? Chris Jefferies tells how he was portrayed as a 'creepy oddball', a 'pervert' and a' peeping Tom'.
? He says he was 'never fully recover' from the libellous coverage of his arrest.
? He says the PCC ignored a request to investigate the 'scurrilous reporting'.
? Jefferies says despite his vindciation some people will always 'retain the impression that I am a very weird character indeed who is best avoided'.
The private investigator had employed a private detective who specialised in computer viruses to do the computer hacking job.
This individual was known to Hurst as he had served in the intelligence forces in northern Ireland for three years.
He tells how his computer was hacked by a "Trojan horse". He says the military Trojans would have been quite sophisticated because they would have contained in a "micro-dot" or a "full stop" but the newspaper Trojans were not so sophisticated because they required someone to open an attachement.
He had been shown a seven-page fax by the BBC. This contained material from July 2006 which was "not only material from his computer" but also "one particular extract from an email and other material that hadn't been directly related" to his computer.
"It was a precis of information they had collected and forwarded to Dublin [to the News of the World headquarters in Ireland]."
The Panorama team covertly filmed one of the computer hackers involved. The film was shot over two-and-a-half hours and this was cut to about one minute.
He told the BBC that he believed one of his computers was hacked by the News of the World.
He went to live in France in 1994 but has maintained links with his previous work. The inquiry is now discussing the Panorama documentary about the phone and computer hacking row that was engulfing the News of the World. It was broadcast in March 2011 and contained an interview with Hurst.
His statement is redacted because of a gagging order ? an injunction brought by the Crown against him in 1999.
He says his job was to recruit, develop and exploit agents in republican paramilitary organisations.
Hurst was a "handler" in northern Ireland and acted as one of the British army's contacts for IRA spies.
He served in covert units between 1980 and 1991 in northern Ireland.
Leveson is now back. Ian Hurst, the former British army intelligence officer, is the next witness.
The inquiry has now taken a five-minute break.
Jefferies finishes his evidence by saying:
I very much hope that as a result of the present inquiry, it will be possible to put in a place arrangements whereby it will be very difficult indeed for newspapers to in the future behave in the way they did in my case.
Jefferies says the libel actions completely cleared him of any involvement in the murder and also of any improper behaviour in his past.
However he says he "will never fully recover from the events" and the "incalculable" effect will "be difficult ever to escape".
He tells Leveson:
The smears were so extensive, it's true to say there will always be people who don't know me, who will retain the impression that I am some sort of very weird character indeed who is best avoided.
Jefferies says the bias against him was not confined to tabloid newspapers.
He doesn't identify the paper, but cites one broadsheet that ignored reader protests about the coverage of his arrest.
I am aware that quite a large number of people complained about a newspaper. None of those letters were published in that broadsheet and there was no response to those letters even when one of their columnists brought them to the attention to the editor.
Jefferies says the apologies in the newspapers were printed "on page 2 towards the top of the page". He received no communication from the editors of the papers that made payouts.
Jefferies wrote to the PCC complaining about the "scurrilous reporting of an innocent man". In a lengthy written appeal for action he said:
In the coverage of my case there was flagrant lawlessness. Newspapers searching for sensation and increased sales will take almost any risk.
He tells Leveson he didn't receive an acknowledgement from the PCC.
Jefferies says the director of the PCC, Stephen Abell, wrote to his solicitor indicating that it would wish to examine how the problems arose and how they could be prevented.
Jefferies also gave an interview to ITV which can be seen here. He gave it to ITV because he used to teach the reporter.
Leveson says "it was worse than that" ? it was "damaging" and "false".
Jefferies says:
It is incontestable that the whole slanting of the coverage was as sensational as it was exploitative, as titillating to appeal in every possible way to people's voyeuristic instincts.
Jefferies did give one interview. It was with Brian Cathcart for the Financial Times, published on 8 October.
He said Cathcart did a good job of "distilling" his experience.
Legal proceedings are never speedy, says Jefferies, and it took three months for his case to come to court. Jay says "that is pretty fast".
Some of the newspapers admitted liability and agreed to pay damages.
Jefferies then launched libel proceedings against eight newspapers ? the Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, the Scotsman, the Daily Record and the Sunday Mirror.
Here's a link to the Guardian's story at the time.
On 4 March, the police lifted Jefferies's bail conditions.
Jefferies said the period preceding was hell:
It was the most difficult period I have spent living this hole-in-corner existence with my life in effect being in abeyance.
A statement by Yeates's boyfriend Greg Riordan was more or less ignored by the press in relation to Jefferies.
The third article which attracted contempt proceedings was on the Daily Mirror on New Year's Day. It was headlined: "Was killer waiting in Jo's flat?"
Jefferies says it suggested that because he was the the landlord and had keys to the flat he must have been waiting there for Yeates's return.
An article in the Daily Mirror on 31 December 2010 which was the subject of contempt of court proceedings was headlined "Jo suspect is peeping tom".
"It appears to be linking you to an old murder and paedophile crimes," Robert Jay the counsel for the inquiry notes.
A Sun article titled "The strange Mr Jefferies" referred to him as "WEIRD 'Strange talk, strange walk'; POSH 'Loved culture, poetry'; LEWD 'Made sexual remarks'; CREEPY 'Loner with blue rinse hair'". It also branded him a "creepy oddball".
Another article was headlined "Murder police quiz nutty professor".
There were more than 40 articles cited in Jefferies' evidence.
Three of the articles were held in contempt of court including the Sun, which reported "Jo suspect scared kids - obsessed by death", and an article in the Daily Mirror asking "Was killer waiting in Jo's flat?".
The inquiry hears how the press protrayed Jefferies as some sort of sexual deviant.
It was certainly suggested that there may well have been some sort of sexual motive for the murder of Joanna Yeates and ... it was suggested in some of the articles that I was gay.
So that created a bit of a problem as far as that line goes. There was another suggestion that I was a bisexual. The press were trying to have it every possible way.
The impact of these photographs was that I was instantly recognisable. It would be fair to say that I had a distinctive appearance and it was a result of the entire world knowing what I looked like. It was suggested to me that I ought to change my appearance so I wouldn't be recognised and harassed by the media.
Sources often had very spurious links to him.
One of them just happened to live in a flat that he had owned.
Somebody who was not on the staff of the establishment where I was teaching ? had at one time lived in one of the flats in the building where I live. He had sold that flat to somebody else, who sold it to another person, it was that person who I eventually bought the flat. There was a very considerable gap [between buying the flat from the person].
Jefferies says reporters were so good at hunting him down, they were like private detectives.
The efforts which some members of the press went to to contact some of these people was extraordinary and worthy of private detectives, I would have thought.
A number of those who were contacted by the press refused to make any statements. Very many of the comments contained in the articles published are not attributed ? only a handful are attributed. I haven't been in contact with any of those whose names have been attached to supposed quotations.
Jefferies says he felt he was under "house arrest" after his release from custody, besieged by press.
I was very strongly advised not to go out. If it had have been apparent where I was staying those friends would have been beseiged by reporters and photographers.
In effect for a period after I was released I was effectively under house arrest and went from friends to friends, rather as if I was a recusant priest at the time of the Reformation going from safe house to safe house.
During the time Jefferies was in custody he was not aware of the reporting by the press.
When he was released, his solicitor outlined in "general terms" what the press coverage had been.
They suggested that it might be good for his "psychological health" that he didn't read the coverage.
At this point the press were also talking to his neighbours, but at that point they had not got in contact with any former pupils or relatives.
Jefferies is asked whether there was any interest by the press before the arrest.
Jefferies says the press were interested in the second statement he had given to the police.
They had a "garbled version" of this statement, Jefferies says.
The inquiry is now setting the scene for Jefferies testimony. It was 17 December last year when Joanne Yeates disappeared. Jefferies was arrested at 7am on 30 December and released on police bail on 1 January 2011.
Jefferies, who is well spoken and composed, is now running through his career. He is now retired, and owns three flats in Bristol.
Jefferies, a former schoolteacher, won a case against two papers for contempt in their coverage; the Sun was fined �18,000, and the Daily Mirror �50,000.
It must be singularly unpleasant to relive the events that you lived through, Leveson tells Jefferies.
Chris Jefferies is now taking the stand.
Dan Sabbagh, our head of media, tweets:
Brilliant. Paul Staines who is opposed press regulation, is now summoned to Leveson. Statutory regulation right there.
Here are profiles of today's witnesses:
Christopher Jefferies
This time last year Christopher Jefferies was an anonymous former English teacher from Bristol. His life was turned upside down over a manic fortnight of tabloid intrusion in December, after he was arrested and later released without charge over the murder of the architect Joanna Yeates. His public "character assassination", as Jefferies' solicitor later described it, led to Britain's tabloid press appearing in the dock over charges of libel and contempt of court. Eight titles ? the Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Scotsman and Daily Express ? agreed to pay Jefferies substantial libel damages, thought to total six figures, in July. The Sun and Daily Mirror were separately fined �18,000 and �50,000 respectively for contempt of court.
Ian Hurst
Hurst is a former British army intelligence officer who worked in Northern Ireland. His computer was allegedly hacked by the News of the World, which was supposedly searching for details of an IRA informer. Hurst claims that a private investigator confirmed to him that he placed a Trojan virus on his hard drive to obtain emails over a three-month period for the News of the World. This is now the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation. The BBC's Panorama filmed Hurst being shown copies of information allegedly obtained from his computer. The programme claimed the investigator was commissioned by Alex Marunchak, a former News of the World journalist who was a senior figure at the paper. Hurst is suing the owner of the defunct paper, Rupert Murdoch's News International, in the high court.
Jane Winter
A peace campaigner and charity worker in Northern Ireland who runs British Irish Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation which monitors human rights abuses on both sides of the political and religious divide.
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church will tell the Leveson inquiry how the News of the World in 2005 printed lurid details of her father's alleged extramarital affair allegedly gleaned from voicemail messages left on the singer's phone. Through intercepted voicemail messages, the paper is alleged to have learned that Church's mother was admitted to hospital shortly before the story was published after attempting to commit suicide. Barrister David Sherborne told the Leveson inquiry that the News of the World then approached Church's mother and persuaded her to an exclusive interview about the affair, in return for not publishing further "lurid" details gleaned from alleged voicemail intercepts. "When people talk of public interest in exposing the private lives of well-known people or those close to them this, is the real, brutally real impact, which this kind of journalism has," Sherborne said.
Anne Diamond
Former breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond insists her battle with News International began over two decades ago, when she asked Rupert Murdoch at a party how it felt to own newspapers that ruin people's lives. "You can't do that to a newspaper mogul," David Sherborne told the Leveson inquiry. Diamond is expected to tell the inquiry how she felt when the Sun published a front page picture of her holding her son's coffin at his funeral in 1991. On a separate occasion, the Sun was accused of paying the Diamond family's nanny to reveal intimate details about her alleged relationship with Diamond's husband.
Leveson shows his displeasure with Guido Fawkes. "It wasn't how I was envisaging spending Sunday evening either," he says referring to the leak last night on Fawkes blog.
The judge say he is concerned to "deprive" Guido Fawkes of that "oxygen" of publicity.
He says he will be summoning Paul Staines to explain how he got the testimony.
I intend to issue notice under section 21 of the Inquiries Act requiring him to disclose how he came about the evidence ... and requiring him to give evidence.
Caplan says:
The fact is that although the leak itself has been widely published the contents of Mr Campbell's statement it appears have not been widely disseminated. The content of Mr Campbell's statement make a number of points against a number of organisations and individuals.
Jonathan Caplan, counsel for Associated Newspapers, does not want Campbell's statement to be published today.
Leveson says his view last night was that it should be published today ? two days in advance ? this is affording people 72 hours' notice in advance.
Leveson says he does not want to give Guido Fawkes "the oxygen of additional publicity" and is minded to have the Campbell testimony published.
Leveson says he is "concerned for the future" and has warned anyone who leaks testimony that they can be referred to the high court for "appropriate action".
He has reminded those at the hearing that section 19 of the Inquiries Act restricts the publication or disclosure whether in whole or in part ? outside the confidentiality circle which comprises Leveson, his assessors, the core inquiry team, the core participants ? any statement prior to the making of the statement orally.
The blogger got hold of Campbell's draft statement and published it three days before he was due to appear. Normally the statement is not made available until the witness is sworn in.
I am obviously concerned about the security of the information that is available and to maintain the integrity of the inquiry as we move forward.
As a result I am intending to inquire ... into the circumstances in which this statement came to be made available for publication.
The inquiry has now opened and Lord Justice Leveson is talking about Guido Fawkes' leak of Alastair Campbell's witness statement.
Roy Greenslade today writes how many veteran journalists were appalled by the evidence given at the Leveson inquiry last week:
Evidence given to the Leveson inquiry last week appalled many veteran journalists. Among them was John Dale ? a former national newspaper reporter and magazine editor ? who wrote on the gentlemenranters site of "journalistic corruption and debasement" that "shamed Fleet Street."
Another hardened old hand, Jim Cassidy, was disgusted too. As the editor of two red-tops ? the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail and, briefly, theSunday Mirror ? he knows the business from the inside.
I am pleased to act as host to his passionate response to the revelations of the first week's hearings...
Do journalists cry? Do editors cry? Do photographers cry? They should. They do. They must. I advise any of the journalists due to attend court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice over the next week to stop and take some time out at prayer room E131.
There, they can find time to reflect, pray and perhaps shed a few tears for the hurt, anguish and pain they have caused...
At the Leveson inquiry today is Dan Sabbagh - you can follow him on @dansabbagh.
On the live blog today are Lisa O'Carroll and Josh Halliday ? you can follow them on Twitter at @lisaocarroll and @JoshHalliday.
James Robinson ? @jamesro47 ? is also in court to cover an application by Steve Coogan and former Max Clifford PR Nicola Phillips to force former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to reveal who ordered him to hack into phones. The hearing begins at 10.30am.
We will bring you the latest as soon as it breaks.
Lord Justice Leveson yesterday summoned Guido Fawkes blogger Paul Staines to give evidence to the inquiry after his website published evidence from Alastair Campbell three days before it was due to be publicly heard.
Evidence has not previously been made available to the public or the press until the witness is sworn in, but the leak was apparently of a draft Campbell testimony.
Good morning and welcome to day eight at the Leveson inquiry.
The paparazzi will be centre stage again today, with singer Charlotte Church describing how she has been tailed by photographers throughout her life but particularly when she started dating rugby player Gavin Henson.
Former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst will testify on his experience on northern Ireland where he alleges he was spied on by press interested in his job as a "handler" for IRA informers.
Newspaper stories about alleged spy Freddie Scappaticci and murdered solicitor Pat Finucane are expected to be raised.
Hurst believes someone acting for a newspaper infected his computer with a Trojan virus to try and establish Scappaticci's whereabouts and to source information about Martin McGuinness.
Also taking the stand today is former breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond; Chris Jefferies, the Bristol landlord wrongly linked to the murder of Joanne Yeates; and Jane Winter, a peace campaigner who has worked in northern Ireland.
Please note that comments have been turned off for legal reasons.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/nov/28/leveson-inquiry-charlotte-church-anne-diamond-live
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