In all fairness, it looks like the QC did the best he could with the bad job he was given.
“This is the Defence Counsel, Mr William |Clegg, QC’s opening speech:
“If Jo Yeates had stayed for just one more drink she would be alive today. If Vincent Tabak had
gone to Asda as he had planned that same time, he would not in the dock today. … She turned on the oven to bake. She phoned several male friends and told how she was bored. She texted Samuel Ashcroft: “Where are you this fine eve?” His reply was “Home- sorry”. She then texted Peter: “Where are you?” Peter replied “On my way to a wedding. Where are you?” She replied: “At home- on my todd”! She texted a third male friend. She has said she was bored and she was looking for company. It was the Christmas period and many people were at parties. In the next flat was Vincent Tabak. They never really knew each other, save for a nod. Vincent Tabak was also alone- and bored. He decided to go to Asda – not for anything special but to fill in time . He left his flat; was walking towards his car and went past her kitchen window. The kitchen blind was broken and so stayed up all the time, as Greg Reardon had confirmed. She beckoned to him to come in.
Joanna invited Vincent in, as all the evidence indicated.
She had opened the door and invited him in. He took off his coat. He hung it on her coat rack.
She offered him a drink and he declined as he was driving. She said her boyfriend was away and she was alone and he said that his girlfriend was away and he was alone. Vincent Tabak misread her friendliness toward him and made a move towards her as if he was about to kiss him on her lips.
He put one hand in the middle of her back as if he was about to kiss her, and she screamed fiercely.
He put his hand over her mouth and said sorry and when he moved his hand away she screamed
again. He put his hand to her mouth and throat and she went limp. She was dead. He had never touched her before other than to shake hands as he went into her flat. That one minute was all it took and she was dead. Nothing was timed. He thinks that maybe he was in the flat for 10 minutes before she screamed. The incident when he put her hand on his throat was far less than a minute.
Defence expert Dr Carey will give evidence on Friday 21 December 2010 on this matter.
Prosecution pathologist expert witness, Dr Delaney, said on 18 October that it may well have been
10 seconds. Those arriving at the party at Number 53 said they heard screams. It is for the jury to decide whether a scream from inside Flat 1 could be heard from outside 53 Canynge Road. The jury will have to decide whether anybody could have heard
But one thing is that three witnesses heard screams spread out over some ten minutes. This cannot
be. The couple arriving outside number 53, a short time after they were filmed on CCTV at number 83. But the weather conditions were icy. How long did it take them to get there?
Warren Sweet said he did not arrive at Number 53’s party until 8.50pm on Friday 17 December
2010. When he arrived at No. 53, Warren Sweet said he heard a scream. That cannot be the same scream that the couple heard. The reaction of all four people who heard screams was initially put down to students out celebrating as term had finished that day. You may think that the whole of those screams is totally unconnected. You just couldn’t hear anybody from that distance….
This does mean that one really hasn’t got a real clue as to when Tabak went into Joanna’s flat except
that it was between the time he went to Asda and the time he texted his girlfriend, say, between 9.00
pm and 11.00 pm. Were you to conclude that the couple heard Joanna’s screams and not the scream that Mr Sweet heard; if the Laymans and Sweet ‘s evidence were to be dismissed, it would tie in with the scientific evidence. One thing is certain. Joanna Yeates was killed between 21.00 and 21.30 pm on Friday 17 December 2010. It was not something he planned. It was, in the words of Dr Delaney, expert prosecution pathologist witness, that death had occurred in less than half a minute; less than 20 seconds, less than 10 seconds even.
A very important piece of evidence is that what Tabak wrote in his statement is nearly the same and
corroborated the undisputed pathologist expert witnesses. But his conduct afterwards was frankly disgusting. He took her body and disposed of it. He caused anguish to her family. His defence will not be heard to excuse this behaviour. He was obviously concerned with the incident, trying to track everything. It was only a matter of time before the police came to arrest him. Again he told lie after lie and you will hear no excuse from me about that. It shows a very calculating person trying to wriggle out of her death but it does not help in thinking of what happened at the flat….
He went to his flat and left Joanna’s flat door on the latch. He returned. He turned off the oven that she had turned on. He took the Tesco pizza that was in the kitchen. He carried the body from her flat to his flat. He then put her body in the bag that he used to cover his bike. He then went to get his car, placed the body in the boot of his car, went to Asda, a trip he formerly planned, and drove aimlessly around whilst deciding what to do. He tried to put the body over the wall. It was too heavy and so he left it by the roadside. When he got back home, he put the pizza, the cycle cover and the sock into a corporate dustbin.
And then, despite the awful secret that he was carrying, he tried to carry on as before: going to
parties, living with his girlfriend, etc, instead of going to the police. There will be no excuse from me for that. He will be called to give evidence on Thursday 20 October 2011. He is not being tried for his behaviour after Joanna died. He is not being tried for dumping the body. What he is being tried for is whether he killed Joanna Yeates, intending to kill or cause really serious harm to her, or whether, he panicked and did it without thinking of the consequences. Most of what the prosecution has stated does not go this fact: it goes to what happened afterwards.” (sic)
