How can tabak claim manslaughter

Tabak, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, claims he initially put his hand over her mouth to stop the screams, Nigel Lickley QC told Bristol Crown Court. Clegg asked whether it would have been impossible for Yeates to scream as her neck was being squeezed.

The lawyer asked again if her injuries were consistent with being strangled with one hand. The defendant accepts his actions were unlawful. She was said to have started screaming after Tabak put his hand in the middle of her back. They had previously lived together in the Bristol suburb of Westbury Park before moving to Clifton on October 25, the court heard. The jury was shown CCTV footage of Yeates, who had been off work with a cold the previous day, wearing her white ski jacket as she walked with Reardon through the snow on the morning of December Our Covid-free newsletter brings together some of the best bits from irishexaminer.

Tabak and his former girlfriend, Tanja Morson, had been in the Netherlands over Christmas, a jury later heard. Tabak was arrested on 20 January and eventually pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Yeates, but not her murder.

He claimed during the court case that Yeates had invited him over, according to reports by The Guardian , and that he had tried to kiss her after she made a flirty comment, but she screamed. As such he said he covered her mouth to try to quieten her and put another hand on her neck. It emerged that Yeates was killed by strangulation. After she died, the prosecution told the court how Tabak had put her body in the boot of his car and drove to a country road just outside Bristol, where he left her body on a verge near a quarry.

It was suggested he also may have stopped off at an Asda supermarket with her body in the car, according to reports. Tabak was found guilty of murder by the jury, with a majority and given a life sentence, to serve a minimum of 20 years.

It later emerged that Tabak had accessed violent pornography, including one image which slightly resembled Yeates — though this information was not shared with jurors during the trial.

Earlier in the trial, the prosecution told the court Miss Yeates, originally from Ampfield in Hampshire, was strangled, during which she sustained 43 separate injuries. However, his defence team said the Dutch engineer misread a "flirty" comment from Miss Yeates and killed her accidentally while attempting to stop her screaming as he tried to kiss her. William Clegg QC, defending, said the evidence did not support Mr Lickley's claims Tabak had sex on his mind when he went into her flat.