Joanna's killer got a sexual kick out of strangling her, jury told

Vincent Tabak was today accused of getting a sexual kick from strangling Joanna Yeates.

The Dutch engineer was aroused when he put one hand around her throat and the other over her mouth in her Bristol flat, prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC alleged at the city's crown court.

Tabak, 33, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, insisted his attempt to kiss Miss Yeates, 25, was not a sexual act. But he admitted that in the days after the killing, on December 17 last year, he looked online for the legal definition of "sexual assault" and "sexual conduct".

Tabak told the court: "She was happy and cheery  We were standing close to each other. She had invited me in and offered me a drink. She made
a flirty comment. I thought she was flirtatious."

When her body was found in Failand, Somerset, by a couple walking their dog on Christmas morning her top had been pushed up, exposing her bra and breasts. Confronting Tabak today with the photograph of her body in that state Mr Lickley told him: "You did that, you pulled her top up and over her bra."

Tabak replied: "No I didn't, or not intentionally at least."

He claimed that her top must have been moved as he was dumping the body and trying unsuccessfully to push it over a wall into a quarry.

But Mr Lickley said that it must have happened much earlier in Miss Yeates's flat, adjoining Tabak's, and accused him of a sexual attack.

He said Tabak had carried out internet research over the weeks after the killing to prepare his defence. He looked up definitions of murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, aggravating features and indeterminate sentence.

Miss Yeates's father, David, and boyfriend, Greg, watched as Tabak was asked to close his eyes for 20 seconds - the time it was said to have taken to strangle her.

Tabak said he was "in a state of panic, turmoil" after dumping the body on a snowy verge. "I was exhausted that evening after moving Joanna's body," he said.

But he said he lied to police about having a nap after killing her. "I did not have a sleep," he said. He admitted he knew what he was doing in trying to cover his tracks. "I misled the police, yes," he said. "And it is dishonest."

Mr Lickley asked: "You knew what you were doing, didn't you?"

Tabak replied: "Yes."

He left the witness box after six hours of questioning. The case continues.