VINCENT TABAK

On Friday the 28^th October 2011, at Bristol Crown Court, Vincent Tabak was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his neighbour Joanna Yeates. The judge has ordered that he must spend at least 20 years in prison.

Mr Justice Field said Tabak, who was flanked by six security guards in the dock, was guilty of an evil and wicked act and is a "very dangerous" individual.

Yeates's parents were not in court to hear the verdict but her boyfriend Greg Reardon stared at Tabak, visibly shaken and close to tears as he was led from the dock. In a statement from her parents read out by police outside court, they said: "It is a regret that capital punishment is not an option."

The Dutch engineer strangled 25-year-old Yeates at her flat in Bristol before bundling her body into the boot of his car and dumping it on a snowy roadside verge.

During his trial the prosecution claimed that Tabak, 33, was motivated by sex when he attacked Yeates at her home on 17 December 2010.

It suggested he may have spied on the landscape architect and claimed that an important feature of the case was that when her body was found on Christmas morning, her top had been pulled above her bra and part of one breast was exposed. His DNA was found on Yeates's chest.

The jury did not hear during the trial that when police delved into Tabak's computers after his arrest they discovered an interest in hardcore pornography, some of which featured strangulation and bondage.

He accessed a portal to a pornographic site on the day he killed Yeates. Following the killing he sometimes navigated between reports about her disappearance and pornography.

Police were particularly interested in an image on one of his computers showing a slight blonde woman, resembling Yeates, with her pink top pulled up.

Police analysts also found that during business trips Tabak researched escort agencies. While in Los Angeles shortly before his attack on Yeates, police believe, he may have twice used the services of a sex worker, once after checking into a hotel under a false name.

The judge, Mr Justice Field, ruled that the value of the evidence in explaining why Tabak acted as he did could not outweigh the prejudice it would cause his defence.

After Tabak appeared in the witness box and portrayed himself as a loving man devoted to his girlfriend, Tanja Morson, the prosecution argued that the jury ought to be told about the evidence relating to escort girls. The judge disagreed and the jury did not hear the evidence.

After the verdict, the judge told Tabak, "In my view you are very dangerous. In my opinion you are thoroughly deceitful, dishonest and manipulative.

"When you entered her flat on the evening of 17 December last year you did not even know her name and had virtually nothing to do with her.

"You proceeded to strangle her, intending, in my judgment, to kill her.


"A dreadful, evil act committed against a vulnerable unsuspecting young woman in her own home.

"That wicked act ended the life of a young woman who was entitled to expect a life of happiness and fulfilment."

Speaking outside the family home in Ampfield, near Romsey, Hampshire, Yeates's parents, David and Theresa, said in a statement: "We are not elated. We always knew that he was guilty, whatever the jury decided. We are, however, relieved with the murder verdict because we do not know how we would have reacted if they had come back with manslaughter.

"We are feeling mixed emotions, but we don't really have any anger. Tabak has shown no remorse – in court he made noises, but there was nothing there.

"After Jo died we tried to put our lives back together. The trial was something we had to go through and now we've got to try and get back to life before that.

"It hasn't changed anything. Jo is still dead."


Tabak may face further police questioning about some of the material found on his computer.

During the trial Tabak claimed Yeates invited him into her Clifton flat and he made a pass at her when she made a "flirtatious" remark to him.

He said she screamed when he attempted to kiss her and he put one hand over her mouth and another around her throat to "calm" her. Tabak claims he gripped her for about 20 seconds before she fell lifeless to the floor.

Neither the prosecution nor those close to Yeates believed she flirted with him. Nor did they believe Tabak's claim that she did not struggle when he held her by the neck.

The judge said there were no mitigating features in the case – only aggravating factors – and he proceeded to outline them. "There is a sexual element to the killing of Joanna Yeates," the judge said.

"On your own evidence, after an acquaintanceship of only a few minutes, you moved to kiss Joanna and I am quite satisfied that you did not intend to stop there and intended to go much further.

"It was only because of her loud and gestured screams that your sexual purpose was frustrated."

As he sent the jury away to consider its verdict, the judge said the central point to consider was whether Tabak had intended to kill or seriously harm Yeates. If the jurors were sure of that, they would return a verdict of guilty.

Tabak had admitted manslaughter but denied murder.
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ALAN COOPER

A 'highly dangerous' man who stabbed his teenage nephew to death in a petty argument over a mobile phone was jailed for life on the 23rd September 2011.

Alan Cooper killed 14-year-old Jordan in front of the schoolboy's grandmother - his own mother - at her home in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

Cooper and Jordan were living with Susan Smith at her house in Newriggs when the argument broke out.

They rowed after Jordan used the 32-year-old's phone to contact a girlfriend on Facebook and Cooper joked that he would contact the girl later.

Mrs Smith defused the tension and she and her grandson went to watch television her room.

As they sat in the dark, her son burst in and attacked Jordan, then continuing the brutality outside the room.

Mrs Smith called the police and said: 'My son is killing my grandson.'


When paramedics arrived, the injured boy said to them: 'I'm going to die aren't I?'

Judge Milford said the paramedic had made a statement explaining the particular impact the murder had on him.

Cooper admitted killing Jordan but claimed he had suffered an abnormality of mind which diminished his responsibility.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court convicted Cooper of murder by a majority, before judge John Milford jailed him for life.

The judge said he was a 'highly dangerous' man and would have to serve at least 22 years before being considered for parole.

The court had heard that Cooper had a history of violence towards family members when drunk and multiple convictions for violence, arson, dishonesty and car crimes. In one attack, he attempted to gouge out his father's eyes.

'Highly dangerous': Alan Cooper, 32, has a string of previous convictions for drunken violence towards family members.

Cooper killed Jordan while on bail for a horrific attack on his girlfriend in which she was forced to crawl naked to a neighbour's home for help.

He left her with a perforated duodenum which had to be repaired surgically, causing scars which meant 'she could never again wear a bikini'.

Mitigating, Alastair MacDonald QC said Cooper had an 'excellent relationship' with Jordan before the attack.

He said: 'He is a man who tried desperately to battle against his anger but failed.

We have suffered an unbearable loss. I cannot adequately describe the gaping hole his death has left in our lives or the despair that we feel - Susan Smith

'He has now lost every tie with his family. He has not been visited in prison at all, for obvious reasons.

'He is now deprived of even the basic succour of a family when he is going to serve what will inevitably be a long sentence.'

But Judge Milford told Cooper: 'You have been a bully since you were a small child and given to losing your temper and using violence, which is more likely when you have taken drink.

'You took the decision to kill Jordan, which you did not repent. You take no responsibility for your actions.'

Cooper remained expressionless as he was taken down.

Mrs Smith said: 'We have suffered an unbearable loss. I cannot adequately describe the gaping hole his death has left in our lives or the despair that we feel.'

Detective Inspector Gareth Craig, who led the investigation, said: 'Alan Cooper's actions led to the tragic death of a boy who had his whole future ahead of him.

'The loss of Jordan has been felt by not just his family but his friends and people he went to school with.

'I'd like to thank Jordan's family for their assistance during this investigation and the dignity they've shown despite difficult circumstances, something which has been recognised and praised by the judge in court.

'I hope they can eventually move on from what has been a horrific ordeal.'

A statement on behalf of Jordan's family read: 'This is not a victory for us. There are no winners out of this trial. It doesn't change anything. We have to live with our pain every day and the knowledge that we will never have Jordan back.

'The jury came to the right decision and we are grateful to them for that.

 
'Justice has been done and now we have to try to rebuild our lives without Jordan.

 
'We would like to say that we conducted ourselves with Jordan in mind.

JOSHUA DAVIES

Joshua Davies, 16, was jailed for life on the 2^nd September 2011 at Swansea Crown Court, for battering 15-year-old Rebecca Alyward to death with a rock and was told he would spend at least 14 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.

Davies was found guilty of luring Rebecca into woods near their homes. He tried to frame a friend over the killing and his barrister, Peter Rouch QC, told the court that he still insisted that he was not involved.

Mr Rouch said: "Although all murders are senseless, you can usually derive a reason or motive for the killing.

"In this case it is difficult to reason why it was that Rebecca came to be killed. All that we can say is that what happened in the forest that day had a terrible and ruinous effect."

The court was told that psychiatrists who had spoken to Davies found no condition that might explain his brutal attack. It heard that Davies had been a well-liked boy with no history of violence.

But the judge Mr Justice Lloyd Jones told Davies that he had a "deep-seated hatred towards Rebecca which eventually led you to kill her".

He said the teenagers had separated a year earlier with "bitterness" on both sides. He called Davies "devious, calculating and controlling".

Addressing Rebecca's family, the judge accepted that no sentence could make up for a lost life. Rebecca's killing was a huge shock in Maesteg, her home town, and the village of Aberkenfig, where the killing took place and where Davies lived.

The jury heard that Davies and Rebecca had known each other for some years and dated for three months.

After they parted, Davies began to talk about killing Rebecca, telling friends he would find a way of murdering her and getting away with it. He spoke of making a poison out of plants such as deadly nightshade.

Davies once asked his friends what they would give him if he carried out the killing. They say they did not take him seriously and promised to buy him breakfast if he did it.

On 23 October 2010 Davies and Rebecca arranged to meet in woods at Aberkenfig, a popular hangout for teenagers.

Rebecca wore an outfit she had bought the day before, possibly believing they were going to get back together. Before he left for the woods Davies smiled at one of his friends and told him: "The time has come."

After the attack, when a friend phoned him in the woods to ask him if he was with Rebecca, Davies coolly asked him to define what he meant by "with".

He later boasted to friends that he had attacked Rebecca, who was slightly built, from behind. She was screaming and the worst thing, he said, was seeing her skull give way. The rock he used to batter her was so heavy that in court during the trial an official struggled to pick it up with one hand.

Following the murder, Davies summoned a friend to the woods. The boy described in court how he "glimpsed" Rebecca's body lying face down, her arms splayed out. Davies was a "bit shaky" but "didn't seem upset at what he'd done".

The alarm was raised and a search was launched after Rebecca failed to return home.

Meanwhile, Davies updated his Facebook page to say he was "chilling" with friends. He had a cup of tea and watched Strictly Come Dancing and the film No Country for Old Men.

During the search for Rebecca he sent a text asking her to get in touch: "We're all worried," he wrote.

Rebecca's body was found in the woods the next day.

JONATHAN VASS

A man who stabbed his ex-partner to death while on bail charged with raping her has been given a life sentence of imprisonment at Preston Crown Court in October 2010.

Ambulance technician and former bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, was given a minimum 30-year term for the murder of nurse Jane Clough, 26, the mother of his baby daughter.

He had been due to stand trial on nine rape charges and murdered her to stop her giving evidence against him.

Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down a mandatory life sentence before telling Vass, that he would not be eligible for release until 2040.

Jane Clough was found with multiple stab wounds outside Blackpool Victoria hospital on Sunday 25 July 2010. She died after being taken to the accident and emergency department where she worked.

Her parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that after stabbing and slashing her with a 7.6cm blade Vass walked away momentarily, then went back to slit her throat.

"As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat," Judge Russell said as he passed sentence.It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime

than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge.

"This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter.

"Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you.

"She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother."

The court heard that Clough had kept a diary detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do. She and her family had been "rocked and devastated" when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving her "extremely concerned for her safety".

She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried "Johnny was going to do something stupid".

Another entry read of fears he would "get his revenge", adding: "What's he going to do?"

Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Clough giving evidence.

Watson said the couple had met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass. "He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,"

In November that year she reported him to police, complaining to officers of months of physical and sexual abuse and repeated rapes that continued when she was heavily pregnant.

Text messages between the pair were read out. She sent him a message saying: "You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions ... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?"

He replied: "We are staying together regardless of our problems."

Another said: "You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night."

Among Vass's replies was: "Please can I come home ... best behaviour promise."

He was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, a former boyfriend of Jane Clough, that if he was found guilty he would kill her. The friend dismissed the threat as bravado.

When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to act, the court heard.

Detective Superintendent Neil Esseen, who led the inquiry, said: "There is no doubt in my mind that he committed this brutal murder to prevent this brave young woman from having her day in court. Clough was a new mum who had everything to live for. She enjoyed her job at the hospital and had many friends there, but she was cruelly taken away from those who loved her by Jonathan Vass in the most violent of circumstances."

PHILIP SMITH

9th November 2000,The smouldering body of Jodie Hyde aged 21, was found near an adventure play area in Birmingham. Jodie was a drug addict who had made friends with Smith in the Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Birmingham. He then took her back to his flat.

After he killed her, her naked body was put into the back of Smith's Volvo car and driven to open land at Ackers Trust, an adventure play area in Birmingham.

He wrapped the body in a blanket and bound with a green rope.
Her body had received 60% burns and had to be identified by her fingerprints.

A post-mortem examination showed she had been strangled before being rolled up in a carpet and set on fire.

12th November 2000,  Smith then battered to death Rosemary Corcoran aged 25, and Carol Jordan aged 39. 

Smith had beaten Miss Corcoran with such force that she was physically unrecognisable

.
Identification of her body was only possible through fingerprints and dental records after her jaw was put back together.

 

Her body was discovered in a lane close to the Robin Hood pub at Rashwood, near Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire.
 

20 miles away in Lea Bank, Birmingham, a dog walker found the battered body of mother-of-six Rosemary Jordan in parkland.

                                  Victims' clothes were found in Smith's bath

Mrs Jordan had been knocked down by Smith as she walked to work. She had been badly beaten and had to be identified through her dental records.

Hours before Ms Corcoran's body was found, Smith was caught on CCTV violently struggling with her outside a club in Handsworth.

 
A few hours later, a pensioner said they saw a man fitting Smith's description, with bloodstained clothing, filling a petrol can in Bromsgrove, a neighbouring town to Droitwich.

Experts from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham analysed a massive amount of evidence in this case, the results linked Smith to each victim.

Wednesday 18th July, 2001, Originally denying all charges, halfway through  his trial at Leicester Crown Court, Smith changed his plea to guilty. Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 25 years.

After Smith, was jailed, West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent Ellie Baker said: "Philip Smith is already a triple killer and we would be wrong to leave it at that, we need to search further."

Investigations will go back 20 years across several forces but at present, detectives say he is not being positively linked with any unsolved crimes at this time.

ADRIAN PROUT

A Gloucestershire landowner has been ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in prison for murdering his wife.

Adrian Prout, 47, was found guilty on Friday 5th February 2010, of murdering Kate Prout, 55. Her body has never been found.

His trial at Bristol Crown Court was told that before her disappearance she had asked her husband for a divorce.

Mrs Prout's brother Richard Wakefield, has urged Prout, of Redmarley, to reveal where he hid her body.

Sentencing Prout to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years, Mr Justice Nigel Davis said:

"One of the pieces of evidence that sticks in my mind is that Kate Prout used to remember her parents by placing flowers on their grave.

"I expect her family would like to place flowers on her grave but they can't, and they can't because of you."

He continued: "It was said on your behalf that there was some sort of stress or a degree of provocation. I couldn't accept even that.

"The truth is you allowed your temper to erupt and it was your anger that killed her.

"How you killed her is only known to you. You most probably did it by strangling her."

We will continue to appeal to Prout to give Kate's family the chance to say a proper goodbye by revealing where her body is. Det Supt Neil Kelly, Gloucestershire Police

The last time anyone heard from Mrs Prout was 1529 GMT on 5 November, when she called her bank.

Since then no agencies have had any contact with her, including banks and passport agencies, and a prolonged police hunt has failed to find a trace.

Defending counsel Elizabeth Marsh said a "prolonged period of stress" could be considered as a mitigating factor.

Miss Marsh said there had been several events leading up to Mrs Prout's disappearance, in particular 27 October 2007, when she drunkenly abused Prout in front of friends at the local pub.

The three-week long trial had heard that Mrs Prout had demanded an £800,000 divorce settlement from her husband.

This would have meant he would have had to sell the £1.2m farmhouse, near Gloucester.

Prout ran a pipe-laying business and a pheasant shoot from the property, Redhill Farm.

Kate Prout disappeared from her home in November 2007

Speaking after the case, Mrs Prout's brother Richard Wakefield said: "Nothing will bring Kate back to us, but we are pleased that justice has been done.

"We would, however, appeal to Adrian to tell us what happened to Kate and where she is because we would like to lay her to rest and say our goodbyes."

Det Supt Neil Kelly, of Gloucestershire Police said: "We will continue to appeal to Prout to give Kate's family the chance to say a proper goodbye by revealing where her body is."

Prout, who has become a father with another partner since Mrs Prout's disappearance, is thought to have strangled her and then used his expertise as a professional pipe-layer to bury her body.

Prout Confesses to the murder here

Adrian Prout shows police where body is buried here

Watch killer Adrian Prout's police interview here.

SCOTT HANCOX & AMANDA ALLDEN

A drug dealer and his lover have been jailed for life for murdering a boy and dumping his body in a recycling bin.

Scott Hancox, 35, and Amanda Allden, 29, were found guilty at Worcester Crown Court in May 2009, of killing 17-year-old Nathan Lyons, of Birmingham.

Nathan's body was found on 13 May at a recycling depot in south-east London.

Drug dealer Hancox, of Fownhope Close, Redditch, and Allden, of Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove, were given minimum tariffs of 17 and Allden 15 years respectively.

They also received concurrent sentences of three years and three-and-a-half years after admitting perverting the course of justice.

'Viciously attacked'

Their trial was told Nathan had been employed by a Birmingham gang to mind to drugs that had been sent to Hancox.

Nathan Lyons' body was found in a waste depot in London

The prosecution said he was murdered in Hancox's flat on either 30 April or 1 May after it is thought he refused to hand over drugs to the defendants.

Both lovers had blamed each other for the murder but they were both found guilty by a jury on Tuesday.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey said Hancox had "viciously attacked" Nathan Lyons with a wooden club and had been encouraged by Allden.

He said both were "driven by the need for more and more drugs".

Nathan's body was then dumped by the pair in a rubbish bin and his body was found after travelling more than 150 miles through the recycling system to Craydord, in south-east London.

In a statement, Nathan's aunt Jacky Lyons said: "Nathan was one of 11 children and, because of other people's greed and addiction to class A drugs, our Nathan was brutally murdered.

"His death has devastated our family and our lives will never be the same again.

"We cannot find the words to express the pain we feel.

"In his short life he brought so much joy to everyone who knew him and he will never be forgotten."

Det Ch Insp Dave Morgan, of West Mercia Police, said: "They (the defendants) chose a life of crime and would literally go to any length to deal drugs so they could feed their habit.

"They were responsible for this horrific and frenzied attack which resulted in the brutal murder of Nathan Lyons and most people will feel their callous behaviour simply beggars belief."