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Top lawyer says former Jill Dando murder suspect Barry George was only charged as ‘cops didn’t have faintest idea’ who killed her
A TOP lawyer believes that former Jill Dando murder suspect Barry George was only charged as “cops didn’t have faintest idea” who killed her. William Clegg QC represented Mr George in 2008, when he was found not guilty of the TV star’s murder by a jury at the Old Bailey following an eight-week trial. Mr […]
A TOP lawyer believes that former Jill Dando murder suspect Barry George was only charged as “cops didn’t have faintest idea” who killed her.
William Clegg QC represented Mr George in 2008, when he was found not guilty of the TV star’s murder by a jury at the Old Bailey following an eight-week trial.
Mr George was represented by the barrister, who he first appeared for in the Court of Appeal when the original conviction was quashed, because of doubts over forensic evidence.
Mr Clegg, who has written about his courtroom experiences in Under the Wig: A Lawyer’s Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence, told the Mirror that George was “certainly a vulnerable person”.
He added: “The case reflects a desperation on the part of police that after a year they didn’t have the faintest idea who had done it.
“It’s sad for Barry to be falsely accused and wrongly convicted.”
Mr Clegg said that, 20 years after the star’s murder, “it’s unlikely we will know who killed her”.
Jill, 37, was shot in the head by a gunman on her doorstep in Fulham, West London, in April 1999.
Local loner Barry George was jailed for murder in 2001 but his conviction was quashed six years later. He was found not guilty following a retrial.
After being cleared of the BBC television presenter’s murder, his lawyer, Jeremy Moore, told The Guardian in 2008 that his “overwhelmed” client’s first words were: “I cannot believe it.”
The cop who led the probe into the murder of the TV star two decades ago fears she may never get justice.
Former Met Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell says the Crimewatch presenter’s murderer will probably never be caught or convicted.
He defends the investigation into Mr George, 58, and the lack of new suspects or lines of inquiry in a new BBC documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of her murder.
Mr Campbell tells the film: “Do I think someone will be brought back to court? Probably not, no.”
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Asked if a new suspect would appear in court he replied: “No, no.” His case notes showed theories of an assassination by a Crimewatch villain or a Serbian hitman were ruled out.
He said: “There’s always been the view, in the media and elsewhere, that the police chose Barry George somehow as a scapegoat and for want of a better word, a patsy, for the investigation team because we couldn’t solve it.”
Mr Campbell said, however, that belief was “insulting” and “wrong”.
- William Clegg QC’s Under the Wig: A Lawyer’s Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence is available in paperback from May 2, for £8.99
