Tearful Tabak shows court the grip he used to strangle Joanna

JOANNA Yeates’s killer dramatically showed a court yesterday how he strangled his next-door neighbour after she rejected his advances.

Vincent Tabak wept as he recounted the moment he put his hands over the mouth of Miss Yeates after she began screaming when he “made at pass at her” a week before Christmas last year.

Although Tabak denies murder, he admits manslaughter and told the court that he killed Miss Yeates before driving to a local supermarket with her body in the back of his car.

As her parents looked on at Bristol Crown Court, Tabak, 33, said he had been attracted to the 25-year-old and “made a pass at her” when she invited him into her home. But, giving evidence for the first time, he denied claims he wanted sex with Miss Yeates.

Illustrating how he killed Miss Yeates, Tabak outstretched his right arm in the courtroom to display the grip he used to kill her. He wept as he said he would be haunted for the rest of his life, saying he “still can’t believe” his crime and considered whether to jump off a bridge.

Miss Yeates’s parents, David and Teresa, and boyfriend Greg Reardon looked on as Tabak told the court: “I had ample opportunity to call the police and I did not do it.

“I can only say that I am really sorry that I am responsible for her death and that I am responsible for putting her parents and Greg through a week of hell… knowing where she was.

“I still cannot believe that I was capable [of that]. It will haunt me for the rest of my life, no matter what sentence I get.”

Tabak said he did not mean to take her life, telling the jury: “I got the impression she wanted to kiss me. She had been friendly.”

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.”

He confirmed he had her body in his car when he went shopping later in the evening at Asda. “I can’t believe I did that,” he told the jury. “I was not thinking straight.”

In the build-up to Miss Yeates’s death on 17 December, Tabak said he had been watching television, eating pizza and drinking beer before deciding to visit the supermarket “to buy myself some small treats”.

He said he thought he left his flat “within minutes” after sending girlfriend, Tanja Morson, a text message at 9:25pm saying: “Missing you loads. It’s boring here without you. Vxx.”

Tabak said he was “not 100 per cent” clear of the sequence of events that followed, but said he remembered taking “my usual route” past Miss Yeates’s flat next door in Clifton, Bristol.

He noticed Miss Yeates through her kitchen window. Tabak said: “I waved to her and she waved back.”

He added: “She was friendly, coming to open the front door. She invited me in.”

Tabak said he took off his coat, put it on the coat rack in his neighbour’s hall and went into her kitchen.

“I recall we talked about [how] my girlfriend was away at a Christmas party and I felt a bit lonely, bored,” Tabak said.

She made a reference to her partner, Mr Reardon, being away, Tabak added.

Tabak said the pair flirted as they talked about her cat and his recent work trip to Los Angeles. They chatted for roughly ten minutes before “I decided to make a pass at her”.

“She started to scream quite loudly. I panicked and I put one of my hands over her mouth. I said something like: ‘I’m sorry, it’s OK. Please stop.’”

After strangling her for less than a minute, “she went limp, she fell to the floor”, Tabak said. Claiming he did not mean to kill Miss Yeates, he told the court that he briefly took her 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.”

Despite carrying out the killing, Tabak then decided to continue with his visit to Asda.

The trial continues.