Force makes apology for murder probe distress

Christopher Jefferies said the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police has suggested he speak to detectives about his experience so they could hear the perspective of “somebody on the other side of the fence”.

The “letter of exoneration expressing regret” from Nick Gargan over the force’s handling of Mr Jefferies’ detention, bail and subsequent release without charge after 25-year-old Miss Yeates’s death in December 2010 acknowledges the “hurt” caused to the 68-year-old retired teacher when police failed to clear him publicly of suspicion over her murder when releasing him from bail in March 2011.

Mr Jefferies said the “horrifying experience” led him to believe that suspects should not be named unless they are charged with an offence. He said that during the nine weeks he spent on bail it was impossible for him to return to his flat or live “anything approaching a normal life”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that would be certainly an important step and it would prevent a great deal, certainly, of the distress which happened to members of my family, quite apart from what happened to me, because I think one shouldn’t underestimate the way in which their lives were changed during the days that I was in custody as a result of the media harassment and the media intrusion.”

Mr Gargan said it was for Parliament and not police to decide whether suspects should be named.