Vincent Tabak has admitted being "calculating, dishonest and manipulative" in covering up the death of Joanna Yeates and admitted he "shouldn't have said that" about Chris Jeffries, the innocent landlord he implicated.
During a cross examination by prosecution counsel Nigel Lickley, QC, Tabak also told the court he expected to be arrested and so looked up "what kind of sentence I may get".
The Dutch engineer denied that trying to kiss Yeates was part of a sexual act but admitted he was attracted to the blonde architect.
When asked by Lickley what Tabak found attractive about Yeates, the defendant replied "how she looked, how she was behaving towards me", and asserted Yeates had made a "flirty comment" to Tabak on the night she died.
Tabak denied Yeates was in pain when he silenced her screams by putting his left hand over her mouth and said he remembered Yeates going "limp" in his hand.
The defendant dodged the question about whether he knew Yeates was dead, instead replying "I was hoping she had passed out".
Despite being shown pictures of Yeates' bruises by Lickley, which the prosecutor insisted were caused when she was alive, Tabak told the court he didn't know how they were caused.
"As far as I can remember there was no struggle," he said. Tabak also denied both pulling up Yeates' clothes during the attack, and touching her breast.
CCTV footage was shown to the court of Tabak shopping in Asda while Yeates' body lay wrapped in a plastic cover in the boot of his car.
"Sometimes it's nice to just go to a big supermarket to buy some stuff ... I thought I would go out to pass time", Tabak told the court.
Lickley put it to the 33-year-old he was trying to create a "false trail".
"24 hours after killing that young woman you were drinking champagne", Lickley stated, to which Tabak replied: "I can't remember."
On the Monday after Yeates' death, Tabak looked up two murder stories on his work computer, saying he had thought there was a possibility there would soon be one about the young woman he had just killed.
The Dutchman admitted manipulating his girlfriend Tanja Morson and "playing her along" when she told him she was scared of being home alone following Yeates' disappearance. He told Morson "at least there is no sign of foul play".
"I was distressed but I didn't want to raise any suspicion", argued Tabak. "I was overwhelmed. I just wanted to be with Tanja even though I was manipulating her."
Lickley asked "You are calculating, dishonest and manipulative - correct?" To which Tabak replied: "Yes"
Tabak also looked up CCTV locations because he was "worried" the cameras had picked up his movements after Yeates' death. The defendant trawled the internet for decomposition websites hoping "it would all go away".
In the days after Yeates' disappearance, Tabak told police information which led to Yeates' landlord Chris Jefferies being arrested. Although Jefferies was later cleared of any involvement in Yeates' death, Tabak admitted: "I shouldn't have said that about Chris Jefferies.
"I did it to distract attention away from me."
The trial resumes Friday at 10am.