A fatal mistake

[rov1100]

With hindsight was Jo nieve in allowing Tabak, amost a complete stranger to enter her flat and will it send a warning to vulnerable people of the opposite sex?

[Ann]

Why - did she let him in? I thought he must have broken in....

[sandyRoe]

I think he claimed that she invited him into her flat.

[ladybirder]

How do we know she let him in? We only have his word for that.

[ummmm]

You'd never let anyone in if you thought of all men as potential murderers.

[starone]

To take another person's life is the worst crime to me. I extend this view to wars as well.

[Ann]

Wonder what excuse he gave to get in then - as it was reported she didn't know him... it makes me nervous about asking the meter reader in ..........

[annie0000]

He was her neighbour, not a complete stranger. I can't say I would hesitate if a neighbour knocked on the door and had some sort of enquiry that necessitated him coming into the house.

[karenmac60]

It was Christmas time, she was at a loose end and feeling lonely if reports are anything to go by. She was being neighbourly. I'm sure many of us would have done the same in her position.

[Ann]

No probably not annie - you do tend to trust people don't you, especially neighbours who you assume are friendly ...... very scary

[sandyRoe]

There was another killer convicted on the same day as Tabak. He is Robert Black who was convicted of killing a nine year old girl in 1981 in N Ireland.

[annie0000]

Sandy - evil evil man. My nephews and niece would have been at High school with Caroline Hogg if Black hadn't killed her on that summer night all those years ago.

[ladybirder]

What a revolting specimen Black is. A truly vile person who the police think has committed more murders. I reckon Tabak could have been a serial killer as well if he hadn't been caught.

[Andyvon]

Rov -

"Vulnerable people of the opposite sex". Do you mean girls or women who readily approach strange men Rov?

I go for a six mile walk every night at times ranging between 1am and 6am. I am astonished at the number of young girls (many of whom can't be more than 14 or 15) and women walking alone who approach me at that time of the morning. The last one was a girl of about 14 years old dressed in a miniskirt and high heels who crossed the road to say "'ave yer got a cigarette mate". It was 4.45am, the road was silent and there was no one else around! I just said I didn't smoke and kept walking. There are many other similar examples - quite a few say "'allo mate, can yer borrow me some money!" Quite a few of those girls have been drinking and many get abusive if I don't produce cigarettes or money which really upsets me when they insult me like that for no reason.

I'm not the type to attack women or take advantage of them but I quite understand how it happens. Of course, men can be blamed for attacking women and women have the right to walk the streets in safety - but there has to be common sense too. This generation of girls have to learn not to stagger round the streets in the early hours, not to approach strangers in the way they do and not give a strange man a stream of four-letter words if they aren't happy. Not only are individual men and women to blame for that, but it's society's failing too.

[ummmm]

I find that quite shocking Andy....

[Andyvon]

Hi Ummm,

It's always concerned me that they might start shouting or saying I had attacked them. There's uually no one else about and I just try to be polite and kep going. If I smoked I might give them a cigarette but I don't and I wouldn't hand over money. In fact, I've stopped going for my walk on Friday and Saturday nights now as being approached was a common occurance. I feel like spelling the dangers to them, especially the kids - but they'd probably just tell me to F off!

[ummmm]

Where do the parents think they are? That's the thing...

[Andyvon]

'Sleeping over' maybe? When I saw five kids crash a car at 2am in Grimsby the police officer told me next day the girl was 13 and her mother thought she was sleeping over with a friend and would be in by 9pm! She lost her front teeth so maybe that taught her a lesson. The driver was 15 and the other three were 14.

Like I've said on AB before I often see groups of kids at Tesco at 3am. Decent parents like you Ummm (and me if I had any) would want to know the children were safe and not causing trouble, but I really think there are many parents who just don't care what their children are doing.

[notasyoungasiwas]

I was going to reply word for word exactly what ladybirder said. We will always only have one version of events, those that belong to a convicted murderer. Poor Jo will never be able to tell us what truly happened. Although they were neighbours, it was always reported that they didn't know each other.

[wolf63]

I used to have a large dog and used to take him down to the local park if I couldn't sleep. He was very protective and I felt safe - but there would always be some young girl walking alone across the park - or staggering with high heels - on her way home from the pub/nightclub. They would walk under a tunnel under the railway line. I think that the tunnel is creepy in the daylight so I can't understand why they thought it safe to use it at two in the morning.

Our town is relatively safe but there is no point taking unnecessary risks.

[ummmm]

No sense of danger when you're drunk.