Bristol flat. He claimed during his murder trial that it came off as he was hauling her battered body into his neighbouring flat, after he squeezed her throat until she went limp.

But Det Jones, who led the investigation that captured the Dutch engineer, believes Tabak may have stashed the garment as a memento. The sock, along with a Tesco Finest pizza bought by Miss Yeates on her walk home the night she died, has never been found. Det Jones also said that the cold-blooded murderer might have never been caught if he hadn't failed to throw her body over a 4ft high stone wall.

He said that the body would not have been found had Tabak dumped her in a quarry on the other side of the wall as he had planned. Because he didn't manage to throw her over the fence, Tabak left the body at the side of the road, where it was was eventually found by dog walkers on Christmas Day, eight days after she was killed.

Forensic experts found Joanna's blood on the side and the top of the wall suggesting Tabak tried to push her over. The other side of the 4ft high stone wall in Failand, north Somerset drops sharply into disused Durnford Quarry.

Police do not know why the 6ft 4in Dutchman could not lift the 5ft 4in Miss Yeates over the wall, but in court he claimed he did not have the strength to lift the 9st woman. He said he panicked and set about piling leaves on and around her body in an attempt to cover her up.

This all happened just two hours after they had first met, back at Miss Yeates' ground-floor flat in Bristol. Vincent Tabak has been found guilty of murdering landscape architect Joanna Yeates for sexual thrills.

The verdict comes despite prosecutors being blocked from telling jurors about Tabak's sex secrets. He strangled Miss Yeates after becoming obsessed with violent sex and pornography, it can now be revealed.

The year-old Dutch engineer was convicted following a three-week trial at Bristol Crown Court. The jury of six men and six women returned their majority verdict on their fourth day of deliberation.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years. Tabak had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but had denied murdering the year-old whose frozen snow covered body was discovered in a remote country lane by dog walkers on Christmas morning last year.

During the trial Tabak, who lived in the adjoining flat to Miss Yeates in Canynge Road, Clifton, claimed her death had been an accident. He told the court Miss Yeates, whose boyfriend Greg Reardon was away for the weekend visiting relatives, had invited him in after spotting him passing her kitchen window on the evening of December 17 last year.

Tabak claimed Miss Yeates had screamed when he had made a pass at her and he had put his hand around her neck in an attempt to calm her down and stop her screaming. The 6ft 4in Dutchman said he had held her for less than 20 seconds using only moderate force, but after a short time she went limp and fell to the ground.

But the jury rejected his version of events after hearing that Miss Yeates had 43 separate injuries when she was killed including numerous abrasions and bruises. It can now also be reported that when police seized Tabak's work and home computers they discovered a chilling collection of pornographic films, featuring women being choked. He also stored images on his computer of a woman who bore a striking similarity to Miss Yeates exposing her breasts.

In the photograph the woman was also wearing a pink t-shirt similar to the one Miss Yeates was wearing on the night she was killed. The information was kept from the jury during the trial, but can now be reported after the judge, Mr Justice Field, lifted an order banning publication.

It can also be revealed that far from being in a monogamous relationship as he claimed in court, Tabak sought out the company of prostitutes while on business trips to Newcastle and Los Angeles. Tabak looked down at his feet but showed no sign of emotion as the verdict was delivered. Mr Justice Field began sentencing by telling the jury: "I think there was a sexual element to this killing.

The judge told Tabak he had committed "a dreadful, evil act on a vulnerable young woman". Tabak intended to go "much further" after attempting to kiss her, the judge added, saying that Miss Yeates died "in pain and fear" and her disappearance left her family suffering "seven days of agonising uncertainty".

Tabak denied that there had been a struggle but the prosecution accused him of deliberately killing Miss Yeates in a sexually motivated attack. One of the most shocking aspects of the case to emerge came when it was revealed that after killing Miss Yeates, Tabak had placed her body in the boot of his car before driving to a supermarket where he went shopping for beer and crisps.

While there he had even sent a text message to his girlfriend Tanja Morson, telling her he was bored. Tabak had claimed he was in state of panic at the time and did not know what he was doing. But the jury rejected that suggestion after being shown CCTV footage of him calmly strolling round the aisles.

He later drove to Longwood Lane in Failand around three miles from Clifton where he attempted to drop her body into a quarry. Heavy snow later that night concealed the body for another eight days until she was finally discovered on Christmas morning. Joanna Yeates's boyfriend maintained his composure as the jury delivered a guilty verdict.

Greg Reardon, 28, had been perched on the edge of his seat in the front row of the public gallery looking at the jury of six men and six women. Miss Yeates's parents, David and Teresa, have attended almost every day of the trial but decided not to come to court today.

Other members of the Yeates family were in court to hear the verdict but showed little emotion. Mr Reardon, wearing a black suit with a grey shirt and tie, was supported by his brother as they listened to the foreman speak in a slow, clear voice when he answered the clerk's questions. The jury had been deliberating its verdict for 13 hours and 36 minutes before returning to Court One at Bristol Crown Court.

There was complete silence as the foreman, wearing glasses and a grey jumper, replied: "Guilty. Flanked by six dock officers, the bespectacled year-old Dutchman stood behind the glass-fronted dock and looked down at his feet but showed no sign of emotion as the verdict was delivered. Vincent Tabak found guilty of Joanna Yeates murder: how it happened. Vincent Tabak was today found guilty of the murder of architect Joanna Yeates. We trace back the timeline of events. By Martin Evans - Telegraph.

October 28, After joining colleagues from the architectural firm BDP for a Christmas drink at the Bristol Ram Pub, Joanna Yeates sets off for the 20 minute walk to her flat in the Clifton area of the city. After stopping off at Waitrose, Miss Yeates uses her mobile phone to ring her best friend Rebecca Scott to arrange to meet on Christmas Eve. She then pops into a branch of Bargain Booze where she purchases two bottles of cider.

A local priest, Father Henwood, is the last person to see her alive as he is walking her dog close to her flat in Canynge Road. It is boring here without you Vxx. Mr Reardon sends text to Miss Yeates telling her he has arrived safely in Sheffield and asking if she enjoyed her evening at the pub. He receives no reply. Tabak visits a branch of Asda in Bedminster, Bristol where he purchases rock salt, beer and crisps. Was bored cannot wait to pick you up.

Tabak goes online back at his flat and checks a number of work related websites. Tabak accesses the BBC News website and looks up information about the weather. Tabak arrives home after collecting Miss Morson from her office party. Police reveal they are keen to establish what happened to the pizza Miss Yeates bought on her way home. The receipt was found in the flat but there was no sign of the pizza or its packaging.

Meanwhile Mr and Mrs Yeates make another tearful appeal for information about their daughter and say they believe she has been abducted. Mr and Mrs Yeates say they assume it is her daughter. Police are unable to conduct a post-mortem examination due to the fact the remains are still frozen but are satisfied the body is that of Miss Yeates.

Police announce that Miss Yeates died as a result of strangulation. Detectives are granted more time to question Mr Jefferies, a former teacher at Clifton College. Two detectives from Avon and Somerset police fly to Amsterdam to interview Tabak after he claims to have seen Mr Jefferies move his car on the night Miss Yeates was killed. Police reveal that Miss Yeates was missing one grey ski sock when her body was found.

Tabak appears before Bristol Magistrates charged with murder. He is remanded in custody. In a hearing at the Old Bailey Tabak appears by video link and pleads guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder. A trial date is set for October 4 at Bristol Crown Court. Vincent Tabak strangled Joanna Yeates to gain sexual gratification.

As he continued his cross-examination, Mr Lickley said Tabak's attempt to kiss Miss Yeates showed he had sex on his mind prior to killing her. Is it because there are other sexual elements to what happened? Were you sexually aroused when you had your hand around her throat and your hand over her mouth? Referring to the fact Miss Yeates's clothing had been pushed up above her chest area when she was found, Mr Lickley said: "You moved her clothing Vincent Tabak.

You pulled up her top. Mr Lickley went on: "Is that what made her scream? The court had earlier heard that the cat would often go into Tabak's flat next door. The prosecutor suggested Tabak had knocked on Miss Yeates's door with the cat, knowing her boyfriend was away that weekend. Tabak denied the claim and insisted Miss Yeates had waved at him from her kitchen window as he passed before inviting him in.

He told the court: "We were standing close to each other, she invited me in for a drink. She made a flirty comment. I thought she was flirtatious. Tabak was asked why he had conducted internet research into the definition of sexual assault in the weeks after killing Miss Yeates.

He said: "I was worried that my pass at her could be seen as sexual conduct. The court also heard from Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary, who told the court he had worked on many cases involving sexual assault.

But he said there was no evidence to suggest that Miss Yeates had been subjected to sexual interference.

Vincent Tabak broke down in tears today and apologised to the family of Joanna Yeates as he described the moment he strangled her. The year-old, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, began giving his own version of events in a bid to explain claims he did not intend to kill her.

He tearfully apologised to Miss Yeates's parents as he explained how he tried to cover his tracks by dumping her body. He said: "I'm so sorry for doing that. I put Joanna's parents through a week of hell. I still can't believe I did that.

As Miss Yeates' family listened to Tabak, they looked towards him with frowns on their faces. The Dutchman said he put his hand on Miss Yeates's throat because he panicked and wanted to stop her screaming. The court has previously heard that Tabak claims he misread his next-door neighbour's signals after she invited him in for a drink. He says he put his hand to his year-old victim's throat after she protested at his advances.

Miss Yeates is said to have invited Tabak into her flat after smiling at him as he walked past her kitchen window, Mr Clegg said. Giving evidence, Tabak said he thought Miss Yeates wanted to kiss him, adding that he did not mean to kill her. When asked why he put his hand to Miss Yeates's throat, Tabak said: "I was panicking. I wanted to stop her screaming. I wanted to calm her down. After strangling her for less than a minute "she went limp, she fell to the floor", Tabak said, adding: "I still can't understand what happened.

Tabak told the court how he briefly took Miss Yeates's body back to his flat to put her in a bicycle cover, adding: "I carried her with my arms. One hand was underneath her back, the other was under her knees.

He also insisted that a text message received by his girlfriend from his phone telling her he was bored had been sent prior to Miss Yeates's death, not after, as the prosecution alleged. He said he thought he left his flat "within minutes" after sending Tanja Morson a text message at 9. It's boring here without you. Mr Clegg said Miss Yeates and Tabak were virtual strangers — but were both at loose ends at their flats in Clifton.

Mr Clegg has said he would not try to justify Tabak's actions after her death, saying his client was "living a lie" by attending dinner parties and attempting to carry on his life as normal. He said it was "frankly disgusting" that Tabak had tried to hide the body and "did everything he could to cover his tracks".

But he urged the jury to focus on what happened in Miss Yeates's flat as Tabak takes to the stand this morning. Mr Clegg said: "What he is being tried for is whether when he killed Joanna Yeates that was planned, premeditated and something that he intended to do, intended to kill or cause really serious harm to her, or whether when he was responsible for her death, when he killed her, he panicked and did it without thinking of the consequences, without intending that she should die, without intending that she should suffer really serious harm.

Vincent Tabak researched unsolved murders after killing Joanna Yeates. The year-old defendant also looked up satellite imagery of the site where he dumped Miss Yeates's body. Lyndsey Farmery, an internet use analyst who assisted police with the investigation, took the jury through Tabak's online activity in the days after killing year-old Miss Yeates.

Web records from work and personal laptops show he researched the Wikipedia page for murder and maximum sentence for manslaughter, she said. While regularly checking the Avon and Somerset police website and a local news site, the Dutch engineer was also checking body decomposition rates. We were both really happy in our jobs — we worked together and that's how we met.

But Reardon's pleas were futile; on Christmas Day morning, a couple were walking their dog when they spotted the body of a woman on a roadside verge in Failand, North Somerset, about 5 miles from where Joanna lived. David and Teresa Yeates formally identified the body as their daughter in the subsequent days, and a post-mortem revealed she had been strangled to death.

Joanna's boyfriend, as well as her parents and her brother Chris laid a bouquet of flowers at the spot where Joanna had been found, along with a picture of the young woman on her graduation day. Despite having the evidence of Joanna's body in their possession, police were still in the dark about who had committed her murder. Jo's distraught best friend Rebecca Scott appealed for information from the public. If so please call the police and think about how you'd never want your best friend found murdered on Christmas Day.

Two days after Joanna's body was discovered, police arrested her landlord, Christopher Jefferies, on suspicion of murder. The retired public school teacher lived in the same building as Joanna and Greg's flat, and came to the police's attention when he told police he had seen the missing woman leave her flat with two other people on the night she disappeared. If true, this would have made him the last person known to see Joanna alive, which ultimately shone suspicion onto him.

It also emerged that Jefferies had helped Greg Reardon fix his car earlier in the day on December 17, , meaning he was aware Joanna would have been on her own for the weekend, and some people took this to believe he may have been able to plot something sinister. But Christopher Jefferies did not murder Joanna Yeates. After several in-depth interviews, extensive searches of the flat he owned that Yeates and Reardon lived in, and forensic searches of his possessions, police ruled him out as a suspect.

He was released on bail on January 1, following two days in police custody. The accusations publicly placed upon Jefferies, however, had led to several defamatory reports being published of the thenyear-old man's character, and he later ended up receiving substantial damages after suing eight newspapers for the wholly undeserved harm done to his reputation.

He was also later issued an apology by the police for the distress he suffered during their investigation. All the while police had been following up the lead of Christopher Jefferies, Joanna Yeates' next-door neighbour - and real killer - Vincent Tabak was laying low.

He had inadvertently drawn attention to himself after telling police Christopher Jefferies' car had been moved on the night of Joanna's disappearance. When this was discovered to be a lie , and Jefferies was subsequently released, Tabak became the focus of police's investigations.

On January 20, the Dutch man - an engineer - was arrested by police, although he refused to co-operate, answering most questions with "no comment". The evidence stacking against him was undeniable, however, and when police finally got the DNA evidence they needed, they charged the thenyear-old with Joanna Yeates' murder.

He was sentenced to life in prison, and it later emerged that he'd had sexually explicit footage of violent pornography featuring women and children in his possession. Despite insisting he should only be guilty of manslaughter Tabak claimed Joanna had invited him into her flat and made a flirty comment, so he made a pass at her which triggered her to scream, and he ended up gripping her throat to silence her but accidentally killed her the prosecution poked holes in his account.

Tabak was accused in court of having committed the attack based on sexual thrills, which seemed far more feasible when it emerged that Joanna had sustained 43 injuries in the lead-up to her death. It took sufficient force to kill her. There was no sign of a use of a ligature. Though her jeans had not been tampered with, her T-shirt had been pulled up above her breasts and part of her right breast exposed.

A sample of Tabak's DNA was found on her chest, however scientists could not establish what it came from. The bottom line is that nobody apart from Tabak can say what happened — and he claims his memory of exactly what happened remains sketchy. Not at all sketchy are the last known moments of Yeates's life. They have become all too familiar.

She vanished eight days before Christmas after leaving the Ram pub on Park Street in Bristol, where she had been enjoying after-work drinks with work colleagues. It was cold and snow and ice lay thick on the pavements. Yeates bought a tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza from a supermarket and picked up two bottles of cider from an off-licence.

Police believe she got back to her Clifton flat, which was already decorated in readiness for Christmas, at about 8. Within moments — at about 8. And then silence. Yeates's boyfriend, Greg Reardon, returned from a weekend away on the evening of Sunday 19 December to find Yeates missing, though her mobile phone, keys, purse and coat were there. At Tabak answered and denied all knowledge. His denial led to — in Tabak's own words — a "week of hell" for Yeates's family and friends.

Over the next seven days police and family issued a series of increasingly desperate appeals for help in finding her. On 23 December police revisited Tabak and carried out a routine search of the flat he shared with his girlfriend, Tanja Morson, to check Yeates was not there.

He joked to friends that they must have thought he had stashed her in a drawer. Tabak and Morson, the daughter of a Harvard-educated lawyer, then left Bristol to spend Christmas in Cambridge at her parents' home. On Christmas Eve, Detective Constable Karen Thomas, a member of the police's major crime investigation team, spoke to Tabak by telephone about his movements on the night of Yeates's disappearance.

He told her he was in all evening before driving in the early hours of the morning to pick up Morson after a work party. He was able to say he did not know Yeates. She and Reardon moved in at the start of October and he left for a business trip in California on 6 November, only returning on 11 December, six days before the killing. They were in effect strangers. On Christmas morning, at about the time Tabak and Morson — who remained ignorant of her boyfriend's crime — were opening their gifts, Yeates's body was found by a dog walker, covered in leaves and a pile of snow next to a quarry wall at Longwood Lane, Failand, three miles from Clifton.

It looked as if the killer had tried to heave the body over the wall. Had he succeeded Yeates could still be a missing person. The media interest became a frenzy. One tabloid suggested Yeates may have been held captive for several days before she was killed. Another theory was that she may have been dumped at the scene alive and died of hypothermia. The public was fascinated by the details.