Anguish of Jo Yeates’ parents as they wait for a verdict
MEMBERS of the jury in the Joanna Yeates murder trial were yesterday sent home for the night after failing to reach a decision on their first day of deliberations.
Earlier in the day the trial judge sent them out to consider their verdict after telling them Miss Yeates was “robbed of her young life”.
Summing up at the end of the three-week case Mr Justice Field told the six men and six women they should clear themselves of any emotion when deliberating their verdict.
Dutchman Vincent Tabak, 33, denies murder but admits the manslaughter of his neighbour inside her flat in Clifton, Bristol, on December 17 last year.
Yesterday Miss Yeates’ parents David, 64, and Teresa, 58, and boyfriend Greg Reardon, 28, were in court to listen to the judge.
“The defendant is charged with murder, the most serious charge in the calendar in criminal law. Please don’t let emotion cloud your judgment,” the judge said.
“Please make allowance for the stress the defendant is obviously facing. This is a very serious charge.”
The court was told it took between 15 and 20 seconds to kill the 25-year-old landscape architect
The judge called the death a “tragic” loss of a “lovely” young woman with a promising future and said Tabak “embarked on a course of calculated deception” after his crime.
The court was told the 6ft 4in Dutchman strangled her in a panic because she had started screaming when he made an unwanted pass at her.
The court was told it took between 15 and 20 seconds to kill the 25-year-old landscape architect who suffered 43 separate injuries, including a fractured nose.
The incident happened just 10 minutes into the two neighbours’ first meeting.