Dando murder: appeal judges have no doubts about conviction

Barry George, the man jailed for life for the murder of the television presenter Jill Dando, today lost an appeal against his conviction.

George, 42, who claimed his conviction was unsafe, was in the dock at the court of appeal in London to hear the ruling from the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, sitting with Mr Justice Curtis and Mr Justice Henriques.

Lord Woolf, reading from a 60-page written judgment, said: "The important thing in this case is the evidence as a whole. Looking at the evidence as a whole we have no doubt as to the correctness of the conviction."

George's legal team immediately announced its intention to take the appeal to the House of Lords, Britain's highest appeal court.

George was sentenced to life imprisonment in July last year after being found guilty of shooting the 37-year-old BBC Crimewatch presenter on the steps of her home in Fulham, southwest London, in April 1999.

George, also from Fulham, denied murder, but a jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty by a majority of 10 to one.

His appeal centred on claims that much of the evidence against him was inadmissible and that his trial should have been halted.

George's lawyers also raised doubts over some of the forensic evidence. Prosecutors had claimed at the initial trial that a single speck of firearms residue found in George's coat pocket lining linked him to the shooting. His defence team said the particle, which measured less than a half of a thousandth of an inch, was unreliable as evidence.

The Crown contested the appeal and argued that his conviction was safe.

Orlando Pownall QC, for the Crown, told the appeal judges that the jury had been "perfectly entitled to reach the safe conclusion" that George had murdered Miss Dando. The three judges rejected all the grounds of appeal put forward on George's behalf.

They said: "There are cases where an individual witness's evidence is critical. This is not such a case, though it is probable if there had been no positive identification of the appellant, there would never have been a prosecution.

"The important thing in this case is the evidence as a whole. Looking at the evidence as a whole we have no doubt as to the correctness of the conviction."

The Metropolitan police officer who led the investigation into Dando's murder said the appeal court had reached the right decision.

Detective Superintendent Hamish Campbell said: "The investigation of the murder of Jill was both difficult and protracted. The success of the prosecution was a direct result of working closely with the CPS [crown prosecution service]. A compelling case was placed before the jury and they found Barry George guilty of murder. "

The lawyer who led the prosecution team, Alison Saunders, said: "I have always maintained that the evidence provided a compelling picture of Barry George's guilt. Today the jury's conviction has been upheld."