(381): If strangulation was the method of murder and the body placed into a bicycle bag, how come blood was found in the boot of the car? The dead don't bleed that well, especially after a few minutes.
There were minute blood stains found in the boot of the Renault Megane car used by the defendant on the night when Joanna disappeared. The analysis of DNA recovered from the boot of the car used by Vincent Tabak showed a match to Joanna Yeates, and there was less than one in one billion chance that it was not her blood.
Cross-examining her, Defence lawyer William Clegg QC asked if DNA was found in the car boot matching any unidentified persons.
Lindsay Lennen replied: “No there was not.” Mr. Clegg phrased his question in such a way that the witness was spared having to tell the court whether enhanceable quantities of DNA were found of the following identified persons who lived at the same address: Tanja Morson, Vincent Tabak, Greg Reardon, Christopher Jefferies, Geoffrey Hardyman.
Mr. Clegg clarified that scientists cannot say whether the blood in the boot of the car was a result of direct contact.
Mr Clegg asked: “What if we knew the body would have been placed in a cover that you would put a bicycle in? If the cover was done up that would prevent the transfer of DNA, unless DNA got on the cover of the cycle bag?”
Ms Lennon said: “Either that, or the blood was sufficient enough to seep through the cycle bag.”
Mr Clegg asked: “If at Longwood Lane the body was taken out of the cycle bag and the cycle bag put back in the boot, any blood transfer onto the bicycle bag either directly from Miss Yeates or the hands of Vincent Tabak would be a candidate for the DNA in the boot?”
Ms Lennon replied: “Yes it could be.”
Mr Clegg continued: “If a cycle bag was used to transfer the body from Canynge Road to Longwood Lane and that the cycle bag had previously been used to store the bicycle of Vincent Tabak then it may well be that the cycle bag itself would contain DNA from him, which in turn could be transferred to Miss Yeates – if he had her in that bag?”
Ms Lennon told him: “Yes that is possible.”
Mr Clegg also speculated that DNA on Miss Yeates’s body and jeans could have been from Vincent Tabak’s attempt to put the body over a wall.
Lindsay Lennen replied that it could not be discounted.