We're pleased arrest has been made, say Joanna's parents

The parents of Joanna Yeates said they were "pleased" an arrest had been made in the hunt for her killer yesterday.

David Yeates, 63, who along with his wife Theresa has made tearful public appeals for information relating to the murder of his daughter, reiterated his support for the way Avon and Somerset police were conducting Operation Braid – the name given to the investigation involving more than 70 officers.

Speaking at the family home in Ampfield, Hampshire, Mr Yeates said: "Obviously I'm not happy because my daughter is still dead. But we are pleased the police have made an arrest as they have been working very hard to make progress in this case. During the investigation, police have not told us everything they have discovered but we understand there are certain things that they cannot reveal."

As detectives last night continued to question Chris Jefferies, the former English teacher arrested on suspicion of Ms Yeates's murder, staff at Clifton College, the school where he taught for more than 30 years, said he had completed his career with an unblemished record.

Mark Moore, head teacher at the school, said: "There was nothing in his record at all and he took early retirement, which he is perfectly entitled to do. When a new head of English came into the school he decided to bow out."

Former students of the English master said he had been an idiosyncratic part of a department which encouraged the expression of "poetry, ideas and feelings" and was fond of playing practical jokes with other members of staff.

One pupil of the bachelor during the 1970s wrote: "[He] pronounced interesting places in interesting ways and illuminated the [19th-century poet] Christina Rossetti for us."