Life for Dando killer

Unemployed loner Barry George was today sentenced to life in jail after he was found guilty of the murder of television presenter Jill Dando.

The jury of six women and five men deliberated for over 31 hours before returning the verdict by a majority of ten to one in a packed Court Room Number One at the Old Bailey.

Trial judge Mr Justice Gage said: ‘‘You have deprived Miss Dando’s fiance, family and friends of a much loved and popular personality.’’

He added: ‘‘You are unpredictable and dangerous... There can be no doubt that it was premeditated involving some planning ... Why you did it will never be known.’’

Miss Dando’s fiance, consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing, witnessed her killer being convicted and sentenced.

He said outside court that her friends and family hoped that the end of the trial would act as ‘‘some kind of milestone’’ in coming to terms with the loss of ‘‘this extraordinary person who we all admired and loved’’.

Jill’s brother Nigel Dando said his family welcomed the verdict and he praised the police’s ‘‘tremendous endeavour’’.

Of the killer, he said: ‘‘I have no feelings about Barry George.’’

He added: ‘‘I am content with today’s verdict and I have nothing but praise for the jury who carried out their duties with due diligence.’’

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

He showed no emotion on learning his fate, but was said later to be ‘‘devastated’’ and planning an appeal.

His sister Michelle Diskin, who was in court for the verdict, insisted the wrong man had been convicted of killing TV golden girl Miss Dando, who was 37.

‘‘There will be an appeal, justice was not seen today,’’ she said in a statement.

Miss Dando 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.

The jury were not told that George had a criminal record, which marked him out for police attention long before Miss Dando’s murder.

When he was 22 he was convicted at the Old Bailey of attempting to rape a language student and in 1988 he was questioned about a series of rapes.

A few years later he was a suspect in the hunt for the murderer of Rachel Nickell. He was quizzed twice by detectives after 23-year-old Ms Nickell was stabbed 49 times in front of her two-year-old son on Wimbledon Common in 1992.

George was eliminated from the inquiry.

There is no doubt that George had an unhealthy obsession with women celebrities.

He was in the crowd at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and he collected hundreds of pictures of famous people in his dingy flat.

Detectives also found more 2,000 undeveloped photographs of 419 different women he had trailed around London secretly photographing.

Barry George mingled with mourners in the quiet street where hours earlier he had shot dead Jill Dando - and even brought his own flowers.

Saying he felt ‘‘concern and remorse’’ at her murder, he laid a bouquet at the cordon police had set up around the crime scene.

George picked his way through genuine well-wishers just a day after he gunned down Miss Dando in cold blood on her own doorstep.

But just why the warped loner decided to shoot her remains a mystery.

The motive behind the senseless killing presented a problem for the police, the court and everyone else.

Even the prosecution admitted it was ‘‘impossible to determine with any degree of certainty’’ what exactly it was George had against the blonde TV star.

One possible motive for wanting her dead was in retaliation for some imagined slight she had made on his idol, Queen singer Freddie Mercury, a man with whom he was passionately obsessed.

He had a grudge against the BBC, where he had worked briefly as a messenger in 1976, because he believed it had mistreated Freddie Mercury in the past.

But the only apparent connection with Miss Dando was that she had taken part in a charity film for Comic Relief in 1993 in which she mimed along to a Queen song.

The policeman who led the murder hunt believes George may have shot her because he felt confusion and anger, possibly sparked by her engagement to Mr Farthing.

Detective Superintendent Hamish Campbell said it could have been a blurring between his feelings about women and fixation with celebrities.

‘‘She was a female celebrity. It may have been anger, it may have been frustration,’’ he said.

George had trouble relating to women and, when refused, ‘‘he becomes volatile’’, said Mr Campbell.

He added: ‘‘It is a difficult area to go down. One does not know the final denouement with Jill Dando.’’

But if George managed to keep his fascination with Miss Dando relatively secret before her murder, his response to her death was out of all proportion.

The day after she was killed he missed an appointment at a local disability centre so that he could visit her home in Gowan Avenue with the flowers.

He claimed he was representing his local church, and later told police in an interview that he went there ‘‘to pay my respects ... mainly on behalf of various people in the community who wanted to express their loss.

‘‘I am basically a born-again Christian and obviously wanted to do some form of gesture of regret.’’

George also collected condolence cards from local firms, though he never got round to delivering them.

He told a woman working at the disability centre that he had also suggested to Hammersmith and Fulham Council that a memorial should be built in tribute to Miss Dando ‘‘because she was well respected in the borough’’.

Yet he later insisted to police he had no particular interest in the presenter and would not have recognised her in the street.

But back at his squalid flat in Crookham Road - 500 yards from her house - he collected pictures of celebrities, including Miss Dando.

He kept photocards of Emma Freud and Anthea Turner, and a note referring to Sue Richardson at LWT.

He also subscribed to Celebrity Bulletin, which gave details of movements of various people including Britt Ekland and the gymnast Suzanne Dando.

Police found a year-old magazine featuring Jill Dando when they searched his flat after his arrest.

The colour supplement, dated April 25, 1998, contained a story about her relationship with Mr Farthing.

There was also a copy of the Hammersmith and Fulham Times published on May 21, 1999, with a front page photograph of the presenter, detailing the progress of the police investigation into her death.

Four copies of the same issue of the BBC’s in-house magazine Ariel - with a front page story of the murder - were also found at his flat. They were issued the day after she was murdered.

Of the 763 newspapers examined, eight carried stories or front covers featuring Miss Dando before she was killed. Another 46 featured reports of the murder and police investigation.

George remained motionless as the verdict was passed, but there were gasps from the public gallery.

He stood in the dock, clutching an A4 notepad and a black book, thought to be a Bible, looking straight ahead at the judge.

Miss Dando’s fiance Alan Farthing and Crimewatch co-presenter Nick Ross stood in the back right hand corner of the court listening to the decision.

They appeared to show no reaction to the guilty verdict.

George’s sister Michelle Diskin, who sat just a few feet in front of Miss Dando’s friends and relatives, bowed her head as she heard her brother sentenced to life.

George, who was dressed in a blue shirt, patterned tie and blue jeans, was taken back to the cells, flanked by police officers.

The heavily built killer showed no emotion as he was lead away to begin his life sentence.

The strain of the 36-day trial showed on the faces of the jurors - some appearing pale and drawn as they finished their final day on the lengthy Dando trial.

In the public gallery one man shook his head as the foreman spoke the jurors’ decision and a woman clasped her hands to her mouth in shock.

Mr Justice Gage told George that on the evidence it was not a spur of the moment crime.

‘‘It was premeditated and involved some planning.

‘‘Why you did it may never be known. It is probable you can give no rational explanation.

‘‘What you did deprived her fiance, family and friends of a much loved and popular personality. During the time she was in the public eye, she had done much good and brought much pleasure to a great number of people.’’

The judge said that George should remain in jail for some time to come.

During tense hours waiting for the verdict, Mr Farthing had sat in the public canteen - only a few feet away from George’s sister.

In her statement, Miss Diskin said: ‘‘Barry George is innocent. Barry was charged with a terrible crime but he was never responsible for it.’’

About 45 minutes after the verdict, Ms Diskin left the wooden bench to walk up a flight of stairs to the canteen.

In the corridor, she came face to face with Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross and exchanged awkward grimaces.

In the canteen, Ms Diskin made herself a large black coffee in a polystyrene cup.

A few feet away, Detective Superintendent Hamish Campbell had just made himself the same.

Meanwhile downstairs, Mr Ross could be seen relaxing for the first time in days, as he greeted a friend with a heavy sigh, smile and both fists raised triumphantly.

It is understood George, the son of a former police officer, will tonight return to Belmarsh prison in south east London, where he has been on remand.

A newly-convicted prisoner would normally remain at his first jail for several days while prison chiefs decide where next to send him.

The offender would then be sent to a jail which deals with life-sentence inmates.