More time for police to question Chris Jefferies over Joanna Yeates murder

Chris Jefferies, 65, was arrested yesterday morning and a magistrate tonight granted Avon and Somerset Police an extension to hold him beyond 7pm.

The development came after officers spent the day talking to Peter Stanley, 56, a neighbour of the retired public school teacher in Clifton, Bristol, who said he and Mr Jefferies helped start Miss Yeates's boyfriend's car the day she vanished.

Miss Yeates, who grew up in Ampfield, near Romsey, had lived in the same block of flats as Mr Jefferies since October.

His arrest came just 24 hours after he claimed he had watched as three people left Miss Yeates' flat in Canynge Road, in the upmarket area of Clifton, Bristol, on the night she vanished.

Mr Jefferies later denied he had told police he saw Miss Yeates leaving with two unidentified people.

Neighbours and former pupils yesterday painted a picture of Mr Jefferies an eccentric loner, who had an unconventional dress and walked and talked strangely, although was a ''pillar of society'' with a keen interest in local politics and community matters.

He was a respected former teacher at prestigious private school Clifton College, situated yards from his large flat.

Mr Jefferies, originally from Grimsby, taught at the college from the late 1960s onwards, rising to the position of head of English, before taking early retirement in 2001.

Described by former pupils as a flamboyant character, Mr Jefferies cut a distinctive figure as a teacher, boasting a mass of dyed blue hair.

He is said to have had a fixation with 19th century poet Christina Rossetti, a leading light in the avant garde Pre Raphaelite movement of the period, who wrote extensively about unhappy love and death.

He was vice chairman of his local Neighbourhood Watch, and an active member of Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society, which campaigns to conserve buildings.

Ray Lowman, who lives in a flat opposite the mansion where Mr Jefferies and Miss Yeates lived, said: ''He is basically a pillar of society. One of the well-known familiar locals.”

Forensic officers spent the day in both Miss Yeates' flat and Mr Jefferies' property - taking away large brown evidence bags from both.

Miss Yeates was last seen on December 17 and her snow-covered body was found on Christmas morning by a couple walking their dogs in Longwood Lane in Failand, North Somerset. She had been strangled.

Her parents, David, 63, and Theresa, 58, said they were pleased an arrest had been made.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman confirmed a 65-year-old man was arrested at an address in Canynge Road at 7am yesterday and had been taken into custody at a police station within the force area for questioning.

The police were this morning granted another 12 hours to continue to question Mr Jefferies.