Inside the flat of Joanna Yeates where she was pinned down and strangled by next door neighbour Vincent Tabak
Jurors at the Joanna Yeates murder trial today walked into a flat frozen in time.
They visited Miss Yeates's home which was poignantly preserved with personal belongings and Christmas decorations since she was killed on December 17.
Amid a heavy police presence, Mr Justice Field helped the jury retrace her steps through Bristol's upmarket Clifton district.
Getting ready for Christmas: The sitting room in the flat of Joanna Yeates at 44 Canynge Road, Clifton, Bristol with the festive decorations still hanging
Violence: The hallway in the home of Miss Yeates. Vincent Tabak is accused of murdering the 25-year-old in this flat
Normal life: The running shoes and snow boots of Joanna Yeates in a cabinet beside the litter trays for the pet cat she kept with her boyfriend Greg Reardon
They briefly saw the garden flat where defendant Vincent Tabak lived before spending 22 minutes next door at Miss Yeates's home.
Inside, many belongings and mementoes had been left unmoved since her life was cut short at the age of 25.
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Boyfriend Greg Reardon had returned to collect his possessions but Miss Yeates's clothes, belongings and furniture remained, the jury was told.
Miss Yeates's size five Asics running shoes had been left stacked in the yellow-painted entrance hall alongside her snow boots. There were also two cat litter trays for the couple's pet.
The jury then walked into the living room, witnessing the scene of a couple preparing for Christmas.
There was a roll of unused wrapping paper under a table, an unopened box of Christmas crackers and shelves adorned with tinsel.
Trial: Vincent Tabak has admitted to manslaughter but denies the murder of Joanna Yeates last Christmas
Jurors also visited the verge where her body was found covered in leaves on Christmas Day.
The jury was told yesterday that Miss Yeates suffered 43 separate injuries as she fought for her life in her ground floor flat in Clifton, Bristol.
Marks on the 25-year-old’s body were said to be consistent with her being pinned down and strangled with both hands by her 6ft 4in neighbour Vincent Tabak. Tabak admits the manslaughter of Miss Yeates but denies her murder.
Yesterday, on the second day of his murder trial, the jury at Bristol Crown Court heard described in harrowing detail the final moments of the landscape architect’s life.
Miss Yeates was said to have suffered a slow and painful death as she was strangled by the 'cold and calculated' killer.
Ahead of today's visit, the judge told them: 'As the coach moves and during walks various things will be pointed out to you.
'If you don't quite follow what you are being asked to look at or you miss something you may ask for clarification but you must not ask any other questions.'
Tabak's QC William Clegg then addressed the jury and asked them to consider four areas closely during the visit.
Mr Clegg said he wanted jurors to consider the time and distance it would take to walk from the Hophouse pub to Miss Yeates's home. He also asked them to consider carefully the view from the kitchen window inside her flat.
'It is that view from that kitchen that you have of somebody walking past outside because the kitchen is set below ground level,' Mr Clegg said.
'It is important because the defence case is the view from that window, is where the two people - Joanna Yeates and Vincent Tabak - first saw each other that night before the events that led up to her death.'
Mr Clegg also asked the jury to cross over Canynge Road to No 53 and stand by the front door.
'We would like you to go there and have in mind, having already been to No 44, whether in your judgment you think it possible that the scream that was made inside the flat of No 44 could possibly be heard if you are standing outside No 53?
'The defence are going to suggest that it was by no means certain that the scream that was heard was connected to this event at all because of the distance involved.'
Vincent Tabak walks through the aisles of Asda buying crisps, beer and rock salt
CCTV footage shows Tabak casually walking into the supermarket while it is alleged that Miss Yeates's body was in the boot of his car
Finally, Mr Clegg asked jurors to walk the short distance to Percival Court, which is adjacent to the rear of Miss Yeates's flat at 44 Canynge Road.
Prosecutors claim Tabak, 33, kept his crime secret for more than six weeks before confessing to a prison chaplain.
Dutch engineer Tabak admits manslaughter but denies murder at Bristol Crown Court.
Nigel Lickley, prosecuting, said that on December 17 last year Dutch engineer Tabak pinned down 5ft 4in Miss Yeates by her wrists as he used his height advantage to overpower his neighbour.
‘Her neck was held for long enough and hard enough to kill her,’ the QC said. ‘There was a violent struggle by Miss Yeates to survive.
‘Death was not instantaneous. It took sufficient force to kill her. There was no sign of a use of a ligature. He might have let go but he did not. He knew that Miss Yeates was in pain and struggling to breathe. Despite that Vincent Tabak continued to hold and squeeze her neck to kill her.’
Crime scene: Miss Yeates was killed at her flat, left, and her body was hidden in Longwood Lane, right
Mr Lickley added that a fracture to her nose and bruising to her head ‘could have been as a result of a forcible contact with the floor or other object’. Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney concluded Miss Yeates died of compression of the neck, probably using two hands.
The jury also heard that when Miss Yeates’s body was found eight days later on Christmas Day, covered by snow beside a country lane, her T-shirt and bra had been pushed up to partially expose her right breast.
Tabak’s DNA was later discovered on her chest, while police also uncovered clothing fibres and blood spots linking Miss Yeates to his silver Renault Megane car.
The 33-year-old university graduate is said to have killed his next-door neighbour within minutes of her returning to the garden flat she shared with boyfriend Greg Reardon, 28, in Clifton, Bristol.
In court: An artist's impression of Vincent Tabak, who is on trial for the murder of Joanna Yeates - he is alleged to have texted his girlfriend saying he was 'bored' just hours after the killing
Head in hands: Tabak depicted in the dock yesterday listening to the prosecution's opening statement
