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Vincent Tabak trial: Jury visits Jo Yeates's flat | Vincent Tabak trial: Jury visits Jo Yeates's flat |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The jury in the trial of Vincent Tabak has visited the flat where Bristol landscape architect Jo Yeates lived and where prosecutors say she was murdered. | The jury in the trial of Vincent Tabak has visited the flat where Bristol landscape architect Jo Yeates lived and where prosecutors say she was murdered. |
The six-man, six-woman jury was taken from Bristol Crown Court to key locations in the case, on Wednesday. | |
Tabak, a 33-year-old Dutch engineer, admits Miss Yeates's manslaughter, but denies her murder. | Tabak, a 33-year-old Dutch engineer, admits Miss Yeates's manslaughter, but denies her murder. |
Miss Yeates, 25, from Ampfield, Hampshire, disappeared on 17 December 2010 after going for drinks in Bristol. | Miss Yeates, 25, from Ampfield, Hampshire, disappeared on 17 December 2010 after going for drinks in Bristol. |
The jury retraced the route she took that evening, up Park Street and past the Bristol Ram pub, where she had gone for drinks with colleagues. | |
They also went to a Waitrose store Miss Yeates is known to have visited, as well as the Tesco Express store where she bought a pizza. | |
Jurors also visited 53 Canynge Road, where a party was held on the night she disappeared, and to Percival Court, adjacent to the rear of Miss Yeates's flat. | |
The jury was then taken to her flat at 44 Canynge Road, which has been preserved as it was on the evening she died, before the group went to Longwood Lane in Failand, North Somerset, where Miss Yeates's body was discovered. | |
'Not instantaneous' | 'Not instantaneous' |
William Clegg QC, defending Tabak, asked the jury on Tuesday to take note of how long it takes to walk from the Hophouse pub in Clifton to 44 Canynge Road and to number 53 Canynge Road. | William Clegg QC, defending Tabak, asked the jury on Tuesday to take note of how long it takes to walk from the Hophouse pub in Clifton to 44 Canynge Road and to number 53 Canynge Road. |
The jury was driven in a coach with blacked-out windows along the route Jo Yeates walked home on the night she was killed. | The jury was driven in a coach with blacked-out windows along the route Jo Yeates walked home on the night she was killed. |
Jurors spent around 20 minutes inside the one-bedroom garden flat where she lived with her boyfriend. | Jurors spent around 20 minutes inside the one-bedroom garden flat where she lived with her boyfriend. |
Many of her personal possessions were left as they were last December. | Many of her personal possessions were left as they were last December. |
In the living room there was tinsel, and unopened Christmas crackers. | In the living room there was tinsel, and unopened Christmas crackers. |
In the hallway there were training shoes, a cycling helmet and a wrapped-up kite. | In the hallway there were training shoes, a cycling helmet and a wrapped-up kite. |
In her bedroom were hair-straighteners, makeup and cuddly toys left on a chest of drawers. | In her bedroom were hair-straighteners, makeup and cuddly toys left on a chest of drawers. |
Later the jury was shown the rear of the flat and the adjoining apartment where the defendant Vincent Tabak lived. | Later the jury was shown the rear of the flat and the adjoining apartment where the defendant Vincent Tabak lived. |
He asked them to take a particularly close look at the view from Miss Yeates's kitchen window, which looks on to the path to the front door. | He asked them to take a particularly close look at the view from Miss Yeates's kitchen window, which looks on to the path to the front door. |
It was believed Miss Yeates and Tabak first saw each other through the window, he said. | |
He also asked the jury to walk from 44 Canynge Road to the front door of number 53. | |
Mr Clegg told them: "We would like you to go there and have in mind, having already been to number 44, whether in your judgment you think it possible that [a] scream that was made inside the flat of number 44 could possibly be heard if you are standing outside number 53? | |
"The defence are going to suggest that it was by no means certain that the scream that was heard was connected to this event at all because of the distance involved." | |
On Tuesday, the prosecution told the court how Tabak was said to have used his height and build to overpower the 25-year-old victim's 5ft 4in frame. | |
Prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC told the trial: "She was alive when it happened. Death was not instantaneous." | |
Following the site visits, the jurors were sent home for the day. | |
The trial is expected to last four weeks. | The trial is expected to last four weeks. |