While Vincent Tabak wept and wove his web of lies, the family of Joanna Yeates conducted themselves with quiet dignity.

Only occasionally did they allow the trauma of facing her killer show.

Parents David, 63, and Teresa, 58, brother Chris, 28, and boyfriend Greg Reardon, 28, attended almost every day of evidence as Miss Yeates's final hours were dissected.

Chauffeured by police family liaison officers in a slate grey car, they were ushered past photographers, television cameras, reporters and onlookers as they made their way into the court.

Inside they sat in the front row of the public gallery just yards from where Tabak would apologise for putting ''them through a week of hell''.

The torment on the faces of Miss Yeates's parents, from Ampfield, Hampshire, showed their hell had lasted much longer.

In January, they said their ''beautiful and talented'' daughter had been ''stolen'' from them.

In court they would hope to find out why.

The most harrowing moment came when a full-length picture of Miss Yeates, lying in a mortuary, fully clothed but with her pink T-shirt pushed up, exposing her bra and right breast, was shown.

As Mrs Yeates wept and looked away from the courtroom's large flat-screen televisions, Mr Yeates looked over his shoulder and fixed his gaze towards Tabak.

The family's resolve was further tested as Tabak was asked to demonstrate how he had held Miss Yeates's throat on the night he killed her.

He slowly raised his right hand out in front of him with his hand outstretched and his left hand cupped, as if over her mouth.

Miss Yeates's parents held each other's hands and looked straight at Tabak, as Mr Reardon sat on the edge of his seat staring at the Dutchman.

But there was never an emotional outburst as relatives honoured Miss Yeates's memory.