Vincent Tabak apologised for killing Jo Yeates and putting her parents through “a week of hell”.
The Dutch engineer told Bristol Crown Court he was “so sorry” for strangling his next door neighbour Yeates in her own home and then dumping her body.
“I still can’t believe I did that,” he said.
“I was responsible for her death. I’m so sorry,” he added.
33 year old Tabak told the court how the landscape architect invited him into her flat after he waved at her through her kitchen window.
“She invited me in. I took off my coat. I hung it on the coat rack in the hall. We both went into the kitchen,” he said.
Tabak claimed Yeates spoke about her cat which had recently got into Tabak’s flat saying: “The cat went into places where it shouldn’t go. A bit like me.”
He added: “I decided to make a pass at her… I got the impression she wanted to kiss me.”
Tabak told the court he put a hand on her back and tried to kiss her but when she screamed he panicked and put his hand over her mouth.
“I was panicking. I wanted to stop her screaming. I wanted to calm her down,” he said.
He claims that on strangling Yeates for a matter of seconds “she went limp, she fell to the floor,” adding: “I still can’t understand what happened.”
Under cross examination Tabak denied he wanted more than a kiss and added he did not think the kiss was a “sexual act”.
Tabak said he had not given much thought to 25 year old Yeates before December 17 but on that night he found her attractive.
Both Tabak’s partner, Tanja Morson, and Yeates’s partner Greg Reardon were away the night Yeates was killed.
Prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC suggested to Tabak that Yeates would have resisted him but Tabak denied tthat saying “Not that I can remember.”
On questioning Tabak also said he could not remember if Yeates looked frightened.
Lickley asked: “All you had to do, Vincent Tabak, was walk out of the flat?”
After a pause Tabak replied: “Yes… I didn’t.”
Tabak told the court how he put Yeates body in a bicycle cover before putting her in the boot of his car. He later dumped her body which was later found on Christmas Day
He also apologised for Yeates’s parents David and Teresa (pictured above) through “hell”
Tabak has admitted to manslaughter but denies murder. The case continues.
