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Joanna Yeates murder: police switch attention to second house
Detectives investigating the murder of Joanna Yeates have switched the focus of their investigation to a second property.
Image 1 of 3
Peter Stanley, 56, who lives in a flat in the mansion to the right of Chris Jefferies on Canynge Road Photo: JAY WILLIAMS
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By Martin Evans, Steven Swinford and Caroline Gammell 10:28PM GMT 31 Dec 2010
Officers carrying forensics bags entered a £1.5 million detached house next door to the flat where the murdered landscape architect lived with her boyfriend, Greg Reardon.
They spent more than an hour speaking to the owner of the property, Peter Stanley, and his tenant, Laurence Penney, 41, and later left carrying a small number of items in a brown forensic bag.
Mr Penney, a design consultant, told The Daily Telegraph that he had been asked to account for his movements around the time of Miss Yeates’s disappearance. He said the questioning had been “routine” because he had only just returned home after a Christmas break in Europe.
Detectives took away for examination a maroon BMW car belonging to Mr Stanley, a 56-year-old mechanical engineer.
He drove the vehicle to a police station accompanied by a detective and was driven back about an hour later in a marked police car.
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The developments came as police continued to question Miss Yeates’s landlord, Christopher Jefferies, 65, on suspicion of her murder.
It is understood that police are keen to establish the chain of events that took place at the address in Canynge Road, in the Clifton area of Bristol, in the hours before Miss Yeates disappeared on Dec 17.
Earlier that evening, Mr Stanley helped Mr Jefferies start Mr Reardon’s car, which had a flat battery.
After successfully using jump leads borrowed from Mr Stanley, the 27-year-old travelled to Sheffield where he spent the weekend with his half-brother, leaving Miss Yeates alone.
Mr Jefferies, a former English master at nearby Clifton College public school, was arrested on Thursday morning after he allegedly reported seeing Miss Yeates, 25, leave her flat with two people around the time of her disappearance.
Detectives were granted a further extension to continue questioning him last night and now have until 7am on Monday morning to charge or release him. Neighbours said yesterday that Mr Jefferies may have spent Christmas away from Bristol, possibly in one of the properties he owned in southern France.
They said they had not seen him at all over the Christmas period and believed he may have been abroad.
Mr Jefferies owned two flats in Nice, in the south of France, which he let out to holidaymakers and friends.
A close friend, who asked not to be named, said he visited the properties once a year to carry out routine maintenance.
The friend said Mr Jefferies was an admirer of French culture and bought a house in the Dordogne in 1995.
“He used to spend three weeks a year there and spent a great deal of time doing the property up. He was always interested in French culture,” he said.
He sold the house five years ago and invested the proceeds in the two flats in Nice.
Mr Penney said he and his landlord, Mr Stanley, had been helping police with their inquiries.
“I’ve been away and police interviewed me today,” he said. “I was here when Joanna disappeared but didn’t see or hear anything unusual.
“I see him [Mr Jefferies] from time to time. He is a very intelligent man, a delightful chap.
“I didn’t see him on that day or after she disappeared. It’s very sad. I assumed she had absconded with someone, I didn’t think she’d had been killed.
“I didn’t know her or her boyfriend myself. Police were just making sure they knew where I was on the day she disappeared, if I had any emails or anything to back up what I was saying.”
As the focus of the investigation moved next door, forensic officers wearing white protective suits completed their search of Miss Yeates’s basement flat.
As detectives continued to question Mr Jefferies, more details emerged of his early life.
Born in Grimsby, he moved to Cheshire with his parents, Kathleen and Edward, when he was aged 10. A pupil at Sandbach Grammar School, he excelled academically, and studied English at Bristol University.
Neighbours of his late parents said he was keen on classical music as a youngster and had an organ in his bedroom as a child.
When his mother died, he played the organ at her funeral.
He joined the staff at Clifton College public school in the late 1970s and was well regarded among the staff and pupils.
In 1991, he bought a flat belonging to Clifton College in Canynge Road in the Clifton area of Bristol.
Mr Jefferies bought the flat in the same building as the one rented to Miss Yeates in the 1990s from a fellow teacher who was currently in jail for abusing a young boy at the property.
Stephen Johnston, a French Master at nearby Clifton Preparatory School, is serving a seven-year term for molesting a 13 year-old pupil.
There was no suggestion that Mr Jefferies had any involvement in Johnston’s crimes.
The Attorney General warned yesterday that some coverage of the case could risk damaging the prospects for a successful trial.
“We need to avoid a situation where trials cannot take place or are prejudiced as a result of irrelevant or improper material being published, whether in print form or on the internet, in such a way that a trial becomes impossible,” Dominic Grieve told the BBC.
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Joanna Yeates murder: police switch attention to second house
Detectives investigating the murder of Joanna Yeates have switched the focus of their investigation to a second property.
Image 1 of 3
Peter Stanley, 56, who lives in a flat in the mansion to the right of Chris Jefferies on Canynge Road Photo: JAY WILLIAMS
ARTICLE
Landlord Christopher Jefferies was 'meddler'
ARTICLE
Police review unsolved 1974 killing
ARTICLE
Christopher Jefferies: profile of blue-haired eccentric
PICTURES
Joanna Yeates murder
ARTICLE
Joanna Yeates murder timeline
ARTICLE
Parents 'pleased' about arrest
VIDEO
Landlord: I cannot confirm seeing Joanna Yeates
ARTICLE
The unanswered questions
By Martin Evans, Steven Swinford and Caroline Gammell 10:28PM GMT 31 Dec 2010
Officers carrying forensics bags entered a £1.5 million detached house next door to the flat where the murdered landscape architect lived with her boyfriend, Greg Reardon.
They spent more than an hour speaking to the owner of the property, Peter Stanley, and his tenant, Laurence Penney, 41, and later left carrying a small number of items in a brown forensic bag.
Mr Penney, a design consultant, told The Daily Telegraph that he had been asked to account for his movements around the time of Miss Yeates’s disappearance. He said the questioning had been “routine” because he had only just returned home after a Christmas break in Europe.
Detectives took away for examination a maroon BMW car belonging to Mr Stanley, a 56-year-old mechanical engineer.
He drove the vehicle to a police station accompanied by a detective and was driven back about an hour later in a marked police car.
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Joanna Yeates murder: Christopher Jefferies helped fix car for boyfriend's trip away31 Dec 2010
The developments came as police continued to question Miss Yeates’s landlord, Christopher Jefferies, 65, on suspicion of her murder.
It is understood that police are keen to establish the chain of events that took place at the address in Canynge Road, in the Clifton area of Bristol, in the hours before Miss Yeates disappeared on Dec 17.
Earlier that evening, Mr Stanley helped Mr Jefferies start Mr Reardon’s car, which had a flat battery.
After successfully using jump leads borrowed from Mr Stanley, the 27-year-old travelled to Sheffield where he spent the weekend with his half-brother, leaving Miss Yeates alone.
Mr Jefferies, a former English master at nearby Clifton College public school, was arrested on Thursday morning after he allegedly reported seeing Miss Yeates, 25, leave her flat with two people around the time of her disappearance.
Detectives were granted a further extension to continue questioning him last night and now have until 7am on Monday morning to charge or release him. Neighbours said yesterday that Mr Jefferies may have spent Christmas away from Bristol, possibly in one of the properties he owned in southern France.
They said they had not seen him at all over the Christmas period and believed he may have been abroad.
Mr Jefferies owned two flats in Nice, in the south of France, which he let out to holidaymakers and friends.
A close friend, who asked not to be named, said he visited the properties once a year to carry out routine maintenance.
The friend said Mr Jefferies was an admirer of French culture and bought a house in the Dordogne in 1995.
“He used to spend three weeks a year there and spent a great deal of time doing the property up. He was always interested in French culture,” he said.
He sold the house five years ago and invested the proceeds in the two flats in Nice.
Mr Penney said he and his landlord, Mr Stanley, had been helping police with their inquiries.
“I’ve been away and police interviewed me today,” he said. “I was here when Joanna disappeared but didn’t see or hear anything unusual.
“I see him [Mr Jefferies] from time to time. He is a very intelligent man, a delightful chap.
“I didn’t see him on that day or after she disappeared. It’s very sad. I assumed she had absconded with someone, I didn’t think she’d had been killed.
“I didn’t know her or her boyfriend myself. Police were just making sure they knew where I was on the day she disappeared, if I had any emails or anything to back up what I was saying.”
As the focus of the investigation moved next door, forensic officers wearing white protective suits completed their search of Miss Yeates’s basement flat.
As detectives continued to question Mr Jefferies, more details emerged of his early life.
Born in Grimsby, he moved to Cheshire with his parents, Kathleen and Edward, when he was aged 10. A pupil at Sandbach Grammar School, he excelled academically, and studied English at Bristol University.
Neighbours of his late parents said he was keen on classical music as a youngster and had an organ in his bedroom as a child.
When his mother died, he played the organ at her funeral.
He joined the staff at Clifton College public school in the late 1970s and was well regarded among the staff and pupils.
In 1991, he bought a flat belonging to Clifton College in Canynge Road in the Clifton area of Bristol.
Mr Jefferies bought the flat in the same building as the one rented to Miss Yeates in the 1990s from a fellow teacher who was currently in jail for abusing a young boy at the property.
Stephen Johnston, a French Master at nearby Clifton Preparatory School, is serving a seven-year term for molesting a 13 year-old pupil.
There was no suggestion that Mr Jefferies had any involvement in Johnston’s crimes.
The Attorney General warned yesterday that some coverage of the case could risk damaging the prospects for a successful trial.
“We need to avoid a situation where trials cannot take place or are prejudiced as a result of irrelevant or improper material being published, whether in print form or on the internet, in such a way that a trial becomes impossible,” Dominic Grieve told the BBC.
Share:
Crime
News »
UK News »
Caroline Gammell »
Martin Evans »
IN NEWS
Joanna Yeates murder
CCTV of Joanna Yeates in off-licence
CCTV of Joanna Yeates in Tesco
Honeymoon murder in South Africa
British spy death mystery
