28/10/2011 BBC News at Six

Guilty of murder - Vincent Tabak is sentenced to life for the killing

of Joanna Yeates. The judge said he had committed a

"dreadful, evil act" and he "thought there was a sexual

element" to the murder. Joanna Yeates's family say they

hope Tabak's life in jail will now be "a living hell".

Vincent Kompany is an intelligent and manipulative man, a man who had

the presence of mind to kill Jo and dispose of her body on evidence

linking him to her flat. Also on tonight's programme:

Changing the rules for William and Kate's future children - how royal

succession is moving with the times. In future, the order of succession

should be determined simply by the order of birth, and we have agreed

to introduce this for all descendants from the Prince of

Wales. And Britain's top company

directors' pay jumps by 49% according to new research.

St Paul's Cathedral reopens to the public as legal action begins to

remove the protestors camped outside.

Later on the BBC News Channel, a special programme from BBC Points

West on the conviction of Vincent Kompany, including tributes to the

woman he murdered, Jo Yeates. That's at 6.30pm.

Good evening. Welcome to the BBC News at 6.00pm. Vincent Tabak has

been found guilty of murdering the landscape architect Joanna Yeates

in what the judge called a "dreadful, evil act". Her body was

found covered with snow in a country lane on Christmas Day last

year. She had been strangled eight days earlier. As Tabak begins his

life sentence, police have revealed that he'd looked at images of

violence against women on the internet and tried to keep one step

ahead of the police investigation. Jon Kay joins us now from outside

Bristol Crown Court. Jon, an extremely difficult day for Joanna

Yeates' family. Absolutely. So difficult, those

chose not to be in court for the verdict. When it came Vincent Tabak

bit his lip for a moment, but apart from that, not a single flicker of

emotion. Police say that is typical of the man. This is somebody very

intelligent, with a Ph.D in engineering, but somebody cold,

somebody calm, somebody who could murder his next door neighbour,

dump her body then walk away as if nothinged. Sanged in the shadows --

nothing happened. Standing in the shadows, when Vincent Tabak

returned from his Christmas holiday abroad, he thought he'd got away

with murder. Two weeks earlier, he'd used this car to dump the body

of Jo Yeates after killing her in the Victorian mansion block where

they both lived. Tabak rented a basement flat on the left with his

girlfriend Tanja Morson. Jo Yeates lived next door with her boyfriend

Greg Reardon. A week before Christmas on the 17th of December,

they were both home alone. Jo's parents chose not to be in

court for this afternoon's verdict, but they now know their daughter

was murdered by her next-door neighbour, strangled by a man who

had viewed internet pornography featuring violence towards women.

We so miss hearing her happy voice. The family's statement was read by

a police officer. "We saw no emotion nor remorse nor regret for

what he did to Jo. We felt that all emotion expressed by him were false.

All we heard were words of self- pity." That morning Jo Yeates had

been out for a couple of drinks with colleagues from work. She left

the pub early to walk home to the Clifton area of Bristol around a

mile away. She stopped a couple of times to buy cider and a pizza,

finally reaching her garden gate at about 8.45pm. Their flat was

decorated for Christmas, and it was snowing outside as Jo started to

bake mince pies. Vincent Tabak then entered the flat, and minutes later,

Jo was dead. He told the court he'd gone to kiss

Jo Yeates, and when she screamed, he'd held her throat to stop the

noise, but the jury rejected that story, accepting instead that this

was a premeditated, sexually- motivated crime. Sentencing him to

thrief, judge said his crime had been a dreadful, evil act committed

against a vulnerable woman in her own home. He said, "In my judgment,

you're very dangerous." Vincent Tabak is an intelligent,

manipulative man. A man who killed Jo, then had the presence of mind

to dispose of her body and evidence linking him to her flat. After

killing her, he carried her around the back of his building to his

flat a few steps away. There he placed her into a bicycle storage,

then into the boot of his waiting car. What he did next even his own

legal team described as disgusting. Vincent Tabak went shopping for

beer and crisps with Jo's body still in his car. Then he dumped

her three miles away in a quiet country lane. I just want her back.

Wherever she is, Jo, my little Jo, come back. While Jo's parents and

boyfriend made desperate appeals, her murderer went on holiday.

Vincent Tabak spent New Year with his family in Holland, pretending

to be concerned and upset about his missing neighbour, but when he

returned to Bristol, a voluntary DNA sample linked him to material

on Jo's body. He was charged with her murder, and now, ten months

later, the jury has found him guilty.

Well, the court heard during this trial in the days after murdering

Jo Yeates, Vincent Tabak went to Christmas parties, drank champagne

with friends, and nobody had a clue that he could have been responsible.

When one friend asked him who might have killed Jo Yeates, he described,

"It must have been a detached, crazy person," and the prosecution

here said that absolutely summed up the man Vincent Tabak himself, as

Robert Hall now reports. He was cool and in control, able to

mislead and to hide his inner feelings - that was the

prosecution's assessment of Vincent Tabak, the man who watched a

family's agony whilst maintaining the facade of a worried neighbour.

On Christmas Day last year, a local couple were walking their dog near

their home on the outskirts of Bristol. It was just over a week

since Jo Yeates had disappeared. Here on Longwood Lane about three

miles from Jo's flat, they discovered her body. It was covered

in snow and lying on a grass verge which overlooked a deep quarry.

What had begun as a missing person inquiry was now a murder

investigation. 700 miles away in the Dutch city of Eindhoven,

Vincent Tabak was also watching Longwood Lane and the police

activities via the internet. No-one around him had any idea that he was

capable of violence. TRANSLATION: I really can't imagine

that he could do anything like this. I've obviously known him for a long

time. He is a friendly, warm and helpful young man. He's a lovely

person. I thought, eh? Vincent? He isn't able to do that - no, no, no,

no. I couldn't believe it. Tabak's online efforts would have revealed

the detectives were following up over a thousand lines of inquiry,

but their attention was focused on Jo Yeates's Clifton home and of

those who might have come into contact with her on the night she

died. During his trial, Tabak was reminded of just how far he'd gone

to research the way crimes are investigated. His computer drive

showed ever more internet activity, behaviour, said the prosecution,

which was almost clinical. We now know that he visited websites which

dealt with unsolved crimes, with sex and violence and with the

abduction of women by car. On the one happened, Tabak was a

respectable young man, pictured here on his graduation day, who

worked as a computer programer, on the other, a callous killer, who

went on to implicate his landlord, Christopher Jefferies and expose an

innocent man to a storm of media speculation, a killer who texted

affectionate messages to his girlfriend as he planned where to

leave his victim's body. The real Vincent Tabak, who fled the

consequences of his crime and researched his plan to escape

justice. The jury, like the police, saw the truth which lay beneath his

lies. As well as the internet pornography

found on his computer, the police found that Vincent Tabak's phone

had been used to contact escort agencies during work trips he'd

made both to the north-east of England and abroad to the United

States just a few days before Jo Yeates was murdered. The police

have confirmed to the BBC tonight that they have more questions to

ask Vincent Tabak. Michelle? Jon, thank you. Jon Kay

reporting from Bristol. Centuries of tradition are to be

overturned. First-born daughters will be allowed to inherit the

throne. The change to the succession laws was agreed at the

Commonwealth leaders' summit in Australia. It means any first-born

daughter of Prince William would become Queen, even if she later had

a younger brother. The ban on the monarch and their heirs marrying

Roman Catholics will also be lifted. From Perth, our royal correspondent

Nicholas Witchell reports. She is a monarch who has probably

never been more respected and is very nearly 60 years into one of

the most successful reigns in British history. And yet the

coronation in 1953 of Elizabeth II would never have happened if she'd

had a younger brother, because for more than a thousand years, the

daughters of mon, a have always had to give way to sons, regardless of

age, but now that is to change, and for once, the Queen revealed what

she thought about equality for women at the opening of the

Commonwealth leaders' summit. theme this year is women as agents

of change. It reminds us of the potential in our societies that is

yet to be fully unlocked, and it encourages us to find ways to allow

girls and women to play their full part. This is why the politicians

are finally changing the laws of succession. The marriage of Prince

William and Catherine Middleton and the prospect of them having

children, but changes such as these require the agreement of 15 other

countries, the realms where the British monarch is also head of

state. There, Prime Ministers met and came to a decision. I'm very

pleased to say that we've reached a unanimous agreement on two changes

to the rules of succession. First, we will end the male primogenital

rule so that in future the order of succession should be determined

simply by the order of birth. The other proposed change would

affect people in the line of succession like Prince Harry.

They'd no longer be barred from marrying Roman Catholics, but it's

the potential impact on Prince William and his wife David Cameron

highlighted. Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were

to have a little girl that girl would one day be our Queen.

important thing to note - the changes wouldn't be retrospective,

so Princess Anne won't move up the line of succession, but it is

historic. It has to be said the changes are complicated. In Britain

alone the centuries old Bill of Rights and Settlement will have to

be amended, but potentially, they will change the future face of the

monarchy. Also at the Commonwealth summit,

the Prime Minister has said he's more optimistic about the economic

prospects of the Eurozone after this week's summit. EU officials

are in China at the moment trying to persuade the Government there to

invest in bonds and help Europe out of the debt crisis. Shares in

London traded lower today amid some uncertainty about the detail of the

Eurozone rescue plan. Here's our political editor Nick Robinson.

The right honourable David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom. An X Factor intraps for the Prime Minister at the

Commonwealth Summit and every other leader. President of Nigeria, Prime

Minister of Canada. There are 54 countries in this organisation,

covering six continents and a third of the world's population, but it

has just one real star. And Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth iI, head

of the Commonwealth. The Queen calls the Commonwealth she heads

"the first worldwide web". It brings together wealthy Liberal

Democracys with countries that are much less wealthy and much less

liberal and democratic too. They're here to see if they can agree on

some things that do bind them together - other, that is, than

history and Her Majesty. The Queen's visit to Australia is big

news here, but the Commonwealth Summit certainly isn't, making the

headlines here, as thousands of miles away, "Europe" and the crisis

which all the leaders at this summit know could still damage

their own economies. After a meeting with his Australian

host, the Prime Minister told me he was feeling a little more

optimistic about the economy than he had been.

The eurozone situation is a little better than it was, and that was

clearly having a chilling effect on Britain, so the more progress they

make, the better for us. This is all about confidence. People may

now say it is time for the British Government to take British measures

to get the economy growing again. Oh, I accept we have to have the

most active growth programme we possibly could. That is in addition

to dealing with our debts and our deficit, which absolutely has to be

done. David Cameron came here from Brussels. He's worried that when

the 17 eurozone countries pull together, they may act against

Britain's interests. The City of London is, he says, under constant

attack from EU directives. Look, all countries in Europe pursue

their national interests. Would the French and the Germanss like a

larger share of financial services in Paris and Frankfurt? Of course.

I want to make sure we keep them in London. That's why we fight very,

very hard for our national interests, for jobs, for businesses,

for investment. That is what we do in the European Union. The Prime

Minister will be in Australia for less than 40 hours, less time than

it takes to fly here and fly back. Next week there is another summit

of the G20 in France. Its agenda - Our top stories tonight: Guilty of

murder. His entire back is sentenced to life for the killing

of Joanna Yeates. -- Vincent Tabak. Coming up: India is in the fast

lane ready to host the World's most expensive sport. But is it a sign

that India is pulling ahead, or just the elite?

And on the BBC News Channel, a special programme from BBC Bristol

on the conviction of Vincent Tabak for the murder of Joanna Yeates,

including an investigation into his St Paul's cathedral has reopened to

the public after a week of intense disruption because of the anti-

capitalist demonstrators camped outside its doors. The City of

London Corporation, in effect the local council, has now begun legal

action aimed at a victim of protesters, whose action is now in

its 14th day with around 200 tents still outside the cathedral. Robert

Pigott is outside St Paul's. St Paul's cathedral has faced stern

criticism for the way it has handled his occupation. It has been

accused of being weak and vacillating, not being able to make

up its mind. The former Archbishop of Canterbury said it had presided

over the debacle which had tarnished the image of Christianity.

The service today was an opportunity for the cathedral to

present a different image. For week, the doors of St Paul's have been

closed against the clamour of the world outside. At midday, they

swung open again. Around 1 million people go to the cathedral every

year simply to worship. This afternoon they flooded back for a

special service to mark the reopening of the cathedral. It was

a moment for reconciliation. There were prayers for the protesters and

the Dean are used to a sermon to pledge St Paul's help in fighting

for social justice. The two temples, those build of human flesh and

those built of stone, both have their distinctive part to play in

addressing the urgent issues of our own times. St Paul's says only by

acting to safeguard health and safety was it able to reopen.

Protesters denied a claim. I think it is really unfortunate that the

church closed. It was open for much of the beginning of the protest and

it is opening today, which shows, I think, we are not really the reason

why the church closed. St Paul's confirmed today that they will take

legal action to evict the campaigners. They will work with

the local council, the Corporation of London. It is a question of

trespass for the church. It is their land and they want them off

their land. Sadly, because of the laws of today, having invited

someone in, if they did, they cannot just get rid of them when

they want. Difficult or not, the Prime Minister has added his voice

for calls for the camp to go. all in favour of the freedom to

demonstrate but I don't quite see why the freedom to demonstrate has

to include the freedom to pitch a tent almost anywhere you want to.

Campaigners that were among the congregation at St Paul's today

said that the church should be a movement of people committed to the

poor, rather than buildings of brick and stone. But St Paul's is

also a national shrine, theatre for spectacular worship, and they

reasserted that part of their role today. Of course there is always

going to be a different reality out here on the streets. Legal action

could take until next spring to reach a conclusion and that will

leave the cathedral in the uncomfortable position for several

months, possibly, of taking legal action against campaigners, who

despite their desperate agenda, have shared a common cause of

sticking up for the poor and the needy.

The footballer Titus Bramble has been charged with two counts of

sexual assault. The Sunderland defender is due before Teesside

magistrates next month. He was first arrested in September and re-

arrested three weeks later following a second delegation. His

lawyer said that he would vigorously contest the allegations.

And 18 year-old man has been arrested in connection with the

death of 28 year-old Stuart Walker, whose body was found at an

industrial estate last Saturday. The teenager is due before the

courts on Monday. Company bosses across the UK's top

listed firms have seen a big rise in their earnings over the last

year. Directors to account on average 49% more in their total pay

package. Nick Clegg has called it a slap in the face of ordinary people.

Our business correspondent is in the studio now. It is an issue that

gets under people's skin. Yes, it does. It has been an issue for

years. The difference now is that we are in tough times. Many people

are experiencing effective pay cuts. No wonder politicians from all

parties have been making a lot of noise today. Soaring boardroom pay

is a much more sensitive, uncomfortable issue for them when

we are well meant to be sharing the pain. -- we are all meant to be

sharing the pain. The squeeze is on for many workers. Prices are rising

and wages of failing to keep pace with inflation. Pay deals in the

private sector are running at 2.6%. When it comes to the chief

executives of our top 100 companies, they enjoyed a 43% increase in

their total earnings last year. It was even more for directors, up by

49%. WPP is the world's biggest advertising agency and a FTSE 100

company. Today the man behind it was asked about his 17% rise in

earnings. You have to look at fixed pay and the incentive, short-term

and long-term. And the investment that I continue to make in the

company and have done for 26 years. Go back to 2009 and there was a

substantial reduction. How does boardroom pay compare? The average

pay of a full-time worker is �26,500. The Prime Minister gets a

salary of �142,000. Meanwhile, total earnings for leading

executives has now reached �2.7 million. But critics wonder if pay

is really matched by performance. They are calling for reform.

don't think that this is going to change overnight. We don't think

there is any silver bullet. I think the system is unsustainable and

even some executives with in it admit that but they cannot change

things on their own. They almost want people to come in and change

things for them. Vince Cable is looking at ways to make companies

more transparent. There may be closer scrutiny of these bumper

deals in the future. But at the end of the day it is not the

politicians that the side, it is the company shareholders that have

to take action if these rewards are not deemed to be fair. -- it is not

the politicians that decide. India gets a taste of the world's

most expensive sport this weekend when they host their first ever

Formula One Grand Prix. They hope it will banish memories of the

Commonwealth Games corruption allegations from last year. It will

cost �250 million to build the racetrack, which may not sound like

much for the 9th biggest economy in the world, but with one third of

Indians living in poverty, it could just increase the gulf between the

rich and the poor. The spin machine is in overdrive.

Formula One cars racing through the centre of Delhi. They are promoting

it as the new sport for a rise in India and its burgeoning middle

classes. There is a brand new track and stadium, built on time and on

budget. The organisers hope that it will erase memories of last year's

chaotic Commonwealth Games here. Seats have been selling fast. Even

the cheapest are way beyond the pockets of most Indians. India is

in the fast lane, that is the message here, ready to host the

world's most expensive sport. Is it a sign that India is pulling ahead

or just its wealthy elite? Just the other side of the track, it is a

world away from the high-octane glamour and speed of Formula One.

Some have done well, getting compensation from the racetrack for

their farmland. They have gone on a spending spree on new cars and

houses. Can everyone that has received compensation for the track

put their hands up? But it is a lottery. Those with land doing

really well, those without getting nothing. With the land gone, Kabir,

a farm labourer, now has no work. He cannot afford to send his

children to school. Kabir says he wishes Formula One had never come

But preparations for the multi- million-dollar race are now in top

gear. The owner of India's Grand Prix teams saying the country is

now in the big lead. I do not know why the international media keeps

on focusing on the poor part of India. Sure, we have poverty, but

why not focus on what India has? A large middle class, perhaps the

size of Europe, OK? A growing disposable income. An aspirational

population that is very successful. And the market is large enough.

country is roaring ahead in many ways. The danger is that it is

becoming more and more two Indias but one being left ever further

Now the weekend weather. It is not as hot as Delhi but

pretty mild this weekend, despite the fact we will have gusty winds

at times. This evening, at temperatures will fall away quite

click -- quickly through the central slice of the UK, with some

areas getting close to freezing. The cloud will be thickest across

Northern Ireland and Scotland and it will turn quite wet through the

night with gusty winds strengthening. That will be a

feature of the weather on Saturday as well. Coming up from the South,

it will be wet for a time in Northern Ireland and Scotland with

the rain edging into western fringes of Wales as we go through

the day. The best of the sunshine will be further East across the UK,

with the eastern half of England having a reasonable afternoon.

There will be a breeze coming from the South West but with sunshine

and temperatures up into the mid- teens, it should feel quite good.

In the West, the cloud will thicken across South West England with rain

knocking on the door of Cornwall by the end of the afternoon. And in

western parts of Wales after a dry start it will turn down there.

Eastern areas should stay dry. In Northern Ireland, things will pick

up in the afternoon, so perhaps some late sunshine. Much of

Scotland will stay pretty cloudy and damp, especially at West, with

gusty winds. Taking a step back, you can see on Sunday another set

of weather fronts coming up from the South West. They are bringing

in some warm southerly winds, hence the orange colouring. It will be

particularly mild on Sunday with temperatures getting as high as 17

or 18 degrees, despite lots of cloud. Some dampness in the South

and more heavy rain in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Thank you. A reminder of the main news