Neighbour strangled ‘lonely’ Yeates after he misread offer of drink

VINCENT TABAK claims it was “pure chance” that he strangled Joanna Yeates, a court has heard.

The killer claims he misread her signals by trying to kiss her after she invited him in for a drink, his counsel said.

Tabak says he put his hand to his 25-year-old victim’s throat after she protested at his advances.

His full version of events was heard for the first time as defence QC William Clegg said Yeates’s death was a tragic misfortune.

Tabak “completely misread the situation” before “Joanna went limp”, Clegg claimed.

“It was pure chance that Vincent Tabak and Joanna Yeates ever met on December 17 last year,” the barrister told Bristol Crown Court.

Yeates’s boyfriend Greg Reardon fought back tears in the public gallery as Clegg said Miss Yeates was “bored and lonely” on the night of her death.

She invited Tabak into her flat after smiling at him as he walked past her kitchen window, Clegg said.

“If Joanna Yeates had stayed for one more drink in the Ram pub, she’d be alive today,” the barrister said. “If Vincent Tabak had left half an hour earlier to go to Asda, as was his intention, he wouldn’t be standing in the dock now.

“Joanna went into her flat. She took off her coat, she took off her green fleece that she was wearing under her coat and put it on a chair, she took off her boots and she went into the kitchen.

“She opened one of the two bottles of cider she had bought at Bargain Booze and maybe had a drink from it. She was bored and lonely.”

Yeates’s parents, David and Teresa, held hands in court while Tabak kept his head so low in the dock he was barely visible.

Clegg said Yeates and Tabak were virtual strangers — but were both at loose ends at their flats in Clifton.

“They had never really met before, other than a nod as they would pass in a passage outside their house, a sort of acknowledgement one might give to a neighbour you recognised but had never really spoken to.

“Vincent Tabak was also home alone and bored. His partner was away and he was, like she was, at a loose end. He decided to go to Asda, not because of any real burning need for anything but as much to fill in time as anything else. And their meeting, like that night, like what followed was unplanned and it was pure chance.

“Vincent left his flat and he was walking towards his car, intending to drive to Asda, when he passed Joanna’s kitchen window.

“Her blind was up — it always was. It was broken, her boyfriend confirmed.

“She looked up and saw Vincent, her neighbour. He noticed her.

“There was a nod and acknowledgement between the two and she indicated or beckoned for him to retrace his steps and to come in.”

“He went into her flat because she had opened the door and invited him in,” the lawyer said. “She offered him a drink. He declined because he was driving later. She said that her boyfriend was away and she was alone and he said that his girlfriend was away and he was alone.

“And as the two of them talked inside that flat, Vincent Tabak completely misread the situation that he had walked into.

“He misread her friendliness towards him and made a move towards her as if he was about to kiss her on the lips.”

Tabak then put his arm around Yeates.

“She screamed, it was a loud piercing scream,” Clegg said. “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.

“He never intended to kill her. Nothing had been planned, nothing was premeditated, it was pure chance that he had passed by her kitchen window.”

The court heard earlier that Tabak researched the unsolved murders of Melanie Hall and Anni Dewani after the killing.

He also looked up satellite imagery of the site where he dumped Yeates’s body before she was found by dog walkers on Christmas Day.

The case was adjourned until today when Tabak — who denies murder but admits manslaughter — will give evidence.