Tim Worstall

Jill Dando and Barry George

When the evidence is laid out like this:

In the end, however, police arrested the "local
weirdo". George emerged as a fantasist who had stalked and photographed
hundreds of women. He was found guilty by a 10-1 majority by an Old
Bailey jury presented with what critics of the conviction have argued
was one of the thinnest prosecution cases in a major murder trial.

There was no confession, no apparent motive or clear evidence of obsession with Miss Dando and no weapon.

No
one saw the killing, no one identified George as the gunman, no weapon
was found, there were no fingerprints or DNA traces and the prosecution
could produce no evidence of a motive for George to kill Miss Dando.

Well, it does look a touch thin, doesn’t it?

In

8 responses

  1. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    “Well, it does look a touch thin, doesn’t it?”
    Yes, but it counts as a “solved” crime in the stats.

    Reply
  2. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Why didn’t the judge just throw it out?

    Reply
  3. MARK T Avatar
    MARK T

    I always thought that since the soon to be husband was a gynaecologist and it is well known that some women develop unhealthy obsessions with their Gynaecologists, that we should have been looking for a jealous woman rather than a deranged man. Pretty sure that’s how Agatha Christie would have seen it anyway.

    Reply
  4. JonnyB Avatar
    JonnyB

    Oh where oh where is FJL when we need her?

    Reply
  5. Andrew Milner Avatar
    Andrew Milner

    Lord Archer mentions Barry George in his “Prison Diaries”, specifically that staff and inmates thought George was a weirdo (term of the psychiatric profession), but no way was he capable of the planning and logistics necessary to carry out the Dando Murder. Hardly conclusive, but those making the assessment had a lot of experience.
    The other theory is that a professional hitman was employed by top levels of the former Yugoslavian government as revenge for the TV station bombing in Belgrade. Sounds a little far-fetched when you blurt it out, but take the time to research this possibility, and it may begin to sound more plausible. So it was important for George to take the fall, because if the hitman theory got much airplay, how long before the Mirror came out with the headline, “Blair’s Balkan policy killed our Jill”? But you know what they say, “If you get away with it at the time, you get away with it forever”. So it may well be that George will get off on Appeal (assuming Authority has anything resembling a conscience). It’s long enough ago for everyone to have calmed down, and besides they can put it about that George got off on a technicality. “It’s the same the whole world over, it’s the poor that get the blame…”

    Reply
  6. Katy Newton Avatar
    Katy Newton

    Thanks to recent innovations in the rules relating to admissibility of evidence, you no longer need evidence for a conviction.

    Reply
  7. Andrew Milner Avatar
    Andrew Milner

    Good point, Ms. Newton. The level of proof has been degraded and as a result, justice compromised. Because in the final analysis, justice is only as good as her servants. The prosecution’s case as presented to date, indicates they haven’t got squat. George is ESN, borderline retard, emotionally inadequate; so what? All this argues against him being the professional hitman this murder clearly required. Because that was who committed this wicked, politically-motivate crime. George pestered women, lived in fantasy world, was obsessed with celebrities… And the clincher, “Hated the BBC”. Slammer time beckons for a lot of us.
    Now that the bullet explosive residue evidence has rightly been rendered inadmissible, all the prosecution has is tittle-tattle, innuendo and anecdotal gossip. Seems obvious that the police, unable to find the real killer, decided it was “stitch up the local loner” time.
    Now, some five years later it’s time for “Barry to get off on a technicality”, but in a way that precludes him from claiming the massive compensation from the state he undoubtedly deserves.

    Reply
  8. Andrew Milner Avatar
    Andrew Milner

    Notice how the Times and Telegraph didn’t allow readers to comment on the Barry George verdict. One assumes orders from on high that the case be swept under the carpet as soon as decently possible. However, some national newspapers broke ranks and facilitated the debate, presumably telling HMG to “Kiss my donkey”. Occupational hazard for a government approaching its “sell by date”. Mind over matter: We don’t mind, cos you don’t matter.”

    Reply

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