Landlord quizzed in murder probe
Chris Jefferies is being questioned by officers on suspicion of murdering Ms Yeates.
David Yeates, speaking from the family home in Ampfield, Hampshire, told the Southern Daily Echo: “At the end of the day, obviously I’m not happy because my daughter is still dead.
“But we are pleased the police have made an arrest as they have been working very hard to make progress in this case.
“During the investigation, police have not told us everything they have discovered but we understand there are certain things they cannot reveal.”
Police arrested 65-year- old Mr Jefferies at his home in Canynge Road, Clifton, Bristol — the same property in which Miss Yeates lived — at 7am yesterday and took him into custody for questioning over the death of the 25-year-old landscape gardener.
The arrest comes after Mr Jefferies, a retired public school teacher, appeared to make contradictory comments on Wednesday about whether he had seen Miss Yeates leaving her flat with two people on the night she disappeared.
Neighbours have described bachelor Mr Jefferies, who sports a distinctive mane of straggly white hair, as a “nutty professor-type” who was active in his community — playing a prominent role in his local Neighbourhood Watch group.
Mr Jefferies taught English at Clifton College, just yards from his flat. He retired in 2001. He is also a member of a local historical group dedicated to conserving buildings in the area.
Miss Yeates was last seen on December 17. Her snow-covered body was found on Christmas morning by a couple walking their dogs in Longwood Lane in Failand, North Somerset. She had been strangled.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “Just after 7am this morning, police attended an address in Canynge Road and arrested a 65-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
“He has been taken into custody at a police station within the Avon and Somerset force area and detained for questioning.”
Miss Yeates lived in a ground-floor flat in Canynge Road with her boyfriend Greg Reardon, 27.
Mr Jefferies, who lived above the couple in another flat, reportedly told police he saw three people, one of whom he believed was Miss Yeates, leaving the Victorian property.
He said he spotted the trio shortly after 9pm on December 17, not long after Miss Yeates arrived home alone, as he parked his car in the street.
Mr Jefferies reported the sighting to police and they confirmed they are examining the evidence.
Speaking outside his home on Wednesday, Mr Jefferies denied he had told police he saw Miss Yeates leaving with two unidentified people.
“It is a serious distortion of what I said to the police and I have no further comment to make as that, no doubt, will be distorted,” he said.
Earlier, he told Sky News: “I made some comment which was very, very, very much vaguer than that.
“Anything that I have said I have said to the police and I’m not prepared to make any comments to the media.”
He added: “I definitely cannot say that I saw Joanna Yeates that evening. No.”
But his neighbour Liz Lowman, who lives on the opposite side of the road from Miss Yeates’s flat, said Mr Jefferies told her that three people were coming out of a communal entrance to the mansion house.
“These people were leaving through the communal entrance,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t hear or see anything.”
Forensic officers in white overalls were seen going in and out of number 44, where Miss Yeates and Mr Jefferies lived, bringing several large brown bags of evidence from Mr Jefferies’ flat and loading them into a car.
Police later towed away a car belonging to Mr Jefferies.
A neighbour, a 26-year- old man who did not want to be named, said: “It’s all been pretty scary, especially for my girlfriend as I’m away most of the week so it’s been pretty scary for her to be home alone.”
Referring to Mr Jefferies, he said: “We see him all the time on the road. He’s a bit of a nutty professor-type by the looks of it.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
