George guilty of Dando murder

Unemployed loner Barry George was today found guilty of the murder of television presenter Jill Dando.

The jury of six women and five men deliberated for over 30 hours before returning the verdict by a majority of ten to one in a packed Court Room Number One at the Old Bailey.

George, 41, from Crookham Road, Fulham, south-west London, had denied murdering Miss Dando on April 26, 1999.

The TV presenter was killed with a single shot to the head in the doorway of her home in nearby Gowan Avenue, Fulham, in an assassination-style murder which shocked the nation.

The eight-week trial focused on a pivotal piece of forensic evidence.

The prosecution claimed that a single speck of firearms residue found in George’s coat pocket lining linked him to the shooting.

But George’s defence team said the particle - less than a half of a thousandth of an inch in size - was completely unreliable as evidence.