The whole thing was a disgrace frankly that someone like George could ever be seen as being capable of such a crime without leaving a forensic footprint behind.
If you can keep an open mind for the time being and put aside what you have read about Barry George and concentrate on the facts of the evidence I'd be grateful. We can revisit SY at some point.
Bob Woffinden -2002
"In July 2001, Barry George was convicted of the murder of Jill Dando, after a year-long police investigation and an eight-week trial. Many of the lawyers and reporters who attended the trial had anticipated an acquittal, but the jurors convicted on a 10:1 majority.
The evidence against George - resting primarily on an invisible particle of explosives residue found on the lining of his coat - was remarkably thin. He lived in a cluttered and uncleaned flat. He was inept, disorganised and had suffered learning difficulties all his life. He had a number of personality disorders (the prosecution claimed to have identified at least six). He was not only unemployed, but unemployable, and had not had a job for more than 20 years.
The murder, on Monday, April 26 1999, bore the hallmarks of a ruthless and well thought-out operation. And, only three days earlier, British and US planes had bombed the Radio-Television Serbia building in Belgrade, killing 16 employees in an attack described by Tony Blair as "entirely justified". Earlier that month, Dando had made a high-profile BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan Albanian refugees. Before long, there was speculation that the two events were linked, and that Dando had been killed in retaliation for the Nato bombing of Serbian journalists.
Following George's conviction, the case continued to be beset by controversy. One of the officers involved in the inquiry resigned after failing to disclose a media contact (he was later reinstated on appeal); a second officer was accused of harassment by a witness, although she later withdrew her allegations. The conviction hangs on that speck of explosives residue that might, as Mansfield argued in court, have come from almost anywhere. It might have been fireworks, or the coat could have become contaminated while in police custody (it was photographed before forensic analysis, so the possibilities for contamination were considerable). As such, the conviction joins a lengthening list of cases in which forensic evidence has been allowed to overwhelm other pieces of evidence.
At least the man who may be ultimately responsible for Dando's death is no longer in a position to wreak further slaughter - Slobodan Milosevic is now at the Hague, standing trial for war crimes.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jul/06/jilldando.weekend7
