The British public has been shocked by the murder of 25-year-old garden architect Joanna Yeates. The fact that the suspect is a qualified engineer without any known criminal links is adding to the interest.
In the Netherlands, the press and under media refer to him as 'Vincent T.'. On pictures the suspect's face appears with a black bar over his eyes, which is common practice in the Netherlands. In the British media, Vincent Tabak's name is quoted in full, while his uncensored portrait and holiday snaps have been printed by quite a few papers. No detail is below the media's interest, including his height (6' 4"), and his 'calm, unshaven appearance' when he was arraigned.
Lia van Bekhoven is Radio Netherlands Worldwide's correspondent in the United Kingdom
The facts are well-known. After a Christmas drink with a couple of colleagues Joanna Yeates disappeared, eight days before Christmas. Closed circuit TV registered how she cheerfully walked into a supermarket in Bristol and bought a pizza.
Two days later her boyfriend came home and found her keys on the table, with the till receipt. Jo herself was nowhere to be found. On Christmas Day her body was found in a country lane. Police said they suspect she was strangled at home by someone she knew, her body later being taken by car to the remote spot. An autopsy revealed that she never ate the pizza.
Nice girl
Shortly after the discovery her landlord was arrested. After being interrogated for a couple of days he was released. There the trail ends. British photographers and reporters were keeping a close watch on Yeates' apartment after police sources said that the killer could have been one of her neighbours.
The murder is appealing to the public's imagination. The victim was, or appeared to have been, a nice girl with a friendly boyfriend and sweet parents. Jo came from the proverbial harmonious family, and the bereaved are people with whom Middle England can identify. The press are giving the story ample treatment, which is reinforced by the usual lack of other newsworthy stories at this time of the year.
Popular daily The Sun offered a 60,000-euro reward for any information that could lead to the killer. The re-enacted video of Jo's last hours for a crime show on TV prompted over 300 phone responses even before the show was aired. The massive attention and speculation are reminiscent of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who was allegedly kidnapped from a holiday apartment in Portugal.
When police began to search the flat next to Jo's, reporters were hot on their heels. Officers refused to reveal the tenant's name, but his identity was discovered soon after. Then the internet took over.
Calls
British reporters travelled to the southern Dutch towns of Veghel and Uden, and to nearby Eindhoven University where the suspect wrote his Ph.D. thesis. Dutch media appealed to readers who know Vincent Tabak to come forward.
Jo Yeates' parents have said they are relieved that police have made an arrest. They can now focus on their daughter's funeral. Tabak's family are denying that this 'quiet, sociable man' would be capable of violence. Vincent Tabak appears to be an unlikely killer, which means that the interest in the trial, due to open in April, could be as massive as before his arrest.
(rk/tt/imm)
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Like the landlord, Vincent Tabak was chosen arbitrarily by the police from thousands of possible suspects. When this PhD consultant from global Buro Happold was arrested, he questioned the integrity of the lab technician who had found his DNA on the victim's jeans. Jo had been in a crowded pub where she was seen going to the Ladies', yet no one else's DNA was found on her clothes. His lawyers persuaded him that he could be convicted of murder on the basis of this phoney evidence, so he had better admit manslaughter, even though he was innocent. Just to help him take the decision, he was remanded in a prison that specializes in the most violent inmates, and denied visits from his girlfriend and family for the first 3 weeks. Now he is serving a life sentence, and the real killer is still at large.
The landlord has not as yet been properly vindicated.
The current suspect is indeed an unlikely murderer. But if it is proved, it is actually more scary than the notion of an evil killer on the loose. Because it would show that anyone is capable of anything.
The police have a difficult job and have to tread a line between 'jumping the gun' and not acting soon enough, thus giving a suspect more time to cover their tracks.
It's the press which has behaved irresponsibly in this case - even publishing someones CV, as well as gossip and speculation.
For the sake of all the families involved, I just hope this ends conclusively and without doubt.
I'm interested that you think the facts are 'well-known'. On the contrary very few 'facts' have emerged apart from the discovery of Miss Yeates' body and a few of her last-known movements, but there has been a great deal of speculation here. At this moment we have no idea on what evidence Vincent Tabak has been charged, other than police 'suspicions'. There is great concern in England that our justice system works fairly, and that arrests are not made or charges placed based on wholly inadequate evidence. Otherwise there will be an increased reluctance to cooperate with the police in such cases, especially whre crime scenes can be quickly contaminated. One person has already been arrested and released without charge in this case. I would like to think Vincent Tabak is innocent, even if that means the true murderer is still out there. The profile feels wrong. But we must wait and see. Please keep highlighting this case, justice is on trial not just the accused.
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