Court hears of Vincent Tabak's visit to Newcastle

Oct 30 2011 by Sophie Doughty, Sunday Sun

SORDID sex strangler Vincent Tabak is to face further questioning by police about material discovered on his computer.

The Dutchman, who once spent days holed-up in a North East hotel searching for prostitutes online, was last week convicted of murdering Joanna Yeates.

It has now been revealed that detectives are probing fresh allegations relating to material discovered on Tabak’s laptop hard drives.

The 33-year-old became obsessed with images of women being strangled during sex, before acting out his fantasies by killing 25-year-old Joanna, at her home in Bristol last December.

His sordid past – which included a business trip to Newcastle spent largely trawling the internet for hookers – was revealed for the first time after a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of murder.

The judge had banned Tabak’s sex secrets from being told to the jury during the trial.

But Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, told the court it was necessary for Tabak to be questioned about other matters, speaking cryptically to prevent the full details being disclosed to the jury.

The prosecutor said following questioning of Tabak a decision would be made as to whether new proceedings would be commenced.

Jurors were not told how videos found on Tabak’s laptops had chilling parallels with the way he killed landscape architect Joanna. His pornography depicted blonde women being throttled during sex or bundled into car boots.

However, Avon and Somerset Police have not confirmed what Tabak might be questioned about.