Jo Yeates' landlord Chris Jefferies: 'I was painted a dark, macabre, sinister villain'
CHRIS Jefferies last night told the Labour Party conference of his ordeal during the Jo Yeates murder investigation.
Mr Jefferies, the landlord of Ms Yeates' Clifton flat, recalled how he was vilified and painted as a "dark, macabre, sinister villain" after being arrested as a murder suspect.
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Chris Jefferies spoke to a fringe meeting at Labour conference
He was later cleared of any wrongdoing and two newspapers were prosecuted for contempt of court over their reporting of his arrest.
Mr Jefferies, who has become a leading voice in calls to reform the media, was speaking at a debate organised by the campaign group Hacked Off ahead of the publication of the Leveson report into press standards.
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"Immediately some sections of the press were willing to believe that the person arrested was the murderer," Mr Jefferies said. He was linked with a second murder, 30 years ago, before anonymous accounts of sexual harassment emerged in tabloid newspapers. "The tabloid world was not content with that. Perhaps to be a sexual predator was not spicy enough. Let's see what further perversion we could discover," he said. A tenuous connection with a convicted paedophile was then reported.
The Hacked Off debate looked at the forthcoming publication of the Leveson report.
Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, said Leveson was "a very important, historic opportunity to deal with a problem which has been wrong in our democracy for many decades".
Comments
by Craigthatsme
Sunday, October 07 2012, 7:56PM
“It all went wrong when the Press deemed up he was gay and the Police really hate gays.”
by robeno
Sunday, October 07 2012, 4:57PM
“i hope they have got it right in wales?!!”
by whammmy
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 3:42PM
“He is an odd guy, I see him him once or twice a week.
That said, simply 'being odd' should not be grounds alone to name him as a murder suspect...
A combination of Mr Jeffries weirdness, a police investigation under the media spotlight and sensationalism by certain sections of the tabloid press led to an innocent man being vilified.
The police got it wrong, but the tabloids played a part.”
by pillowfight
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 3:02PM
“He has made a few bob out of it mind you.”
by BristolMark2
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 3:02PM
“@divingbiker - I'm afraid the police very much ARE to blame here. Not for performing the investigation of Jefferies, which as you've mentioned is just a part of what they're duty bound to do, but most definitely for leaking confidential information and the identity of individuals to the press during an ongoing investigation. This was wrong for so many reasons, and if Jefferies had been charged, the level of press intrusion could have compromised any trial too.
It's not the first time Avon & Somerset have been accused of this either. From what I've seen, they routinely breach regulations, even laws on confidentiality, privacy and data protection. In this case, one man was dragged through the mud, which is bad enough. But in others, confidential details of informants have been left where suspects could have accessed them, potentially putting their lives at risk. Big changes need to be made, and soon.”
by artglad
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 2:30PM
“It does not reflect well on the capabilities of the police.”
by BCFCfinker
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 11:04AM
“"""he was vilified and painted as a "dark, macabre, sinister villain""""
Oh no he wasn't ... Oh yes he was...
Is this the result of poor journalistic standards OR the voyeuristic nature of the readership i.e. journos just providing what the customer wants?”
by DockLobster
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 10:19AM
“Obviously his haircut made him look like a freak, otherwise he wouldn't have been advised to get rid of it...
Has anyone one seen his fingernails? Now they are weird!”
by divingbiker
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 9:26AM
“Police not to blame, they have lines of inquiry to follow. Police are duty bound to investigate and follow leads. In the end this man wasn't charged. If you're child/loved one had been murdered, you'd want want the police to follow every line of inquiry to apprehend the culprit adn get a conviction. Not following leads/lines of inquiry have lead to miscarriages of justice historically. The Police did thier job. The press are the ones who senstaionalised this part of this awful ending of a life.”
by lolly60
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 9:20AM
“If he hadnt of said he new things about the case then maybe they wouldnt have hounded him like they did .”