Joanna Yeates ‘jovial’ at pub on night she died

Friends of landscape architect killed by Vincent Tabak tell murder trial jury how Yeates planned to spend weekend baking Joanna Yeates had been her usual “jovial” self on the night she was allegedly murdered by her next door neighbour, Vincent Tabak, friends have told a jury. The Bristol landscape architect visited a pub in the early evening, where she told one work colleague she planned to spend the weekend baking and had a jokey bet with a second over who would win the TV programme The Apprentice. She then walked home and was allegedly murdered by Tabak, her next door neighbour, shortly after getting back to her flat in Clifton, Bristol. Tabak, 33, denies murder but has admitted manslaughter. The first witnesses to give evidence at Tabak’s trial told how Yeates spent the early part of the evening of 17 December in the Ram pub on Park Street, near Bristol city centre. Darragh Bellew, a colleague, said Yeates bought him a pint of beer at the Ram and told him she was planning to bake cakes and bread over the weekend. Bellew said Yeates had been in good spirits. When the prosecution barrister Nicholas Rowland asked him whether she was drunk, Bellew told the jury: “Not at all, just jovial, her usual self.” Bellew told how colleagues and friends from an Irish Gaelic football team were joining them in the pub, which was packed with Christmas revellers. When asked whether she left before other drinkers, Bellew said: “She would always leave before most of us – when we would go on drinking she would go to be with Greg [Reardon, her boyfriend] really.” Bellew said he had asked her what she had planned for the weekend. “She replied that she was going to bake some cakes and bread over the weekend because Greg was away,” he told the court. “We had a joke and said she was going to bring them into the office on Monday morning.” In a written statement, Michael Brown, who also worked with Yeates, said he had spoken to her in the Ram about her plans for Christmas and about who would win the final of The Apprentice, which was being aired on the Sunday night. In a statement read to the jury, the architect Samuel Huscroft said he had planned to go to the Ram but he was not feeling well and went home. He said that later on he received a text from Yeates, which said: “Where are you this fine evening?” Huscroft texted back but did not receive a reply. The trial continues. Joanna Yeates Crime Steven Morris guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.