Dando killer loses appeal over 'flaws in evidence'
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Barry George, the "oddball loner" found guilty of murdering Jill Dando, lost his appeal against the conviction yesterday when judges ruled there was compelling evidence that he killed the TV presenter.
After the ruling at the Court of Appeal, George, 42, continued to protest his innocence, saying: "I believe that one day the truth will come out."
George maintained an emotionless expression from behind the elaborate wrought iron bars of the dock throughout most of the two-hour judgment, occasionally grimacing in apparent disagreement.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, sitting with Mr Justice Curtis and Mr Justice Henriques, said: "Circumstantial evidence is not second-class evidence but it requires and received careful analysis.
"In this case the whole picture presented by that evidence is, in the opinion of this court, compelling, and the conviction was correct."
Afterwards, George said, in a statement through his lawyers: "I have spent over two years in prison for a crime I simply did not commit. I have struggled hard during this prosecution against me to keep my faith in the British criminal justice system. Today, that faith and belief has been destroyed."
Marilyn Etienne, his solicitor, announced that they would be seeking permission to appeal to the House of Lords. She claimed the judges had changed the "rules and safeguards enshrined in our system in order to protect innocent people from wrongful conviction".
George's sister, Michelle Diskin, said: "This just compounds the travesty that was last year's conviction."
But Detective Superintendent Hamish Campbell, who led the investigation, said: "A compelling case was placed before the jury and they found Barry George guilty of murder. Their verdict has been shown to be a proper one and I consider the judgment of the Court of Appeal is the right decision."
Dando, a 37-year-old television presenter, was shot in the head as she tried to get into her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, on the morning of 26 April, 1999.
George, who lived near by and was arrested a year later, denied murder but was convicted in July 2001 by a majority of 10-1 after 30 hours of deliberation by the jury.
Michael Mansfield, his QC, had argued during the appeal that the conviction was unsafe and that the trial judge should have halted the case., Vital identification evidence was flawed, he insisted. Only one person had positively identified his client near the scene of the crime but the prosecution had "converted" partial evidence to support its case, he said. He also challenged the reliability of a pivotal piece of forensic evidence – a tiny particle of gunpowder found in George's jacket pocket – claiming there could have been innocent contamination.
Orlando Pownall QC, for the Crown, insisted the jury had reached a safe conclusion after reviewing compelling evidence, which included two positive identifications. Yesterday, as they dismissed the appeal, the judges said the identification evidence had been "properly admitted".
They added: "It was evidence from which the jury could conclude that each witness saw the same man and that the man was the appellant, Barry George." Taken together, the rest of the evidence was "capable of being a powerful support of the identification evidence", they said.
The judgment read: "The jury could well have thought it could not have been a coincidence that the person identified should: live close to the scene of the murder; be in the vicinity of the murder on the day and at the time in question; be interested in firearms and Jill Dando and, when interviewed, have told lies about his movements at the time. To this has to be added the scientific evidence which involved further coincidences.
"The important thing in this case is the evidence as a whole. Looking at the evidence ... we have no doubt as to the correctness of the conviction."
The Court of Appeal ruled that Mr Justice Gage, the trial judge, had used his powers in an "exemplary manner".