'Tabak checked internet for details of body decomposition'

Vincent Tabak searched the internet to see when rubbish was collected after detectives said they were looking for the pizza box Joanna Yeates bought on the night she was last seen alive, the court heard.

"Why? Because we suggest he had thrown away things that might incriminate him," Nigel Lickley, prosecuting, said.

"He looked up information on body decomposition, no doubt hoping nothing would remain of his victim. He looked up information on the sentences for murder and manslaughter and constantly searched the Avon and Somerset Police website for information about the case."

Mr Lickley told jurors that witnesses would give evidence describing the defendant's demeanour after Miss Yeates disappeared and before he was arrested.

"Some will describe their meetings and conversations with him over the following days," Mr Lickley said.

"Some talk of his normality, some the pressures and strains he was displaying.

"When alone at work or at home his internet activity became ever more consumed, following news items as if almost following the police investigation as it unfolded.

"You will also see messages between him and his girlfriend discussing the case and how he was able to mislead her and keep up a pretext of being a concerned and worried neighbour."