LONDON, (Reuters) – Two British newspapers have been found guilty of contempt of court for publishing potentially prejudicial coverage of a former suspect in a murder investigation, the Attorney General’s office said yesterday.
Articles in the Daily Mirror and The Sun had the potential to impede the course of justice, the High Court ruled.
They were among eight newspapers which had earlier agreed to pay substantial libel damages to the former suspect, Chris Jefferies.
Landscape gardener Joanna Yeates, 25, was found dead on Christmas Day two miles from her Bristol home and the 65-year-old Jefferies, a retired schoolmaster, was subsequently arrested during the course of the police investigation.
Several papers ran extensive articles raking over his background in an unflattering light but he was never charged and ultimately a near neighbour, Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, admitted killing Yeates. He faces trial later this year.
