Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers apologises for invading privacy of man wrongly arrested for high-profile murder
Rupert Murdoch’s news publisher in the UK agreed to pay “substantial damages” to a man wrongly arrested for a high-profile murder, after apologising for the invasion of his privacy.
Christopher Jefferies, a retired schoolteacher and landlord from Bristol, was wrongfully arrested in 2010 for the murder of Joanna Yeates, a landscape architect.
He took legal action against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes the Sun, in 2022 over alleged voicemail interception. NGN also published the News of the World, which was closed after the phone-hacking scandal.
It has now emerged in court that Jefferies and NGN settled a claim at the high court in November 2024. News UK, the parent company of NGN, said the settlement was made on the basis of the invasion of Jefferies’ privacy by the News of the World.
