Joanna Yeates murder: Vincent Tabak guilty of 'dreadful, evil act'
Victim's parents wish 'living hell' on killer, who receives life sentence for Bristol murder
The parents of Joanna Yeates said they hoped Vincent Tabak would suffer a "living hell" in prison for the brutal sexually motivated murder of his nextdoor neighbour.
Speaking after Tabak was jailed for a minimum of 20 years, David and Teresa Yeates said they regretted he could not be executed for murdering their daughter.
"The best we can hope for him is that he spends the rest of his life incarcerated, where his life is a living hell, being the recipient of all the evils, deprivations and degradations that his situation can provide," they said.
Tabak was on suicide watch on Friday and his ordeal in jail is likely to be made worse by revelations of his interest in hardcore pornography, some of which featured strangulation and bondage.
When police inspected his computers following his arrest, they found that Tabak had accessed a portal to a pornographic site on the day he killed Yeates. After the murder, the 33-year-old Dutch engineer sometimes flicked between reports about Yeates' disappearance and pornography.
The police were particularly interested in a pornographic image on one of his computers showing a slight, blonde woman who resembled Yeates, wearing a pink top pulled up. When Yeates' body was found, her pink shirt was hoisted above her bra and one breast was exposed. Tabak's DNA was found on her chest.
Police analysts also discovered that Tabak did research on escort agencies during business trips. While in Los Angeles shortly before his attack on Yeates, he may twice have employed a sex worker, once after checking into a hotel under a false name.
During the trial at Bristol crown court Tabak admitted manslaughter but denied he was motivated by sex. He claimed that Yeates, a 25-year-old landscape architect, had invited him into her flat and made a flirtatious remark, encouraging him to try to kiss her. She had screamed and he had tried to "calm! " her by putting one hand over her mouth and another over her neck.
But sentencing Tabak, after the jury found him guilty of murder by a majority of 10-2, the judge, Mr Justice Field, made it clear he believed the killing had been a sex crime.
He said Tabak himself had said he wanted to kiss Yeates, but he was satisfied the killer "intended to go further" and was only frustrated by her screams.
Surrounded by six security guards, Tabak stood slightly hunched in the dock. The judge told Tabak he had not even known Yeates' name when he entered her flat in Clifton, Bristol, on December 17 last year. Field said his murderous attack was "a dreadful, evil act against a vulnerable young woman in her own home". Field continued: "That wicked act ended the life of a young woman who was entitled to expect a life of happiness and fulfilment." He said Yeates had died in pain, "beset with fear and struggling desperately for her life".
The judge said he thought Tabak was a "very dangerous" man, as well as being "thoroughly deceitful, dishonest and manipulative". He had caused "devastating heartache" to Yeates' family and to her boyfriend, Greg Reardon.
After killing Yeates, Tabak put her body in his car boot and dumped it on the verge of a country lane. By doing so, the judge said he had forced Yeates' loved ones to endure "seven days of agony" before her body was found on Christmas day. It was a "terribly cruel thing to do".
Reardon turned and stared at Tabak as he was led away. Yeates' parents sat in the public gallery for most of the trial but were not there to see Tabak convicted.
In a statement that never mentioned Tabak by name they said: "We attended the trial of Jo's murderer not to see justice handed out to him but to find out as much as we could about what really happened. We never considered this trial as a process of 'Justice for Jo'.
"There was never any doubt in our mind that Jo had been murdered and we fully expected him to lie if he went into the witness box. We ca! me here with little hope or expectation of hearing what happened on 17 December, but needed to see him and hear what he had to say first hand.
"We saw no emotions of remorse or regret for what he did to Jo. We felt that all emotions expressed by him were false. All we heard were words of self-pity. For us it is with regret that capital punishment is not a possible option for his sentence.
"Our main sorrow is that Jo was not allowed to start her own family, have children and achieve her potential. We will never get over our loss, how she was murdered and the total lack of respect with which her body was treated. We so miss hearing her happy voice and seeing her living life to the full."
They wept as they were told the verdict at their home in Ampfield, Hampshire.
Speaking on his doorstep, Mr Yeates said: "We are not elated. We always knew that he was guilty, whatever the jury decided. We are feeling mixed emotions, but we don't really have any anger. It hasn't changed anything. Jo is still dead."
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, the senior investigating officer, said Tabak was "an intelligent and manipulative man." Police had circulated his DNA to forces in the UK, the Netherlands and the USA but found no link to other crimes. He said he did not believe Tabak's account of being invited into Yeates' flat or that she had flirted with him. He believes Tabak may have eaten the missing pizza Yeates bought on her way home. Tabak may face further police questioning about material found on his computer. After he is quizzed about that prosecutors will decide whether to proceed with another case against him.
Jones said: "It has taken 10 months to bring this investigation to a positive conclusion and to provide Joanna's family and Greg with some closure. Their ordeal is every parent's nightmare, but David and Teresa have shown great patience, courage and dignity. The man who killed their daughter will be behind bars for a considerable time, but they still have to face each Christmas ! with the memory of a daughter taken from them."
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