You may recall a post I wrote back at Christmas about the case of Chris Jefferies, the landlord who was arrested but later released during the hunt for the murderer of Jo Yeates. The post was titled “Posh loner who liked poetry but not sport ‘obviously did it’, say media“. The point was that he was enduring an appalling trial by media, with papers heaping suspicion on him on ludicrous grounds which included looking odd, liking poetry (he was an English teacher), never having married, being a Lib Dem and not liking sport.

It remains the worst example I can think of of the growing trend to pre-judge cases by desperate smear.

By that point in the case Chris Jefferies hadn’t been cleared, and indeed I got a bit of flak from some for somehow supporting a killer when I wrote the piece. In truth, it concerned me a bit that I was likely to be given little quarter should he turn out to be guilty, despite the fact that I was just arguing for justice to be allowed to run its course fairly, but I pressed the “publish” button anyway. Many of the papers involved have now deleted the articles from their websites, but you can find the original quotes of their scurrilous reporting in my original post here.

We now know that Jefferies was not the killer, and instead it was Jo Yeates’ neighbour Vincent Tabak who did it.

I’m a little late writing this up but it’s really pleasing to see that on Friday several papers have finally admitted that they libelled Jefferies and have paid him an out of court settlement.

There’s a fundamental principle here that we must not forget. Even if Jefferies had been guilty, it would still have been wrong for the papers to report the case in the way that they did. Had he been guilty, they would do well to remember that their appalling coverage could well have jeopardised a trial.

As it turned out, he was innocent but his reputation was given a public beating all the same – no cash settlement can ever possibly set right the harm that was done to him.

Tags: Chris Jefferies, Joanna Yeates, Libel, Media, opinion

Categories: Opinion

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5 Responses

1. 

   Stephen W:

   “no cash settlement can ever possibly set right the harm that was done to him.”

   Very true. But I for one hope the newspapers had to pay through the nose for the privilege. Their coverage was a disgrace. I’m glad that in this case at least the system works and they have got theri comeuppance. I hope it was severe.

   01.08.2011 19:25 Reply

2. 

   Paul:

   I like loners. I tend to sympathise with them myself, probably because I am one.

   So in a case like this I think it’s absolutely right that Chris Jeffries should be treated, finally, with a wee bit of decency.

   Unfortunately, it won’t stop mud sticking to him through no fault of his own. Such is life.

   01.08.2011 22:14 Reply

3. 

   Michael Reed:

   Imagine the situation for that poor fellow if they hadn’t been able to find the actual killer.

   02.08.2011 04:06 Reply

4. 

   Simon:

   But was Tabak a Lib-Dem?

   02.08.2011 12:16 Reply

5. 

   Neil:

   I hope he enjoys every cent of that ‘hard earned’
   cash; true there is no fitting compensation, but maybe some editors will think twice before going hysterical again (for our benefit of course)

   02.08.2011 12:57 Reply