The Sun publisher agrees to pay Christopher Jefferies ‘substantial damages’ | Christopher Jefferies

Rupert Murdoch’s UK news publisher has agreed to pay “substantial compensation” to a man wrongfully imprisoned for a high-profile murder after he apologized for the invasion of his privacy.

Christopher Jefferies, a retired teacher and homeowner from Bristol, was falsely arrested for the murder of landscape architect Joanna Yeates in 2010.

In 2022, he filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes Sun, alleging that voice messages were listened to. NGN also published News of the World, which was closed following the phone hacking scandal.

It was revealed in court that Jefferies and NGN settled a claim in the high court in November 2024. NGN’s parent company, News UK, said the deal was made on the basis of a breach of Jefferies’ privacy by the News of the World.

NGN agreed to pay compensation but did so “without any admission of liability for the plaintiff’s allegations regarding the interception of voicemails and/or other unlawful collection of information at Sun”, the court was told.

Horrifying stories about Jefferies and his life appeared regularly in the press after Yeates, who disappeared in December 2010, was revealed to be his tenant. He was later found dead.

Jefferies was first arrested by the police and detained for three days. However, it was determined that he had no connection with the crime. Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, who has been living in England since 2007, was eventually sentenced to at least 20 years in prison after being found guilty of murder.

Jefferies claimed that NGN had been publishing private information about his life throughout much of 2011. The court was told that articles about him “had a damaging and long-lasting impact on him and his private life, including his position in society and his relationships with some of his friends”.

NGN Matrix Chambers barrister Mariyam Kamil said: “The defendant is here today, through me, to apologize to Mr Jefferies for the distress caused to him by the invasion of his privacy by individuals working for or on behalf of the News of the World.

“The defendant accepts that such activity should never have occurred and that he had no right to intrude on Mr Jefferies’ private life in this way.”

This is Jefferies’ latest vindication. Although police insisted they were right to arrest him, in 2013 he apologized for not declaring his innocence sooner.

Jefferies was arrested and questioned for two days after the body of 25-year-old Yeates was discovered on Christmas Day 2010. Three weeks later Tabak was charged with Yeates’ murder, but Jefferies was released on police bail until March 2011.

Avon and Somerset police chief Nick Gargan said Jefferies’ arrest was an “integral step” in the investigation but admitted the force should consider making it clear publicly that he is innocent once he is released on bail.

Speaking in 2012, Jefferies said some media outlets had fallen victim to “character assassination”. He said he was presented as a “dark, scary, sinister villain… a lewd figure… a spying Tom.”