Yeates killer 'joked with police'

Joanna Yeates told friends she was "dreading" spending the weekend alone, hours before she was killed, a court heard yesterday.

Over a drink, the 25-year-old confided in a work colleague of her fears of spending Saturday and Sunday without her boyfriend Greg Reardon, who was visiting family in Sheffield. Jurors at Bristol Crown Court heard that Ms Yeates, who worked as a landscape architect at BDP, told the office manager Elizabeth Chandler that she planned to spend the weekend baking.

A partygoer and a neighbour both later told the court they heard screams on the night of Ms Yeates's death, but dismissed the noise as students or kids. The court also heard that her neighbour, Vincent Tabak, had joked about the police inquiry at dinner parties. The 33-year-old calmly discussed the case with friends, "light-heartedly" suggesting police look for a body in his drawer, the jury heard.

The Dutch engineer admits manslaughter but denies Ms Yeates's murder.

The trial continues.