Barry George - Not Innocent enough.

Barry George, wrongly convicted of the murder of BBC TV presenter Jill Dando, has lost a bid for compensation. His case followed a Supreme Court ruling that widened the circumstances under which compensation could be paid. But the High Court ruled he did not qualify because jurors could still reasonably have convicted him despite new evidence that led to his acquittal.

From the BBC website, full article can be found here.

Now, this begs two question from me.

1. If he isn't innocent enough then he should still be locked up. I thought the verdicts were guilty or not guilty? I didn't realise there was a possibly guilty.

2. Courts frequently award compensation in the millions to celebrities who reputations have been tarnished by stories, Is a persons image worth more than their freedom?

Also, couldn't Mr George now sue for defamation of his character? It is what celebrities and politicians do after all.

reply to post by Jykan

well sadly (and IMO), poor mr george is a really easy patsy for the jill dando case and "they" chose him pretty well, just not well enough to make it stick and divert attention away from what may have really been behind it all. mr george was a so-called "known weirdo" - read man with learning and social difficulties and no support

did you read about the possible cliff richard connections to this? one has no evidence rather than "what i read on the nets" but was most interesting...

i do agree though that he should be eligible for compo (and the rolling of heads) - his life has been ravaged by this case

reply to post by skalla


I didn't know the Cliff Richard connection but a quick Google search turned it up...interesting if true. I think there are a lot of things still to come tied to these case.

It is a strange one, isn't it?

I believe he was acquitted because gunshot residue found on his jacket could have got there from cross-contamination.

Could.

Another case of sloppy police work.

George got off on a technicality, but I have no doubt he is the culprit, and it seems even the High Court suspects this too.

There is absolutely nobody else in the frame.

reply to post by CJCrawley


But maybe isn't a good enough reason to convict. They either do or they don't.

It's up to the police to prove he did it, if they can't do that sufficiently then he goes free as an 'innocent' man.

Rightly or wrongly, the law has no grey areas.

reply to post by CJCrawley


i must say that i disagree, there have been quite a lot of folk digging on this and if one looks into some of the things that miss dando was investigating prior to her murder, there are a number of possible culprits or organised groups who would have had an interest in shutting her up, and with the wealth and connections to enable it too.

reply to post by skalla


There's been a lot of conjecture, as there always is with a high-profile murder case.

But I'm not aware the police were/are seriously looking for anyone else.

reply to post by CJCrawley


police involvement is not neccessarily an indication of someones involvement in a crime or otherwise

reply to post by CJCrawley


I doubt they are looking for anyone else, in their eyes they already have the right man...just a shame they couldn't process him correctly and everyone else would be certain too.

As for other suspects there do seem to be a few theories such as the Serbian hitman, a high-profile paedophile ring as mentioned earlier or one of the many other men with a disturbing interest in her.

reply to post by Jykan

As for other suspects there do seem to be a few theories such as the Serbian hitman, a high-profile paedophile ring as mentioned earlier or one of the many other men with a disturbing interest in her.

Like I say, plenty of conjecture. But no real substance.

I think it's important to point out that the metropolitan police force are fairly experienced at investigating murder cases, and they did examine all of those theories - and subsequently rejected them.

At any rate, 14 years on, there doesn't seem to be any real momentum to re-examine any alternative leads, despite the main suspect's acquittal.