TRIAL OF VINCENT TABAK BEGINS 4/10/11

Spotlight on Bristol as trial gets under way to determine truth behind Joanna Yeates' death .Wednesday, October 05, 2011 Bristol Evening Post
Follow.THE stage is set.

Nine months after Clifton landscape architect Joanna Yeates was found dead, the man accused of her murder arrived at Bristol Crown Court yesterday for the first day of his trial.

​Joanna Yeates mother Theresa Yeates holds a photo of her daughter at an appeal for her whereabouts back in December 2010.
.Local, national and international media were stationed outside and inside the court, where Vincent Tabak, wearing a dark grey suit, pale blue shirt and dark blue tie, spoke just twice all day, to confirm his name and that he understood the process of selecting the jury. Over the next three or four weeks, 12 jurors will decide what version of events they accept as fact and return a verdict.

The process to select those jurors began yesterday with 32 potential jurors whittled down to just 18, from which the final dozen were due to be sworn in today (Wed).

They had to answer a series of questions, including whether they knew any of the witnesses due to give evidence in the trial or had links to the firms BDP, Buro Happold or Dyson.

Potential jurors were also asked whether they had had any contact with the police during the investigation into the disappearance of Miss Yeates.

The 18 put forward as potential jurors were warned by trial judge Mr Justice Field not to carry out their own investigation into the disappearance of Miss Yeates or discuss the case with others.

“You know who the defendant is and who the deceased is and I must instruct you to avoid undertaking any inquiries at all about the background of this case,” he said.

“The position is that the defendant must be tried only on the evidence that is heard in this court room.”

Further legal preparations are still to be made before the prosecution opens its case, on Friday at the earliest.

The calm in court was in contrast to the melee of journalists, photographers and television cameras outside waiting for Tabak to arrive.

At 9.25am a prison van carrying the Dutch engineer arrived at the court and photographers surged towards it putting their camera lenses against the blacked-out windows, hoping to get a photo of him in the van.

Miss Yeates’ parents, brother and boyfriend did not attend.

However such is the interest in the case that some of the main participants, including Tabak’s defence counsel William Clegg QC and the officer who investigated the case, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, found themselves being flash photographed as though they were Premiership footballers entering a trendy bar. Inside the court has made special provision for the media.

The Evening Post, local television news and the Press Association have been given the four seats on the press bench within the court. The national press, which yesterday included representatives from the Times, Telegraph, Mirror, Sun, Guardian, Sky News, ITN and BBC, all gaze down on court one from a self-contained public gallery.

Another room, with a secure-coded door, houses the remaining journalists. Inside are seven rows of seats and two television screens broadcasting the proceedings.

The case has gripped the city ever since Miss Yeates, 25, went missing after having drinks with colleagues on December 17. Following appeals by relatives and police, her body was found by dog walkers three miles from her home on a lane in Failand, north Somerset.

Tabak, her neighbour, admitted in May that he was responsible for her death. But his guilty plea to a manslaughter charge was not accepted by the Crown, which means that he must now stand trial for her murder.

Before proceedings got under way yesterday the pomp and ceremony of the reading of the Letters Patent took place. The centuries-old tradition sees the court’s judges, barristers, clerks and ushers attend court to be addressed by a High Court Judge to mark the start of the legal year.

Morning Krissy22,

Thanks for the info...so the stage is set for what promises to be an interesting Trial. See the Daily Express and Mail not included in the Court reporting,no
doubt they will copy other reports. I"m glad Jo"s parents weren"t there, it must be harrowing for them to have to go through the dissection of the death
of their daughter.

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/minute-evidence-delays-Joanna-Yeates-murder-trial/story-13482067-detail/story.html

Prosecutors told the court they anticipated opening the case on Friday.

Tabak's defence team, led by William Clegg QC, claimed that would give them time to read an extra 1,300 pages of evidence – thrust upon them by the prosecution at the last minute.

============

Blimey that sounds a lot of evidence

@rupertevelyn Rupert Evelyn
Jo yeates murder trial adjourned for the day. Jury are now expected to be sworn in at 1030 tomorrow

chrissie wrote:http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/minute-evidence-delays-Joanna-Yeates-murder-trial/story-13482067-detail/story.html

Prosecutors told the court they anticipated opening the case on Friday.

Tabak's defence team, led by William Clegg QC, claimed that would give them time to read an extra 1,300 pages of evidence – thrust upon them by the prosecution at the last minute.

============

Blimey that sounds a lot of evidence

Yes chrissie it is........maybe they have given them every scrap of evidence from Day 1, it can"t be all about Tabak can it ?

Maybe Panda but I'm just surprised at the late submission of so many pages.

chrissie wrote:Maybe Panda but I'm just surprised at the late submission of so many pages.

Bristol is a provincial Court in comparison say to the Old Bailey, their Police force Avon and Somerset Police weren"t prepared for the publicity and their
first arrest proved unfounded. I"m just guessing but wouldn"t it be the Police who had to provide the QC"S with all the relevant information days before the Trial so they can make notes and familiarise themselves with the evidence.Or maybe Tabak"s Lawyer was remiss , either way it"s a big ask of the QC"s
who only have a day or two to read all the Files.!!!!

Panda wrote:Morning Krissy22,

Thanks for the info...so the stage is set for what promises to be an interesting Trial. See the Daily Express and Mail not included in the Court reporting,no
doubt they will copy other reports. I"m glad Jo"s parents weren"t there, it must be harrowing for them to have to go through the dissection of the death
of their daughter.

Hi Panda

Yes a very interesting Trial indeed. The parents have already been through a terrible ordeal and I pray they have the strength to cope with this awful time they have to endure. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Joanna Yeates murder trial: Vincent Tabak jury sworn inSix women and six men will hear case against Dutch engineer accused of killing Joanna Yeates in December 2010



reddit this Steven Morris guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 October 2011 14.20 BST Article history
Joanna Yeates murder trial: Vincent Tabak denies murdering the Bristol landscape architect. Photograph: Rex Features
A jury has been sworn in to hear the trial of Vincent Tabak, the man accused of murdering the Bristol landscape architect Joanna Yeates.

Six women and six men will hear the case against Tabak, a Dutch engineer, who denies murdering Yeates, 25, shortly before Christmas last year. Bespectacled Tabak, wearing a suit, tie and casual training shoes, watched from the dock, his hands clasped in front of him, as the panel took its place in the jury box.

The clerk told the jury that Tabak, 33, was charged with murdering Yeates between 16 and 19 December last year. He informed them that the defendant had pleaded not guilty and it was the jury's job to say whether he was guilty or not.

Mr Justice Field, the trial judge, told the 12 men and women that Tabak was "in your charge". He added: "It will be your role to bring a verdict on the basis of the evidence you will hear."

He reminded the jury he had instructed them not to read the reporting of the trial or do any of their own research on it. He has also told them not to view discussions on social network sites about the case. The judge said these instructions were of the "utmost importance" and any breach of his directions could lead to them being in contempt of court.

Field told the panel that if anything "unsettling" happened during the trial they should report it to the usher. He said the prosecution would open the case against Tabak on Monday. On Tuesday they would be taken on a bus from Bristol crown court to "various locations" connected to the case.

The judge released the jury until next week and advised them to put the case "entirely from your mind until Monday morning when you're back in court and the trial will proceed".

Before being selected, the jurors had answered a series of questions to make sure they were not connected with people or businesses involved in the case. They were told that they would have to be available for the next four weeks.

Yeates went missing after pre-Christmas drinks with friends near Bristol city centre. After a high-profile search her frozen body was found on a country lane on Christmas morning three miles from her home in Clifton, Bristol.

Tabak is being represented by William Clegg QC; Nigel Lickley QC prosecutes.



If I was on that jury it would be the only thing on my mind until Monday morning.

Thanks Krissy22

I was just thinking the same thing, it will be very hard on the Jurors on such a high profile case. It will be hard not to discuss with Family but they have
to undertake their responsibilities seriously.

So, they've not been told he's admitted manslaughter?
If they find him not guilty of murder he'll walk and they will be told he admitted manslaughter after they give their verdict?

I wonder if they will be put up in a hotel for a week and allowed to go home weekends.


Can you imagine...being at home watching tv and your partner says....well....spill the beans......did he do it....and your partner says...I'm not allowed to divulge anything about the case.


I'd poke the sod in the eye and make him do his dinner for the next 4 weeks!!


Snooty sod.

kitti wrote:I wonder if they will be put up in a hotel for a week and allowed to go home weekends.


Can you imagine...being at home watching tv and your partner says....well....spill the beans......did he do it....and your partner says...I'm not allowed to divulge anything about the case.


I'd poke the sod in the eye and make him do his dinner for the next 4 weeks!!


Snooty sod.

Kitti, you are absolutely priceless. Some of the things you say just make me laugh so much, you are better than a tonic. xxx

I have done jury service 4 times and had yet another recall a few months ago....I told them I couldn't do it.


One I did was where this young bloke was being done for assault....apparently , this is true, he went into mcdonalds And by mistake, whilst picking up the dropped napkin his hand accidentally went up this young women's skirt.


Anyway we were on this case for 3 or 4 days...it was a forgone conclusion by the way as his napkin he dropped was way to far away from this lady's skirt for his hand to accidentally go up their and we knew that 5 mins Into the case but alas we sat their to the end and found him guilty.....


When sentencing or before it the judge said......'well young man you have asked the court to take another 70 instances into account and after considerable consultation with your lawyer it has been decided that it is time for you to get some psychiatric help'


Fuk me...70 other times he'd done it.....dirty bugger!

kitti wrote:I have done jury service 4 times and had yet another recall a few months ago....I told them I couldn't do it.


One I did was where this young bloke was being done for assault....apparently , this is true, he went into mcdonalds And by mistake, whilst picking up the dropped napkin his hand accidentally went up this young women's skirt.


Anyway we were on this case for 3 or 4 days...it was a forgone conclusion by the way as his napkin he dropped was way to far away from this lady's skirt for his hand to accidentally go up their and we knew that 5 mins Into the case but alas we sat their to the end and found him guilty.....


When sentencing or before it the judge said......'well young man you have asked the court to take another 70 instances into account and after considerable consultation with your lawyer it has been decided that it is time for you to get some psychiatric help'


Fuk me...70 other times he'd done it.....dirty bugger!

I had a similar thing when I sat, but he was a drug dealer. As guilty as sin, & then when we found him guilty he has loads of others to be taken into account!! I wouldn't mind but he had a bloody local MP giving him a character witness statement too. I'll never trust an MP again!!

I hate it when you aRe called then have to hold up the bible and swear ...somehow I lose my voice and it comes out all squeaky....


I couldn't stop my belly rumbling once, it was so quite the whole room heard it....I just stared ahead off me.


I know lots off people that have NEVER been called , I don't see why I always get called ...Anyway, I don't like belmarsh...

kitti wrote:I hate it when you aRe called then have to hold up the bible and swear ...somehow I lose my voice and it comes out all squeaky....


I couldn't stop my belly rumbling once, it was so quite the whole room heard it....I just stared ahead off me.


I know lots off people that have NEVER been called , I don't see why I always get called ...Anyway, I don't like belmarsh...

I must admit I loved it! I'd love to be on the Tabak jury.
One guy on our jury fell asleep! Bloody hell! The judge glanced over & the woman next to him gave him a right prod!

Once I'm their I'm ok it's the waiting around that bores me......


You just sit their looking at each other.


I wouldn't mind being a juror on the MJ trial .

Wonder if any of VT's family from Holland will attend court this coming week. I still find it hard to believe the guy did this terrible thing. Still all will come out in the wash as they say and its worth remembering innocent until proven guilty .

Krisy22 wrote:Wonder if any of VT's family from Holland will attend court this coming week. I still find it hard to believe the guy did this terrible thing. Still all will come out in the wash as they say and its worth remembering innocent until proven guilty .

Hi Krisy22, the fact that he is pleading guilty to manslaughter makes him guilty. I was as shocked as anybody and we will probably all be surprised when the evidence unravels. Wasn"t it said that it is expected that the trial will last about 4 weeks? I"m sure his Family will attend the hearing, they must have been as shocked was we were when Tabak was arrested.

Panda wrote:

Krisy22 wrote:Wonder if any of VT's family from Holland will attend court this coming week. I still find it hard to believe the guy did this terrible thing. Still all will come out in the wash as they say and its worth remembering innocent until proven guilty .

Hi Krisy22, the fact that he is pleading guilty to manslaughter makes him guilty. I was as shocked as anybody and we will probably all be surprised when the evidence unravels. Wasn"t it said that it is expected that the trial will last about 4 weeks? I"m sure his Family will attend the hearing, they must have been as shocked was we were when Tabak was arrested.

Morning Panda

I wouldn't be surprised to see this case take some odd twists and turns in the coming weeks. Do you know whether 4 weeks is about the norm for murder trials.

Former suspect Chris Jefferies: My ordeal was 'a kind of rape' .Monday, October 10, 2011 Bristol Evening Post
Follow.AS the murder trial of Joanna Yeates gets under way, former suspect Chris Jefferies has described his ordeal of being arrested in connection with the case as 'a kind of rape'.

Miss Yeates' former landlord Mr Jefferies, 65, has spoken for the first time about the circumstance of his wrongful arrest and how the painful experience had left him feeling 'violated'.

​Chris Jefferies
.The retired English teacher lived in a neighbouring flat to the one he rented to Miss Yeates, who vanished on December 17 after going for a Christmas drink with colleagues.

Her frozen body was found by dog walkers dumped on a verge in a lane in Failand, North Somerset, on Christmas Day.

Dutchman Vincent Tabak, 33, has admitted her manslaughter, but denies murder and his trial begins today at Bristol Crown Court.

According to an interview he gave to the Financial Times magazine, Mr Jefferies, who taught at Clifton College for 34 years, described his early-morning arrest in December as a "a bolt from the blue".

He said: "My identity has been violated. My privacy had been intruded upon, I don't think it would be too strong a word to say it was a kind of rape that had taken place.

"I had no suspicion whatsoever that I might be considered a suspect.

"The whole process of being arrested and taken into custody is really designed, as far as its effect on me is concerned, to strip you of your own identity. Your clothes are taken away, your possessions are taken away, you are held incommunicado to a very large degree.

"Then these extraordinary falsehoods are woven around this now almost personality-less identity, so it's very unsettling.

"You know who you are and yet you have none of the trappings of that person and here is the quite foreign, alternative personality which people are trying to foist on you."

Mr Jefferies told how there was a knock on his door shortly after 7am on December 30, with a voice saying: "It's the police, Mr Jefferies. We need your help."

He was questioned for three days and then released on police bail, an indication that he remained under suspicion.

Tabak, an architectural engineer, was arrested and charged with the murder three weeks later, but it was not until March 4 that Mr Jefferies' bail was lifted and police confirmed he was not a suspect.

He added: "I remained oblivious of the extraordinary media interest even the day after I was released.

"I knew exactly what was happening at the police station; they didn't.

"I was entirely unaware of media speculation; they were very much aware of media speculation.

"People could have said things to journalists thinking they were talking about me but in fact were talking about somebody else who they confused with me."

Mr Jefferies confirmed in the article that he is planning to sue Avon and Somerset Police.

He has also received substantial damages and a public apology from eight national newspapers – The Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express, Daily Record, and the Scotsman – over their coverage of his arrest.


Poor man this is awful.

Morning krisy22,

Thanks for the Article, very informative, especially the bit about the damages paid by so many Newspapers.

I"m no Legal Eagle but would assume the fact that Tabak has pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead of "not guilty" means Court time lessened and few
Witnesses called because Tabak is no disputing his guilt, just that he didn"t mean to kill Jo.

I am very keen to know how Tabak moved Jo"s body when he supposedly did not have a car and was not identified on the CCTV Cameras at each end
of Clifton Bridge when Police examined all the photographs. The biggest mystery of course is how he managed to act normal when he spent Christmas
at his girlfriends house and New Year with his Parents .

I'm following this on twitter:


Harriet Tolputt
@skynewsgatherer

and


Rupert Evelyn
@rupertevelyn view full pro

Sorry won't have time to post updates much but prosecution have said neighbours heard screams as VT attacked JY.

Must been so hard for her family to listen to

skynewsgatherer Harriet Tolputt
Vincent Tabak strangled Joanna Yeates with his hand or hands, jury told.

rupertevelyn Rupert Evelyn
Prosecution "Jo yeates was resisiting and fighting for her life. He held her neck long enough to squeeze the life out of her"

skynewsgatherer Harriet Tolputt
Tabak carried on life as normal after killing Yeates. He discussed the case with friends at dinner party.

skynewsgatherer Harriet Tolputt
After Tabak killed Joanna Yeates he searched the Internet for details of the police investigation.

rupertevelyn Rupert Evelyn
Prosecution say Tabak also looked up info on body decomposition. He also looked at A&S police website for details on Yeates case

skymartinbrunt martinbrunt
Jo Yeates murder trial: Pros says when Vincent Tabak was confronted with forensic evidence he accused scientists of forgery

rupertevelyn Rupert Evelyn
Having "tried to put body over the wall" Tabak went home but only after sending a text message to his girlfriend telling her he was "bored"