Tabak guilty of Yeates murder

Vincent Tabak has been found guilty of the murder of Joanna Yeates by a 10-2 majority verdict at Bristol Crown Court.

The 33-year-old Dutch engineer strangled next-door-neighbour Miss Yeates, 25, at her flat in Clifton, Bristol, in December 2010.

She was last seen on 17 December and was reported missing by her boyfriend two days later.

She was found dead on Christmas Day when her body was spotted by dog walkers on a snowy country  lane in Failand, North Somerset, three miles from her home.Police arrested Tabak on January 20 after matching his DNA to samples found on Miss Yeates's body and clothing.

Tabak admitted manslaughter but denied murder of the landscape architecht.

Before sentencing, Mr Justice Field told the jury: "I think there was a sexual element to this killing."

Detectives found Tabak had paid for sex with a prostitute in the US two weeks before Yeates' murder.

As the verdict was delivered, Tabak immediately sat down and put his head in his hands.

He has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.