Jo Yeates Murder Trial Draws To A Close

Jurors trying Bristol landscape architect Joanna Yeates's killer are set to hear closing speeches as his trial nears conclusion.

Barristers will address the jury for the final time before the judge begins his summing up.

Vincent Tabak, 33, denies Miss Yeates's murder but has admitted her manslaughter.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court the Dutch engineer described his actions as ''horrendous'' as he showed jurors with his own hand how he strangled his next-door neighbour.

Tabak said he had been attracted to 25-year-old Miss Yeates and ''made a pass at her'' when she invited him in to her flat in Clifton, Bristol.

The prosecution maintain Tabak's assault was sexually motivated - an accusation rejected by the defence. Jurors have been told Miss Yeates suffered 43 separate injuries when she was attacked.

On Monday, defence QC William Clegg closed his case and he will address the jury after prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC has spoken. The trial judge, Mr Justice Field, will begin his summing up on Wednesday.

Landscape architect Miss Yeates was last alive on the evening of December 17 last year. She was reported missing two days later when her boyfriend Greg Reardon returned to their ground floor flat in Canynge Road, Clifton, Bristol, after a weekend away.

Police launched a massive hunt for the uni graduate who grew up in Hampshire, but her body was found by dog walkers on Christmas morning in a country lane in Failand, North Somerset - just three miles from her home.

The net closed in on Tabak and he was arrested on January 20 when police matched his DNA to samples found on Miss Yeates's body and clothing.