“A lone women?”
But Michelle Diskin (As she was known then) wasn’t on her own. Her Uncle Mike Burke, her mother and others were also in attendance.
Excerpts from Mike Bourke’s book:
“Mansfield was one of the top six defence lawyers in England, if not the best. The Daily Mail referred to him as a Champagne Socialist and he appeared to be hated by the Mail, some judges and lawyers. Jealously is said to be the reason for that. He represented the Price sisters who bombed the Old Bailey in 1973 destroying Mansfield’s car in the process. 27 QCs became unavailable but he took on the case. The Guildford 4 and Birmingham Six appeals were amongst many other of his high profile cases. Fortunately Barry got Mansfield but he was adamant that he would keep solicitor Marilyn Etienne. I was horrified as I strongly felt that he needed a highly experienced lawyer such as Peirce, and I didn’t know of Marilyn’s track record. Michelle visited Barry along with Margaret to try and persuade him to change but it was not to be.
I did notice over time a tendency in him to be a bit of a hypochondriac. Unfortunately he had a side to him which I had not been very aware of. I always thought of him as a more or less harmless character who was a bit of a fantasist but that was not quite the case. In early ’83 his mother told me that he was in prison on remand. At his trial in the Old Bailey he pleaded guilty to a serious offence in February 1982 and got thirty months in prison. As Barry is once again trying to get on with his life I have decided not to go into the details which have received much press coverage but I do recall reading in a newspaper at the time that he initially denied it but that the detective tripped him up by asking him if he spoke any German. Barry replied ‘Ich Verstain’, (I understand). It appears that he used the same expression to the unfortunate victim who was a student studying German. So it would seem that a clever detective had no trouble in tripping him up and getting to the truth. He served his time in Wormwood Scrubbs, Brixton and Grendon Underwood prisons. I visited him a couple of times along with his mother and Eddie. He was free again by Christmas 1984 and he seemed to settle down after that. He never spoke to me about the crime and I never asked but I read her own account in 2001 following his conviction for Jill Dando’s murder, and again in 2008 when she wrote that she doubted if Barry was a killer. Barry had a 125cc motorbike in the summer of 1986 which I thought was surprising given his epilepsy. It was a nice ‘bike and I had a spin on it. But one day a woman motorist pulled out in front of him and the ‘bike was wrecked. A taxi driver witnessed the accident and he wrote in a witness statement that ‘she didn’t give the poor fellow a chance’. I don’t think that he was seriously injured in the accident, just cuts and bruises and possibly a leg injury. After that he wisely decided to give up motorbikes and bought a mountain-bike.
“Barry, too, suffers from epilepsy, and the condition - which was not properly diagnosed until shortly before the trial - may have contributed to the mental problems he seems to have developed.[/i]
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jul/03/jilldando.media5
“It is now accepted that George does suffer from a mild form of epilepsy, though the experts are divided about its effects. Some believe George deliberately exaggerates the condition, others claim it has caused "severe brain dysfunction"
http://jeremybamberforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,8126.msg384497.html#msg384497
Barry George and epilepsy:Wasn’t properly diagnosed until just before his trial yet his Uncle Mike seems to suggest otherwise?
So who diagnosed Barry George’s epilepsy and when exactly? What do his medical records state?
In the Eddie Gilfoyle case, “
The Commission said that Professor Kopelman was content to accept that the claimant had been deprived of his medication during the trial, as the claimant alleged, and appeared to have based his conclusions largely on the claimant’s self-reporting.Kopelman was also involved in the Barry George
http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=7310.msg550859#msg550859“Staff at Heathermount, set in 14 idyllic acres in Sunningdale, Berkshire, remembered him as a "mummy's boy" who followed one of the matrons "like a lost lamb". The less academic pupils, like George, were encouraged to concentrate on woodwork, metalwork, weaving and gardening, and to perform in ambitious theatre productions, such as La Boheme and The Mikado.
It was here that George's obsession with celebrity began to emerge, insisting to friends and teachers that they should call him Paul Gadd, Gary Glitter's real name.
"He didn't just have posters on his walls like the other kids," said one former member of staff. "He knew every movement, song and dance."
At Heathermount, George may also have had his first contact with guns. In the spring of 1972 the school built a small-bore rifle range, much against the wishes of some parents and governors. Although it closed a year later, George would have known about and probably used the facility.
George often had "funny turns", but staff were not sure whether these episodes were real or feigned. Doctors examined him on two occasions between 1974 and 1976 and concluded there was nothing wrong.
It is now accepted that George does suffer from a mild form of epilepsy, though the experts are divided about its effects. Some believe George deliberately exaggerates the condition, others claim it has caused "severe brain dysfunction".
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jul/03/jilldando.media5“a mild form of epilepsy though the experts are divided about its effects
