Christopher Jefferies speaks of pain at seeing TV recreation of his arrest

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/29/christopher-jefferies-tv-joanna-yeates-murder

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The Bristol landlord wrongly linked to the murder of Joanna Yeates four years ago has spoken of his pain at seeing his arrest recreated for a forthcoming ITV drama after he was invited on to the set by producers during filming.

Retired teacher Christopher Jefferies was arrested when Yeates, who rented a flat from him, was found dead on Christmas Day 2010. He was questioned for two days before being bailed by police and eliminated from the inquiry several months later. Vincent Tabak, who lived next door to Yeates in Bristol, was jailed for life in October 2011 after being convicted of her murder.

Jefferies found himself at the centre of a media frenzy after he was arrested and he later won libel damages from eight newspapers. He was invited on the film set to watch actor Jason Watkins playing him in the two-part ITV production, which is to be broadcast next month.

“I went to the set, which had my flat … and the street outside recreated, and there were 13 takes. Because my arrest is done in the film exactly as it happened, I found it quite impossible to watch Jason in that scene,” Jefferies told the latest issue of Radio Times.

“It didn’t seem to me to be necessarily the most sensitive thing to invite me to go and see.”

However, despite his ordeal, Jefferies said he had never been bitter. “I think I’ve been incredibly fortunate. Partly in the legal representation I had, which couldn’t have been better. And in the support I had – because I’m quite certain that I wouldn’t have been able to cope if – on being released from custody – I’d had to stay in a bail hostel, or something like that.

“And then, and this was the most important thing as far as my relatives were concerned, that my rehabilitation was as public as the libel. So I do feel, as I say, incredibly fortunate.”

The eight papers issued public apologies to him in July 2011 and agreed to pay substantial damages thought to run into six figures.

The tabloid press portrayed him as a “sexually perverted voyeur who used teaching as a means of feeding my perversions”, Jefferies said in evidence to Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, later that year.

Tabak was convicted of the sexually motivated murder of Yeates and jailed for a minimum of 20 years. He is played in the drama by Joe Sims, who was plumber Nige Carter in another ITV drama, Broadchurch.

The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies was written by Peter Morgan, of Frost/Nixon and The Queen fame, and directed by Roger Michell, a Bafta winner whose credits include Notting Hill and was a former pupil of Jefferies at Clifton College in Bristol. Jefferies was an English teacher at the co-educational independent boarding school for 34 years before taking early retirement at 56 in 2001.

Another former pupil, Clive Panto, helped to organise legal support for Jefferies and offered him accommodation after his release from custody. Panto, an executive coach, now acts as Jefferies’ agent given the demands on his time for interviews, speeches and appearances.

Asked whether he recognised himself in the film, Jefferies said: “I suppose it would be quite strange if I didn’t, given the amount of time I spent talking to Peter Morgan and to Jason Watkins.” He added: “In a sense, I suppose the writer was using me and what happened to me to say something that he particularly wanted to say about the state of British society.”

Morgan said when the production was first announced: “I want to make sure that no one forgets the same man who was acquitted, and who fought back to clear his name, and became a very British kind of hero.”

The drama has been made by Carnival Films, the production company behind Downton Abbey and Hotel Babylon. The first 90-minute episode airs on Wednesday 10 December at 9pm on ITV and concludes the following night.