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Jill Dando's Murder: Barry George Accused, Convicted & Acquitted

I am amazed that someone who seems to have been 'fitted up' by the police, convicted of murder on the flimsiest shred of evidence, served 8 years in prison before being subsequently found innocent due to lack of substantial evidence which in his first trial seems to have somehow gone unnoticed or was glossed over, is then not entitled to any compensation.

The police and legal system appear to have colluded to find a perpetrator for a crime which shocked everyone at the time for its senselessness and lack of motive. A weirdo with subnormal IQ and dodgy history is an easy target. Someone had to be found & he conveniently fit the bill.

If this is justice then I'm a Serbian assassin.
 
*Puts on dark suit & extracts mobile phone from pocket*
 
ChrisBoardman said:
Strangely enough, I watched a documentary on the Johanna yeates murder this weekend. It was strange how attention switched to tabak when he was unhappy to take a DNA test. Jeffries attracted attention first as he had a key and there was no break in. Examination of tabaks computer shows he was looking at the road where the body was found on google earth, but before she was found.

Yes, but imagine for the moment the actual killer in Bristol was some unknown stalker from out the area. What do you think would have happened? Jefferies had opportunity, no alibi, and it would be easy to impugn a motive. Given the press coverage , no doubt based on 'hints' from 'official sources' , what chance would he have had of a fair trial? A disgusting episode that fortunately turned out right (and for which the Bristol police in the end deserve credit, don't misunderstand me). You can list numerous cases where the police suspect has been ultimately found not guilty on appeal or whatever and the police simply refuse to reinvestigate.
 
Cochise said:
ChrisBoardman said:
Strangely enough, I watched a documentary on the Johanna yeates murder this weekend. It was strange how attention switched to tabak when he was unhappy to take a DNA test. Jeffries attracted attention first as he had a key and there was no break in. Examination of tabaks computer shows he was looking at the road where the body was found on google earth, but before she was found.

Yes, but imagine for the moment the actual killer in Bristol was some unknown stalker from out the area. What do you think would have happened? Jefferies had opportunity, no alibi, and it would be easy to impugn a motive. Given the press coverage , no doubt based on 'hints' from 'official sources' , what chance would he have had of a fair trial? A disgusting episode that fortunately turned out right (and for which the Bristol police in the end deserve credit, don't misunderstand me). You can list numerous cases where the police suspect has been ultimately found not guilty on appeal or whatever and the police simply refuse to reinvestigate.

I don't believe Jeffries would have ever got convicted had that been the case. But he may have gone through the rest of his life with the public doubting him.
 
It's debateble that the reluctance of the police to properly investigate the phone hacking by the News of The World could possibly be because they knew that it would lead to the current situation, officers being prosecuted , and a lack of public confidence in the police.
Barry George was possibly fitted up to prevent the same thing happening.
It's a long story that involves the murder of Daniel Morgan, a private detective who it is rumoured was going to reveal corruption in the police force.
His partner Johnathan Rees was suspected of involvement in the murder, and has been arrested several times, charges being dropped and the collapse of a trial.
It's interesting to me that Rees is alleged to have asked the NOTW phone hackers to target David Cook and Jacqui Hame, Cook was involved in the Morgan investigation, and the pair appeared on Crimewatch appealing for information, they claimed they were then put under survelliance.
If Jill Dando's phone was being hacked, it may explain how her killer(s) knew where she was, as at the time of her murder she was spending most of the time at her fiances I believe.
My hunch is that the murder investigation would have revealed the involvement of police officers in phone hacking, and that the relationship between the police and Johnathan Rees was perhaps closer than it should have been.
My other hunch is that George fit the 'He'll do' criteria.
 
I just had a quick read up on Jill's murder.

From the criminal perspective it was the perfect crime, no one saw/heard it. No leads lead anywhere.

I think the most likely theory is that some serious crime boss who was caught by Crimewatch had ordered it as revenge for getting caught.
 
ChrisBoardman said:
I think the most likely theory is that some serious crime boss who was caught by Crimewatch had ordered it as revenge for getting caught.
Or...

Tragic Jill Dando probed BBC PAEDO ring
MURDERED TV presenter Jill Dando tried to expose a paedophile ring involving “big-name” BBC stars, a former colleague has claimed.
By Don Hale/Published 20th July 2014

According to the retired BBC worker, the Crimewatch host was told that DJs, stars and corporation staff were involved in organised abuse.
But when she tried to get bosses to investigate the alleged ring and other abuse complaints inside the BBC “no one wanted to know”, the former friend said.
Undeterred, Jill is said to have then raised the claims with senior management in the mid-1990s but no investigation took place.
The TV host was shot dead a few years later on the doorstep of her London home. The 37-year-old’s murder remains unsolved.

Her ex-colleague, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I don’t recall the names of all the stars now and don’t really want to implicate anyone but Jill said they were surprisingly big names.
“I think she was quite shocked when told about images of children and that information on how to join this horrible paedophile ring was freely available.
“Jill said others had complained to her about sexual matters and that some fellow female workmates also claimed they had been groped or assaulted.
“Nothing had been done and there seemed to be a policy of turning a blind eye.”

The source told how female colleagues went to Jill, who was then one of the best-known faces on TV.
She said: “I think it was in the mid 1990s, Jill was working on almost everything then including Crimewatch and Holiday.
“She was seen as the face of the BBC and a magnet for women with problems.

“She compiled a file of complaints but she was not really an investigative journalist, just a presenter.
“She passed the information to someone else and they gave it back. No one wanted to know.
“I do remember that she gave a file to senior management. I don’t think she heard any more.
“Other women who complained told Jill they didn’t want to risk their careers by making official statements against individuals as they would lose their jobs and that bosses seemed to ignore it.
“We all decided the best way was to keep our heads down and to always try to go somewhere with a colleague.”


The BBC said it would look into the allegations but added: “We have not seen anything to substantiate these claims.” Presenters Liz Kershaw and Miriam O’Reilly have both made allegations of sexual harassment at the BBC.

After Jimmy Savile was exposed as a paedophile and serial sex attacker in 2012, fellow BBC presenter Sally Jones spoke of how he had tried to grope her in a lift.
She confided in Jill after the attack, adding that the Crimewatch host said “she had had to fend off plenty of unwelcome advances herself”.
Sally said Jill told her Savile was “just a dirty old perv”.

Jill was shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham in 1999.
Barry George was found guilty of her murder in 2001 but his conviction was quashed in 2008.

Jill joined a campaign to help children spot paedophiles the year before she died.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... PAEDO-ring

This theory seems as plausible as any other, in view of recent revelations. :(
 
I think so too, dubious as I am of such things mostly.

But would it be enough for murder??
 
Kondoru said:
I think so too, dubious as I am of such things mostly.

But would it be enough for murder??

Robert Bradford MP was assassinated by the IRA the day before he was due to be questioned regarding Kincora by the RUC. His bodyguard was absent that day.

John McKeague, a Loyalist paramilitary leader was assassinated by the INLA the day before he was due to be questioned by the RUC regarding Kincora. Republicans had been trying to kill him for more than a decade.

It might be that securocrats passed information to their agents within the IRA and INLA to facilitate these killings.
 
It’s Richard D Hall’s latest documentry, which means it will be thoroughly researched and well presented with solid evidence. I heard him talk a little about this film on his recent speaking tour so I’m very interested to see it. Thanks for posting.
 
There's another documentary in the offing to mark the 20th anniversary of her death:

A new documentary about the murder of Jill Dando is to air on BBC One to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.
The BBC said "previously unseen archive and photographs" would feature in the film, alongside interviews with Jill's colleagues, friends and family members.
The Crimewatch presenter was shot and killed on the doorstep of her home in south west London in April 1999.
Barry George was wrongly convicted of the killing and acquitted in 2008, leaving her murder still unsolved.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46977351
 
There is something very odd going on.

There have been a number of trailers broadcast by the BBC since last week, giving publicity about a future programme on the Dando case. The most-recent instance of this trailer was just now (20.01hrs BST on BBC1).

These trailers include a loud archive news extract, where a woman newsreader states that Jill Dando had been 'stabbed'.

That did not happen. Jill Dando was shot.

So: what on earth does this mean? Why would the BBC broadcast a factually-incorrect archive news segment, repeatedly, about one of their own staff, as publicity for an upcoming documentary.

I have distinctly heard this trailer now three times, so it is not my imagination.
 
Perhaps within the programme it is framed by

"matters were so confused at first that the BBC itself mistakenly reported that Ms Dando had been stabbed.

Which might mean that it is a ploy to hook us in? :)
 
I've just updated the thread title from

Jill Dando Murder - is Barry George Innocent?

to

Jill Dando Murder, Barry George - Accused and Acquitted

as Mr George is indeed innocent.

The original thread title was created some time before his successful appeal.


An odd and interesting moment is recorded in an IHTM Jill Dando - alas the poster is now part of the great Anonymous.
 
"matters were so confused at first that the BBC itself mistakenly reported that Ms Dando had been stabbed.
Well- this is news to me (no pun intended)

Which might mean that it is a ploy to hook us in? :)

If so, not only is it rather nasty & naughty, it's worked...

AHAH!
https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/comment/jilldando
2019-04-01 22.18.26.png


So the BBC have decided to use their own mis-reporting on the death of one of their own reporters, perhaps for just the machiavellian honeytrap reasons you're thinking of. Because hearing the incorrect details like that causes a huge cognitive gasp, when you know it's a blatent contradiction of previously-accepted fact.

Wow. I bet there will be consequences and penalties following the editorial decision to use this odd approach.
 
Last edited:
It /is/ very odd, I agree
 
Or maybe they're just using a clip of the original newsflash to show what it was like when it went out and we all heard at first. I'd say reserve judgement until you watch the doc before tying yourself in knots of conspiracy.
 
Richard Hughes witness/neighbour 1m54s
"I heard the scream"
"There was no shots"
"She was obviously very shot what happened" (what??)

Now this is weird....he does in fact later use the word "knife", but the automated Facebook sub-title system generates the word in error absolutely ages before he really says it....at 1m55s
2019-04-01 23.04.45.png


All very strange indeed
 
*ahem*
You really should read this...

I know that he claims that he would have found Barry George early on. However, given the subsequent appeals and what we now know about the evidence used to convict, I am uncertain about the validity of his approach. Can't throw something out on one dud, but I wish that he was a bit more reticent, saying that what he does produces persons of interest - rather than being a magic wand.

:worry:
 
I know that he claims that he would have found Barry George early on. However, given the subsequent appeals and what we now know about the evidence used to convict, I am uncertain about the validity of his approach. Can't throw something out on one dud, but I wish that he was a bit more reticent, saying that what he does produces persons of interest - rather than being a magic wand.

:worry:
I think he makes it clear that his approach is not a magic wand and I recall a documentary where the expectation on him was to be a 'magic wand' and it caused conflict.

For the most part we want something 'extraordinary' to have occurred in the death of Jill Dando, as she had celebrity status.

It doesn't follow that her unfortunate and tragic death was anything other than a mundane and sad crime committed by a mundane and sad individual.
 
So: what on earth does this mean? Why would the BBC broadcast a factually-incorrect archive news segment, repeatedly, about one of their own staff, as publicity for an upcoming documentary.

I got the impression from the trailer the program will feature input from former colleagues of Jill Dando. I imagine the idea was to illustrate how visibly shaken the newsreader was at the death of her colleague at time of said news segment. The accuracy of the news segment is irrelevant.

I don't think it neccessarily has to mean any more than that. Playing up the emotions on show is usually enough to attract people's attention to the screen (see The News), without having to rely on the mistaken cause of death as a trick. I expect they'll even play some sad music over parts of it.

I was only half watching it though.
 
No apology, not even an expression of regret from the DCI who fitted up Barry George. Instead he implied that Barry did it.

I’d be interested in seeing your evidence for that assertion.

George was an excellent suspect: He’d worked at the BBC; was a fantasist who’d claimed SAS membership; had convictions for attempted rape and indecent assault, plus arrests for violence against women and more sex offences; was found in possession of multiple publications about the Dando murder and had a speck of what was stated to be firearm discharge residue in his clothing.

He was convicted of the murder, and had two appeals against conviction rejected.

It was essentially only the defence getting the forensic evidence quashed - on thin grounds - that got George acquitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_George

maximus otter
 
I’d be interested in seeing your evidence for that assertion.

George was an excellent suspect: He’d worked at the BBC; was a fantasist who’d claimed SAS membership; had convictions for attempted rape and indecent assault, plus arrests for violence against women and more sex offences; was found in possession of multiple publications about the Dando murder and had a speck of what was stated to be firearm discharge residue in his clothing.

He was convicted of the murder, and had two appeals against conviction rejected.

It was essentially only the defence getting the forensic evidence quashed - on thin grounds - that got George acquitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_George

maximus otter

Are you suggesting that Barry George actually murdered Jill Dando?

The forensic evidence consisted only of firearm residue which could have come from him brushing against someone who had discharged a gun. The fact that he was convicted and failed on two previous appeals is irrelevant, he was found innocent when the specious forensic evidence was thrown out.

The police fitted up a weirdo after failing to track down the real murderer. Just as in so many other cases. Have a look at the Miscarriages of Justice Thread.
 
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