Barry George is a man who was once considered a suspect in the murder of British television presenter Jill Dando.
Dando was shot dead outside her home in Fulham, London, on April 26, 1999.
George was arrested in May 2000 and charged with Dando’s murder, and was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, in 2007, George’s conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that the evidence against him was not strong enough to support a conviction.
He was released from prison, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided to retry him in 2008.
In 2009, he was found not guilty of Dando’s murder after a retrial.
The case against George was largely based on circumstantial evidence, including a single particle of gunshot residue found in his coat pocket and his alleged obsession with Dando.
However, there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene, and several witnesses who had identified him as being in the area at the time of the murder later retracted their statements.
Despite being acquitted of Dando’s murder, George’s life has been severely impacted by the case.
He has maintained his innocence throughout and has campaigned for compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.
Where is Barry George now?
After serving some time in prison, George was cleared of Dando’s murder and released from prison in 2008.
George now lives in Ireland.
Barry George compensation
George launched a compensation claim for his wrongful imprisonment, which was denied by the justice secretary.
He went to the high court seeking a reconsideration of his case that could have opened the way for him to claim an award of up to £500,000 for lost earnings and wrongful imprisonment.
However, George’s claim was rejected by two high court judges in January 2013.
He then lost his legal battle for compensation as a victim of a “miscarriage of justice” in the court of appeal in July 2013.
Lord Justice Beatson and Mr Justice Irwin had rejected his claim that the justice secretary unfairly and unlawfully decided he was “not innocent enough to be compensated”.
