Landlord in Joanna Yeates case: 'I'll be cleared within days' - Daily Mail

By Rob Cooper
Last updated at 1:27 AM on 7th January 2011

'The ordeal is almost over': Chris Jefferies is considering taking legal action against the police after he was arrested over the murder of Joanna Yeates, 25

Joanna Yeates's landlord expects to be cleared of all involvement in her murder 'within days', it emerged last night.

Former public schoolmaster Christopher Jefferies, 65, is currently on police bail having been arrested last Thursday in connection with Miss Yeates' murder.

The news came as it was revealed that a second witness has reported hearing screams from the direction of Miss Yeates's Bristol flat on December 17, the night that she vanished.

Since Mr Jefferies' arrest, police have been searching the building he shared with Miss Yeates and her boyfriend. That lengthy search was said to have finished last night.

Two days after his release on Saturday, Mr Jefferies emailed and spoke on the telephone to Irving Steggles, a close friend from their time at Oxford University 45 years ago, who now works as a Baptist pastor in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Yesterday Mr Steggles, 65, said: 'He wasn't upset or emotional – in fact he remained quite calm and rational as we spoke. But it is clear that this has had a devastating impact on his life.

'Now, apparently, they [police] are just waiting for the forensic evidence to come back. That shouldn't be too long. When it comes back, Chris is confident he will be cleared.'

Mr Steggles added that Mr Jefferies now wanted to 'rebuild his reputation'.

Police probe: The flat belonging to landlord Mr Jefferies, a retired schoolmaster. Miss Yeates lived with her boyfriend Greg Reardon two floors below the 65-year-old

He said: 'Like all of us, he wants the culprit caught because he knows that until that happens he will always remain under suspicion in some people's eyes.

'I think he will come through this. He is a man with a very high view of justice.'

The pastor, based at Birchleigh Baptist Church in the north eastern part of the South African city, also described the landlord as 'mildly eccentric but only mildly'.

The bachelor, who rented Miss Yeates the flat in Canynge Road, Clifton, taught at the prestigious Clifton College until 2001.

He went on to work in the English department at the University of the West of England in Bristol after leaving the school.

Mr Jefferies is currently staying at an unknown location as police forensic investigators continue to search his flat.

Mystery: Joanna Yeates (left) is thought to have been killed shortly after she was last seen on December 17. Mr Jefferies, pictured here in 1990, is currently the only man to have been arrested over her death and was released on bail

His flat is two floors above the one rented to Miss Yeates and her boyfriend Greg Reardon, 27.

Miss Yeates was last seen on December 17 after going for drinks with colleagues.

Her body was found on a verge on a country road in Failand, North Somerset by a walker on Christmas morning.

Mr Jefferies, who ran the local Neighbourhood Watch scheme, was described by neighbours as 'a pillar of society' in the days after his arrest.

He even helped organise an annual charity event which senior police officers, local dignitaries and the mayor endorsed and attended.

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