Dutchman in court charged with murder

A Dutch engineer appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of Bristol landscape architect Joanna Yeates.

Vincent Tabak, 32, was remanded in custody at Bristol Magistrates’ Court for a week to appear next at Bristol Crown Court on the murder charge, but the court was told he may also have to appear at the court today for a bail hearing.

In court, Mr Tabak spoke only to confirm his name, age and address and no details of the prosecution case against him were given in the three-minute hearing.

Ms Yeates, 25, disappeared on December 17 after a night out with colleagues, sparking a massive manhunt.

Her body was found in the snow by a couple walking their dog on Christmas morning, in Failand, west of the Bristol. She had been strangled.

Mr Tabak, who lived next door to Ms Yeates in the Clifton area of Bristol, was arrested on Thursday at an address about 1.6 kilometres from his home.

The arrest was the second in connection with Ms Yeates’s murder. Her landlord Chris Jefferies, 65, was detained on December 30 and questioned for three days before being released on bail.