Joanna Yeates 'struggled violently for her life' court hears - The Guardian

Vincent Tabak acted in a "controlled and calculated" manner when he strangled Joanna Yeates and set about covering his tracks, a jury has heard.

Landscape architect Yeates struggled violently for her life as her next door neighbour Tabak pinned her to the floor by the wrists, the court was told on Tuesday.

Post-mortem tests revealed she suffered 43 separate injuries, including cuts and bruises and a fractured nose, and suggested her death was slow and painful.

Afterwards Tabak, a Dutch engineer, tried to conceal his crime, hiding the body and telling police he did not know 25-year-old Yeates, it was claimed.

But traces of his DNA were allegedly found on her body.

He eventually confessed to the killing during a conversation with a Salvation Army chaplain while he was in custody and said he was "sorry", the court heard.

The court also heard that Tabak ate pizza on the night he killed Yeates. The jury has been told the pizza Yeates bought as she walked home has never been found. A post-mortem examination of her body later established that she did not eat it.

Lickley told the jury that Tabak has been asked by police what he had for tea on the night Yeates died. "Pizza, I think," he replied.

Tabak, 33, has admitted the manslaughter of Yeates but denies murder. On Monday the jury at Bristol crown court was told that Tabak attacked Yeates shortly after she arrived back at her flat in the city on the evening of 17 December last year.

He then drove to a supermarket, where he bought beer and crisps. The body "may have been in the boot of the car". Later he dumped her body on the verge of a country lane. He is said to have twice texted his girlfriend, Tanja Morson, after killing Yeates to tell her he was bored.

On the second day of the prosecution's opening, Nigel Lickley QC said Tabak used his height and strength to overpower his slight victim. "It took some time," he said.He said Tabak could have let her go. "There was a violent struggle by Miss Yeates to survive. He might have let go but he did not. He knew that Miss Yeates was in pain but struggling to breathe."

Yeates suffered injuries to her head, nose, neck, abdomen, both arms and legs.

Yeates's parents, David and Teresa, attended the first day of the trial but were absent during the second as details were given of the state the young woman's body was in when it was found under a mound of snow on Christmas morning.

Her jeans were fastened but her pink top was partially pulled up over her head, the court heard. Yeates was still wearing her bra but her right breast was exposed.

Blood stains were found on a wall close to where Yeates's body was discovered, suggesting Tabak had tried to lift her over the wall into a quarry. Having failed to do that, Tabak covered her body with leaves.

Tabak was arrested on 20 January. At first he disputed the evidence against him and said he did not know his next door neighbour.

But Lickley said traces of DNA matching Tabak's were found on Yeates's breast and on her jeans, underneath her knees, indicating he probably held her by the legs as he carried her body.

Traces of Yeates's blood were discovered in the boot of Tabak's car, the court heard. Fibres found on Yeates's body indicated she had come into contact with Tabak's black coat and his silver Renault Mégane, the prosecution claimed.

Nineteen days after his arrest while in prison Tabak told a chaplain: "I've got something to tell you – it will shock you". He confessed that he had killed Yeates and said he was "sorry", the court heard.

Concluding his opening statement, Lickley told the jury: "We suggest he did not panic or lose control. He was controlled and calculated." Tabak had also illustrated an "ability to cover his tracks".

The prosecutor told jurors it was for them to decide Tabak's "state of mind" and added: "He killed her. We say that is what he wanted and intended to do and it is our case that he is guilty of murder."

The jurors were told that they will be taken both to Yeates's flat and the spot where her body was found. The trial continues.