Yeates neighbour 'heard nothing'

A neighbour of Joanna Yeates did not hear any screams on the night she died at the hands of Vincent Tabak, a British court has heard today.

Geoffrey Hardyman, who lives in the flat on the top floor of 44 Canynge Road, said he was ill with a cold on the night of December 17 last year.

He said that even though he had gone to bed at 11pm - after Miss Yeates was killed by Tabak - he heard nothing of the events inside her ground-floor flat.

Bristol Crown Court heard that Mr Hardyman knew nothing of the 25-year-old landscape architect's disappearance until he was told on the following Monday by her and Tabak's landlord Christopher Jefferies.

"On Friday December 17, 2010 I fell ill with a cold and stayed in all day," Mr Hardyman said in a statement read to jurors by junior defence counsel Dean Armstrong.

"I was unaware of any activity outside my flat. I went to bed at 11pm. I slept really well until 6.30am.

"The following morning I felt worse and cancelled a lunch appointment that day.

"I sat in my flat all day Saturday and Sunday and was unaware of anything out of the ordinary outside of my flat."

Jurors were told to return to court on Tuesday when closing speeches by prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC and Mr Clegg will begin.

Tabak, 33, a Dutch engineer, denies murder but has pleaded guilty to Miss Yeates's manslaughter.