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Kill Total: |
1 |
Kill place: |
Fulham, London |
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Kill date: |
26th April 1999 |
Victim(s): |
Jill Dando |
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Date of Birth: |
15th April 1960 |
Marital Status: |
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AKA: |
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Occupation: |
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26th April 1999 Jill
Dando left the home of her fiancé, Dr. Alan Farthing, and
returned to her own house in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, West
London.
As she reached her front
door at about 11:30am, she was shot once in the head
Her body was discovered
shortly after by a friend, local resident Dando was taken
to Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on
arrival at 1:03pm. She was just 37 years old.
The murder investigation by
the Police – named Operation Oxborough – lasted for well
over a year.
Dando's status as a well
known public figure brought her into contact with
thousands of people, there was fevered press speculation
about the motive for her killing,
With little progress after
a year, a case review highlighted a suspect who had been
overlooked, the police focused on the odd behaviour of a
man who lived around half-a-mile from Dando's home. After
a period of police surveillance, police arrested Barry
George for her murder.
2nd July 2001,
George was found guilty of murder in a trial at the Old
Bailey, and was sentenced on to life imprisonment.
November 2007, Barry
George successfully appealed his conviction and was held
in custody in Whitemoor Prison, pending retrial in 2008.
2002, the Court of
Appeal's judgment on the appeal, having addressed a number
of grounds including eyewitness testimony, scientific
evidence and the role of the trial judge, concluded that
the verdict of the jury was not unsafe and the appeal was
dismissed.
March 2006, Barry
George's lawyers sought an appeal on fresh evidence based
on medical examinations suggesting he was not capable of
committing the crime because of his mental disabilities,
and that the circumstances surrounding the original arrest
were inaccurate.
September 2006,
following investigations by George's campaigners and a
BBC-TV Panorama documentary about the conviction,
broadcast in the UK on 5th September 2006 and which
included an interview with the foreman of the jury at the
original trial, fresh evidence was submitted to the
Criminal Cases Review Commission by the programme-makers
and by Barry George's solicitor.
The evidence was concerned
with scientific analysis of the alleged gunshot residue,
eyewitness evidence, and psychiatric reports.
20th June 2007, the
Criminal Cases Review Commission announced that it would
refer George's case to the Court of Appeal.
5th November 2007
Trial begins,. One of the defence team's main grounds of
appeal was that the single particle of gunshot residue in
George's coat pocket was not evidence which conclusively
linked George to the crime scene; it could have appeared
as a result of contamination of the coat when it was
placed on a mannequin to be photographed as police
evidence.
7th November 2007
the Court of Appeal reserved judgement in the case and on;
15th November 2007
it was announced that the appeal was allowed and the
conviction quashed.
14th December 2007,
Barry George appeared before the old Bailey, and as in the
original trial pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jill
Dando.
9th June 2008, new
trial starts
Friday 1st August 2008,
Barry George was found not guilty ands was acquitted of
all charges. He was released an innocent man.
