George loses compensation bid over murder conviction

Barry George, who spent eight years in prison after being wrongly convicted of the murder of British TV presenter Jill Dando, has lost his High Court bid for compensation because he was “not innocent enough to be compensated”.

Two judges rejected Mr George’s claim that Britain’s justice secretary unlawfully decided he was not entitled to financial compensation as a victim of a “miscarriage of justice”.

Lord Justice Beatson and Mr Justice Irwin ruled that the secretary of state was “entirely justified in the conclusion he reached”.

Mr George’s solicitor, Nick Baird, said: “We are very disappointed with the judgment and we shall be applying for permission to leapfrog the Court of Appeal to have the matter heard before the Supreme Court.”

Mr George, aged 52, came to court to seek a reconsideration of his case, which could have opened the way for him to claim an award of up to £500,000 (€587,000) for lost earnings and wrongful imprisonment.

But the judges ruled that he had “failed the legal test” to receive an award.

Ms Dando was shot dead outside her home in Fulham in Apr 1999.

After his conviction in Jul 2001, Mr George, of Fulham, west London, was acquitted of killing the 37-year-old BBC presenter at a retrial in Aug 2008.

Ian Glen, appearing for Mr George, had argued in court that the decision to refuse compensation was “defective and contrary to natural justice”.

Despite Mr George’s unanimous acquittal by a jury at his retrial, a justice ministry “functionary”, it was claimed, had unfairly and unlawfully decided he was “not innocent enough to be compensated”.

However, for more than 30 years, those acquitted on retrials in similar circumstances had been compensated, said Mr Glen.

Mr Glen said that not to treat Mr George’s acquittal as a miscarriage of justice “went behind the decision of the jury that acquitted him” and failed to take account of the fact that no safe conviction could ever be based on the evidence against him.

The judges rejected his arguments, saying: “There was indeed a case upon which a reasonable jury, properly directed, could have convicted the claimant of murder.”

Mr George’s initial claim for compensation for lost earnings and wrongful imprisonment was rejected in Jan 2010.

Mr George, who now lives in Ovens, Co Cork, had been supported in his campaign by his sister, Michelle Diskin, who lives in Ballincollig, Co Cork.