17 Oct 2011

Tabak ‘strangled Jo Yeates to stop scream’

Home Affairs Correspondent

Vincent Tabak, on trial for the murder of Joanna Yeates, claims in court that he strangled her for 20 seconds after she screamed when he put his arm around her. Andy Davies is in court.

Mr Tabak admits manslaughter but denies murdering Bristol architect Joanna Yeates, whose body was found on Christmas day last year.

Extracts from Mr Tabak’s statement were read out to a jury at Bristol Crown Court for the first time earlier. In the statement, Mr Tabak claims he initially put his hand over Joanna Yeates’s mouth to stop her screams, and used only “moderate force”.

He also claims he “didn’t intend death or serious injury”.

Referring to Mr Tabak’s statement, Nigel Lickley QC said: “He removed the hand from the mouth and the screaming continued and then he put the hand around the throat.

“He believes it was the one from around her back and held it there for about 20 seconds.”

Tabak 'strangled Jo Yeates to stop scream' (Reuters)

Pathologist questioned

Mr Lickley asked pathologist Russell Delaney about Mr Tabak’s statement that he held Ms Yeates’s throat “for about 20 seconds”.

Dr Delaney replied: “That period of time would be sufficient to cause the signs of venous obstruction and would be long enough to result in her death.”

The statement was referred to after Mr Tabak’s QC William Clegg suggested his client used just one hand to strangle her.

‘Mechanism of death’
This is the first time the court has heard an extract from Vincent Tabak’s defence statement detailing what was described in court as the “mechanism of death”, writes Channel 4 News Home Affairs Correspondent Andy Davies, from Bristol Crown Court.

The description of how the defendant held his hand around Joanna Yeates’s throat for “about 20 seconds”, applying “no more than moderate force” was read out by the prosecution in further questioning of the pathologist Dr Russell Delaney. Vincent Tabak, the jurors heard, “did not intend death or serious injury”.

The parents of Joanna Yeates were not in court to hear this statement, but they arrived shortly afterwards with Joanna’s brother. They were in court to hear the evidence of Joanna’s best friend Rebecca Scott and Joanna’s boyfriend Greg Reardon. As Mr Reardon walked into court, Vincent Tabak glanced up briefly from his seat in the dock and then immediately looked down at his feet, placing his head in his hands.

His head remained bowed as Mr Reardon went on to describe the layout of the flat which he’d shared with Joanna Yeates. Mr Reardon and Joanna were, Rebecca Scott had told the court earlier, “the perfect couple”.

Get the latest on the trial from Andy Davies on Twitter: adavies4

During cross-examination of Dr Delaney, Mr Clegg said: “My suggestion is that the injuries are consistent with being caused by one hand – a hand larger than the average hand perhaps.”

Joanna Yeates suffered 43 injuries at the hands of Mr Tabak at her flat in Clifton, Bristol, on December 17, Bristol Crown Court has heard.

Mr Clegg asked whether it would have been impossible for Ms Yeates to scream as her neck was being squeezed.

“That would depend on the nature of the neck compression,” Dr Delaney replied. The lawyer asked again if her injuries were consistent with being strangled with one hand.

Dr Delaney replied: “Or two, yes.”

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