“Weird, posh, lewd, creepy” – this was how a Sun headline described Chris Jefferies, the landlord of Joanna Yeates, the Bristol landscape architect, after his arrest on suspicion of her murder. The Sun and other papers published compendious details of his character and personal habits. They included no evidence that Jefferies, who was later released on police bail, had committed murder but showed, to the papers’ satisfaction, that he was just the sort wot would have dun it, which, in their view, should be quite sufficient to secure conviction.
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