What was tabak motive

The forensic pathologist Nat Cary, the second witness called by the defence, said there was no evidence that Yeates's genital area had been interfered with. He could not exclude the possibility that her breasts had been interfered with but there was "nothing positive" to suggest that.

He said Yeates's top could have been rucked up as her body was moved. It was "largely speculative" that Tabak's motive for killing Yeates was sexual, Cary said. He told the jury that asphyxiation could form part of a sexually motivated attack. Cary said Yeates's death would not have been "instantaneous" but likely to have taken a "period of time such as 20 seconds or more". This article is more than 10 years old. Dutch engineer tells crown court he wanted to kiss his next-door neighbour but sex was not on his mind.

Vincent Tabak admits to killing Joanna Yeates, but denies her murder. Photograph: Rex Features. Was it the floor?

The trial continues. He had, he told the court, misunderstood her "cheery, happy" demeanor after she invited him into her flat. I though she was flirtatious," he said.

Earlier, the jury heard his claims that Miss Yeates had screamed when he went to kiss her and he had placed a hand over her mouth, killing her in a matter of 20 seconds.

He added: "It was not my intention to harm her. I just wanted to calm her down and stop her from screaming. The prosecution claims the fact that Miss Yeates had 43 injuries showed she had fought for her life. The jury rejected his defence and any suggestion that Jo Yeates led him on.

They were shown footage of his movements after the event and some of the contents of his computer which showed he was completely in control of his actions and acting in his own self interest. He did not give the appearance of someone who would panic and the jury concluded he was a murderer.

After conviction, details were released of his use of prostitutes and the contents of his computer which showed he had viewed violent and sexual pornography including strangulation pornography. Questions have been asked as to why such evidence was excluded in the trial.

Evidence of the bad character of a defendant is admissible as part of the prosecution case where it is relevant to the issues and not too prejudicial to a fair trial. It is not limited to criminal convictions. Tabak had no criminal history. The judge concluded that the possession of strangulation pornography was reprehensible and later sentenced on the basis of sexually motivated murder but excluded that material from the consideration of the jury during the prosecution case.

It was a difficult balancing exercise for the judge but, in my view, the right one: The only issue in the trial was intent and not sexual motive. That depended on the level of force and the time it would take to kill. In the end the pornography could only support a suggestion that he liked violent sex. In addition, the evidence was that most viewing of pornography was after the killing so, on balance, viewing strangulation pornography after the event would be more prejudicial than probative in a trial as it could cause the jury to leap to a conclusion rather than reaching a verdict on the evidence.

Very well put. Tend to agree with everything you say above -but boy would it have been different if one more juror had fallen for the story! I tend to agree with what you say — but boy how different it would have been if one more juror had fallen for the story! Whilst I agree with the comments above completely I think we might all have felt differently if one more juror had bought the story. But suffice to say and please correct me if i am wrong but i do not see any discussion amongst the judiciary to amend or discuss the element of mens rea.

It seems to be unassailable. When pressed to provide a more detailed explanation he replied "I can't remember" more than 80 times. Police believe he had been watching his victim through her kitchen window, knowing that her boyfriend was away. An hour after the killing, Tabak bundled her body into the boot of his car and went shopping for beer and crisps before texting his girlfriend that he was "bored".

That night he drove to a lane in North Somerset to dump her body where it lay undiscovered beneath snow until Christmas morning. As detectives hunted for the killer, he spent his time searching for images of Miss Yeates on police websites, looking at his computer porn and desperately covering his tracks - even trying to frame his landlord Chris Jefferies.

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