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Monday 28 November 2011

UK: Jefferies: Tabloids Tried To Blacken My Name

A man wrongly arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanna Yeates said after he was detained the tabloid press "embarked on a frenzied campaign to blacken my character".
In his testimony to the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, Ms Yeates' landlord Chris Jefferies said the newspapers "had decided I was guilty of her murder and seemed determined to persuade the public of my guilt".
He said they "published a series of very serious allegations about me that were completely untrue".
Mr Jefferies said the national media "shamelessly vilified me" and the UK press were on a "witchhunt".
He said after he was released by police he was "effectively under house arrest" by the press because of their interest in him, as he moved from one friend's home to another,which he likened to "safe houses".
He brought legal proceedings for libel against eight newspapers in relation to allegations contained in 40 articles, the inquiry heard.
The retired school teacher won "substantial" undisclosed libel damages from the newspapers.
It happened after police wrongly arrested him over the killing of the 25-year-old landscape architect in December last year.
Singer Charlotte Church, broadcaster Anne Diamond, former British Army intelligence officer Ian Hurst and Northern Ireland human rights campaigner Jane Winter will also appear as witnesses at the inquiry.
Church will describe how the News Of The World (NOTW) published a story about her father having an affair despite knowing that her mother had just been admitted to hospital after a suicide attempt.
Diamond will recount her belief that parts of the press waged a vendetta against her for nearly two decades after she asked News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch what he thought about "the fact that his newspapers ruined people's lives".
On Sunday, political blogger Guido Fawkes was summoned to appear before the inquiry after evidence from ex-No 10 communications chief Alastair Campbell was leaked online.
Mr Campbell is expected to tell Lord Justice Leveson on Wednesday the Daily Mirror may have hacked the phones of former prime miniter's wife Cherie Blair and Carole Caplin to get the story of Cherie's pregnancy.
Mr Campbell submitted papers containing the string of potentially damaging claims to lawyers ahead of his appearance.
But a link to the 16-page document appeared on the Guido Fawkes blog run by Paul Staines.
Writing on his blog, Mr Staines highlighted contentious elements in Mr Campbell's evidence and claims to have obtained the papers legally.
Mr Campbell said he was "genuinely shocked" to see his evidence in the public domain.
Prime Minister David Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry in July in response to revelations that the now-defunct NOTW commissioned a private detective to hack murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone after she disappeared in 2002.
At the last hearing on Friday, the inquiry heard moving evidence from Madeleine McCann's parents.
Kate and Gerry McCann described how suspicion surrounding them led to a barrage of highly personal media reports.
Mr McCann told the inquiry there were "sinister reports" circulating about the couple's involvement after their daughter vanished in 2007 and the reporting quickly became highly speculative.
Mrs McCann told of her distress at reports that her daughter was dead and said she felt her voice carried no weight against the power of the media.
The witness schedule:
:: Tuesday, November 29

Guardian reporter Nick Davies, former NOTW journalist Paul McMullan, and former Daily Star reporter Richard Peppiatt.

:: Wednesday, November 30

Alastair Campbell, spin doctor to Tony Blair and former Daily Mirror journalist
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.

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