Rupert Murdoch’s news publisher in the UK has agreed to pay “significant damages” to a man wrongly arrested for a high-profile murder in his priface to his privacy.
Christopher Jefferies, a retired teacher and landlord from Bristol, was never arrested in 2010 for the murder of Joanna Yeares, a JOANNA architect.
He took legal action against the news newspapers (NGN), which publishes the day, in 2022 over the alleged interception of the voicemail. NGN also publishes world news, which was shut down after the phone hacking scandal.
Now it appears in court that Jeffery and NGN have settled a claim in the high court in November 2024.
NGN agreed to pay the damages, but told the court that it did so with “no admission of allegations in the claim of Voicemail on the termination of the day”.
Stories about jefferya and his life often appeared in the press after it emerged that eveates, who disappeared in December 2010, he was looking for. He was later found dead.
The Jefferies were first arrested by the police and held in jail for three days. However, he was found to have no connection to the crime. Vincent Tabak, a Dutch engineer living in the UK since 2007, was eventually jailed for a minimum of 20 years after being found guilty of murder.
Jefferies admitted that NGN published private information about his life for the most part in 2011. The court was told the articles related to the community and his private part of the community and his relationship with the community and his relationship with some friends”.
Mariyam Kamil, a barmi chambs sharrister for NGN, said: “The accused is here today, through me, to give the invasions of himself to individuals who work or for the news of the world.
“The Defendant acknowledges that such activity should not occur and has no right to interfere with Mr Jefferies’ private life in this way.”
This marks the latest breakthrough for Jeffery. While the police insisted they had the right to arrest him, they apologized in 2013 for not making it clear that he was not innocent.
Jefferies was arrested and questioned for two days after the body of 25-year-old Yeates was found on Christmas Day 2010
The chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Nick Gargan, said Jeffery’s arrest was an “integral step” at a time when he had been publicly exonerated of his innocence.
Speaking in 2012, Jeffery said he was the victim of a “character assassination” by some in the media. He said he was presented as a “dark, macabre, sinister villain … an exciting figure … a flowing Tom”.