Yeates killer ‘took body to Asda’

10 October 2011 Last updated at 09:50 ET

Miss Yeates was found dead near a quarry on Christmas Day

The man accused of murdering landscape architect Jo Yeates drove to Asda with her body in his car, a court heard.

Bristol Crown Court was told by prosecutors that Vincent Tabak, who has admitted Miss Yeates’s manslaughter, bought rock salt, crisps and beer.

Nigel Lickley QC, said Miss Yeates’s body “must” have been in the car boot when he vid the Bedminster store.

The body of Miss Yeates was found on a verge near Bristol on Christmas Day. Tabak denies her murder.

The jury was told the 33-year-old Dutch engineer went to the Asda store twice and did his shopping on the second visit.

Mr Lickley told Bristol Crown Court that Tabak texted his girlfriend after the killing, saying he was “bored”.

On the first day of the trial, the court was told Tabak also searched for information on the length of murder and manslaughter sentences.

When police revealed a pizza and its box were missing from Miss Yeates’s flat, he searched the internet for the dates of refuse collections in the Clifton area, Mr Lickley said.

Tabak has admitted manslaughter but denies murder

“When alone at work or at home his internet activity became ever more consumed, following news items as if almost following the police investigation as it unfolded,” he said.

Tabak also constantly searched the Avon and Somerset Police web for details of the case and used Google Maps to view the location Miss Yeates’s body was found, he added.

Miss Yeates, from Ampfield, Hampshire, disappeared on 17 December 2010 after going for drinks with colleagues in Bristol city centre.

As the prosecution outlined its case, jurors were shown CCTV of her visiting Bargain Booze on the way home to her flat in Canynge Road.

Despite living in a neighbouring garden flat, Miss Yeates did not know Tabak, the court heard.

On the night of her death, Miss Yeates had “settled down for the evening when she was interrupted by Vincent Tabak”, Mr Lickley said.

‘Screams heard’

“There is no doubt, and neither is it in dispute, as to how that ng woman died,” he said.

“Vincent Tabak strangled her with his hand or hands. He held her throat hard enough and for long enough to kill her.

He said a first scream was followed by a second “lower, muffled sound” and then a thud.

He told the court: “Having killed her, he drove her body in the boot of a Renault Megane and depod her body where it was found.”

Forensic evidence showed blood on the wall beside Longwood Lane, consistent with Tabak trying and failing to put Miss Yeates’s body over the wall, Mr Lickley said.

He said leaves had been placed deliberately over Miss Yeates’s body and snow had then fallen on her.

The jury was told how Miss Yeates’s body was found by a couple on Christmas morning in Failand, on the outskirts of the city.

The prosecutor said that during the following weeks, Tabak was “in complete control” and “knew what he was doing”.

Miss Yeates’s boyfriend Greg Reardon described Tabak and his girlfriend, Tanja Morson, as “quiet, keeping themselves to themselves,” Mr Lickley said, and had only met them once when their cat got into their flat.

When he returned home from visiting family in Sheffield, he thought Miss Yeates was out and rang her phone which had been left inside their flat.

After calling friends and family in a bid to find her, Mr Reardon called police. His 999 call was played to the jury.

“It is a striking feature of this case that, as one ng man became more and more worried about his missing girlfriend, there, on the other side of the common wall, was her killer,” said Mr Lickley.

Jurors were told that, on the night after Miss Yeates was killed, Tabak and Miss Morson went to a birthday party.

“He appeared quiet and disinterested and short with his answers. She describes the meeting with him as difficult and describes Vincent Tabak as not wanting to be there.

“She noticed that Vincent Tabak was not talking to anyone ,” said Mr Lickley.

The trial is expected to last four weeks.

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