Barry George was supported by the small dedicated campaign group JfB or Justice for Barry which emerged in 2003 after his first appeal. Over the years it helped people see through the hysteria of the hostile Tabloid campaign of 2000 which portrayed him as a monster and which may have prejudiced his right to a fair trial at that time. As the objectives of the campaign have now effectively been achieved JfB supporters have reverted to being independent observers / campaigners. Below is a flavour of the unresolved story. There may be no connection between the events mentioned but they have been raised in court and publications since the murder of Jill Dando in 1999 and so are relevant.
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In the spring of 1999 war broke out in Kosovo. In March Jill Dando made a successful TV appeal which raised over £6 million for Albanian refugees and which drew an irate letter to be sent to her agent. NATO eventually intervened against the Serbian regime by bombing Serbia.
Friday April 23rd 1999. Belgrade. Radio Television Serbia was hit by NATO bombing which killed seventeen young TV workers. Senior British Government Minister’s defended the action which originated in the UK. They claimed the TV station was the mouthpiece of Serbian propaganda.
Jill Dando, regarded as the ‘face’ of BBC1 arrived home to London from Dublin where she had been working on her new TV series the Antiques Inspector.
On Saturday Jill called to her unoccupied for sale house in Gowan Avenue Fulham. Later she and her fiancé attended a British Legion Ball where Lord Jeffrey Archer auctioned a dance with Jill for charity which went to an anonymous doctor. At one stage when Jill was leaving the dance floor she was approached by a mysterious young man whose detailed knowledge of Jill was thought to be somewhat disturbing.
On Sunday Jill and her fiancé had a relaxing day and in the evening they watched the first episode of The Antiques Inspector. That evening a woman noticed a man standing in Fulham Palace Road looking up Gowan Avenue. The woman thought he acted strangely.
Monday April 26th. At 07.00 a woman thought a man standing by a double parked car near Jill’s house looked suspicious. At about 10.00 Jill left her fiancés home in Chiswick. She was due to attend a charity fashion show at lunchtime at a hotel near Hyde Park. She bought milk in Chiswick and spoke to her agent on the phone. She then drove to Hammersmith unsuccessfully looking for a cartridge for her fax printer which she kept in her Fulham house. She visited a fishmonger in Fulham where she bought two pieces of Dover Sole. She then drove to Gowan Avenue. She walked to her front door at about 11.30 where somebody forced her down and shot her dead with a single bullet to the side of the head. A neighbour heard Jill’s gate clink shut and looked out from his window. He and another neighbour noticed a man, believed to be the killer, leaving the scene, heading towards Fulham Palace Road. One of the men made a careful mental note of the man, who he thought was wearing a wig. On the Fulham Palace Road a man was observed making a headlong dash across the road almost being knocked down in his haste.
A local woman saw Jill slumped at her doorstep and called the emergency services. It was obvious to her that Jill was dead and she was careful not to enter the crime scene. She later described the crime scene as like Piccadilly Circus; as it was trampled all over as futile efforts to save Jill’s life were carried out. The body was removed before the investigating police officer arrived. A spent bullet and cartridge case were found at the scene. The Remington cartridge case had six crimp marks on it even though it was the first time it was used.
Meanwhile in Serbia the funerals were taking place of some of the young TV workers.
Later untraced phone calls were made to the BBC by a man claiming to be a Serb saying ‘…murdered, butchered, 17 innocent young people. He butchered, we butcher back. The first one you had yesterday, the next one will be Tony Hall’. (Head of BBC News.)
That same morning Fulham resident Barry George visited a nearby disability advice centre HAFAD and later called to a taxi office. Two days later he called back to both premises asking that they recall his earlier visit as he was concerned over the Jill Dando murder. He later claimed that was because he had been previously questioned in relation to another high profile murder, that of Rachel Nickell, and so was worried in case he was questioned in relation to Jill Dando.
Both HAFAD staff and the taxi controller reported him to the police.
Ten months later the police met Barry George, who has learning difficulties and interviewed him. He was later arrested and charged with the murder of Jill Dando. He pleaded not guilty.
It was claimed by the prosecution that only Jill’s fiancé knew of her plans for the day of her murder and only her agent knew that she had to change the fax cartridge. Therefore the killing was not a planned professional ‘hit’ but rather the work of a local who staked out Jill’s house awaiting the opportunity to kill her. A revelation in the book ALL ABOUT JILL by David James Smith published in 2002 seems to cast doubt on that claim.
It was also claimed that a single particle of firearms discharge residue or FDR allegedly found in Barry’s coat was an almost perfect match for gunpowder found on Jill’s hair.
Though it was accepted that the ‘hit’ seemed to be perfectly executed and that the mentally challenged and somewhat clumsy Barry George was not the most organised efficient person it was suggested that he simply got ‘lucky’ on the day.
Barry George was convicted of murdering Jill Dando in July 2001. He lost his first appeal in July 2002. He won an appeal in November 2007 and was granted a retrial which is due to be heard in June 2008. He is represented by solicitor Jeremy Moore of Carter Moore Solicitors and William Clegg QC.
A member of Barry George’s family has requested that the police re-examine certain aspects of the original murder investigation.
