1 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,120 [This Morning theme music playing] 2 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,080 We all heard the shocking news that Jill Dando had been murdered 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:15,400 on her own doorstep. 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,720 Do you think you can look forward to another phase in your life? 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,079 Jill was a very positive person 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,160 and she would want us to do something positive. 7 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,560 [woman] It had been a whole year since Jill had been shot 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,400 and they hadn't found someone for it. 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,400 How are you now? Time does heal. Are you on the road? 10 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,200 A lot of people have given me enormous support. 11 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,320 [woman] She was the darling of Britain. 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,480 And that just, it beggared belief that they couldn't find 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:47,480 the person who killed Jill Dando. 14 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,360 [tense music playing] 15 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,880 And I was busy getting ready to go to a prayer meeting. 16 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:55,640 [reporter] Good morning, the headlines. 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,120 [male reporter] The man held by Scotland Yard on suspicion of murdering 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,320 the BBC TV presenter Jill Dando… 19 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,360 [woman] I heard on the news that somebody had been arrested. 20 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,120 [male reporter] …who lives half a mile from Ms. Dando's former home. 21 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,760 And I thought that was wonderful, at long last, 22 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,560 someone was going to be brought up for Jill's killing. 23 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,960 [male reporter] The police have removed items from his home for examination. 24 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,520 [woman] And then the newscaster said his name is… 25 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,200 [male reporter] …Barry Bulsara. 26 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,280 [woman] I just went numb. 27 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,040 I just thought, no, it can't be the same Barry Bulsara. 28 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,760 This is utter madness. 29 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:40,240 That was my brother. 30 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:45,360 Could he have done it? 31 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,120 [siren wailing] 32 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,520 [sirens wailing] 33 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,040 [male reporter] Today, Scotland Yard issued a statement 34 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:05,640 to say a man was arrested 35 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:07,600 on suspicion of murdering Jill Dando. 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,120 [female reporter] Scotland Yard has not confirmed 37 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,360 the identity of the man they're questioning. 38 00:02:14,039 --> 00:02:15,759 [gripping music playing] 39 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,920 [Hamish] It was a big step to arrest the man 40 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,200 suspected or accused of killing Jill Dando. 41 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:27,200 [indistinct chatter] 42 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:29,720 [male police officer] It is, uh, 27. 43 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,560 [Hamish] I wrote in my logs, "I fear it was the ill man, the loner, 44 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,520 the infatuated, the psychopath, 45 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,680 the disturbed or the obsessed who was responsible." 46 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:49,720 Barry George fit that category. 47 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:56,720 [clears throat] 48 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:57,840 [inhales sharply] 49 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,440 [breathing heavily] 50 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,800 [Hamish] The Jill Dando murder was considered 51 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,400 as one of the biggest homicide investigations 52 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,560 conducted by the Metropolitan Police. 53 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,880 Four thousand people had been spoken to or interviewed in one way or another. 54 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,400 So, I was just focused on getting it right. 55 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,120 [male interrogator] Do you agree that you possessed a gun? 56 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,120 Replica. 57 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,280 So we accept that you possessed the replica gun? 58 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:34,320 Yes, sir. 59 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,320 [Hamish] What was interesting was he answered the questions 60 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:38,480 during the interview. 61 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,320 Not a gun. A replica gun. 62 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,120 Most people being interviewed for a murder would not answer any questions. 63 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:47,560 [breathing heavily] 64 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,760 [female interviewer] I'm going to ask you a few questions. 65 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,880 I just want you to try and remember 66 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,160 what it was like when you were detained and arrested. 67 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:00,840 The police wanted to speak to me, 68 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,200 what for, I don't know, you know, 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,720 because I haven't committed any crime. 70 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,800 So did you know who Jill Dando was? 71 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,960 I've never met her in my life. Didn't know who she was. 72 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:20,760 The police, over and over grilled me about it. 73 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:23,519 And I really did not know who she was. 74 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,360 [male interrogator] Did you ever buy 75 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:28,960 a G145, 8mm, blank-firing government automatic? 76 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:29,960 [Barry] No, sir. 77 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,280 -Have you ever possessed one of those? -No, sir. 78 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,480 -Have you ever handled one of those? -No, sir. 79 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,960 -Have you ever fired one of those? -No, sir. 80 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,680 We knew that he was lying. 81 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,280 [suspenseful music playing] 82 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,960 We had a photograph of George holding this pistol, 83 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,680 which was one of the types of firearms that it was reported killed Jill Dando. 84 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,800 [male interrogator] Do you recognize the person in the picture? 85 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:07,560 The picture that was taken, it's not me in that picture. 86 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,960 [male interrogator] Who do you think it is? 87 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:18,320 Could be anyone. 88 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,160 That's a picture of you, Mr. George. 89 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,120 [BBC News theme music playing] 90 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,040 Good evening. Police hunting the killer 91 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,640 of the television presenter Jill Dando have been holding a man all day… 92 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,440 On suspicion of murder in connection with last year's killing 93 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,800 of popular BBC television personality Jill Dando. 94 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,800 The story of Barry George's arrest was probably almost as big 95 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,960 as the story of Jill Dando's murder in the first place. 96 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,360 The people I worked for, they just wanted to know everything, 97 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:03,520 who is this guy, from cradle to grave? You know, every cough and splutter. 98 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,040 I started working my contacts. 99 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,440 I eventually got through to somebody 100 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,920 and my source was higher up the chain of command. 101 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,960 He said to me that, you know, he's a guy called Barry Bulsara. 102 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:22,760 Barry Bulsara? I said, you know, is he related to Freddie Mercury? 103 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:27,400 I knew that his real name was Bulsara, very unusual surname. 104 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:29,800 And I thought, that can't be a coincidence. 105 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,560 [gripping music playing] 106 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,960 [male reporter] The forensic examination of the suspect's home and its contents 107 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,440 is likely to continue throughout the day. 108 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,960 [Jon] It was in all the newspapers, on all the news channels. 109 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,280 Police over here are saying that this is a very significant development 110 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,960 in what's been a 13-month-long investigation. 111 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,200 My phone rang off the hook with every journalist in the universe 112 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:53,640 trying to find, you know, get a quote. 113 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,360 Police are still questioning a man in London tonight. 114 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,160 And it was obvious to me that this was the biggest event of the year. 115 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,360 After 24 hours, they could apply for an extension 116 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,880 to hold him for further questioning. 117 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,440 [Jeff] The answer coming back from Freddie Mercury's representatives 118 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:11,360 was he doesn't have a cousin called Barry 119 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,360 and hasn't a clue who this bloke is. 120 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,800 [male reporter] The singer's family denied any connection. 121 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:17,600 [Jeff] So I said, "So what are we saying?" 122 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,480 "Is this guy some sort of fantasist?" And he said, "Well, put it this way, 123 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,920 he doesn't appear to be the full ticket." 124 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,120 [solemn music playing] 125 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,480 I took great heart from the fact that 126 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:40,520 nobody knew that his surname was George. 127 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,000 We're just an ordinary family. 128 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,480 These things don't happen to ordinary people. 129 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,560 I thought that the whole thing was going to fall apart 130 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,440 and we'd never have to tell people that this happened to us. 131 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,640 I believed it was a mistake. 132 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,800 They would soon realize, "No, we've got the wrong guy," and they would let him go. 133 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,920 It is important to give everybody the chance to be innocent 134 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:23,920 and let them demonstrate that 135 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,640 because they will soon unravel if they're not. 136 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,080 -[male interrogator] Do you tell lies? -No, sir. 137 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,680 -Are you Freddie Mercury's cousin? -No, sir. 138 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,200 Have you told people you're Freddie Mercury's cousin? 139 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:36,720 I have done, sir. 140 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:38,919 -Is that a lie, Mr. George? -Yes, sir. 141 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,200 Things just turned from bad to worse. 142 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:43,640 [tense music playing] 143 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,480 I'm thinking, now you're trying to put me in a frame, 144 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:51,920 use me as a, you know, scapegoat. That's as simple as that. 145 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,760 [male interrogator] What's your interest in Jill Dando? 146 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,080 I don't have an interest in Jill Dando, sir. 147 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,000 I would have had no knowledge of who she was. 148 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,720 [male interrogator] Do you know who Jill Dando was? 149 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:10,880 Until after her, um, death, I had no idea. 150 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,600 The position that Barry George maintained that he didn't know Jill Dando, 151 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,520 he'd never heard of her, that was a lie. 152 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:24,560 We found photographs of television presenters from his flat, always female. 153 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,000 Many people are interested in celebrities. 154 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,680 They're autograph hunters or they go to locations. 155 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:36,200 But Barry George's interest appeared to be private and almost secret. 156 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,360 Barry George knew of Jill Dando. 157 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,480 It was frustrating and difficult. 158 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,600 I mean, despite all the information we'd found in the intelligence, 159 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:49,720 there was nothing there at that time 160 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,520 where we could charge George with murdering Jill Dando. 161 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:00,080 We had the maximum of 96 hours in custody. 162 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,960 He either had to be charged or released at that stage. 163 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,320 [Charlie] The public, watching programs like Crime Scene Investigator, CSI, 164 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,920 they want the smoking gun. They want the hard, firm evidence 165 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,240 that in reality just doesn't always exist in investigations. 166 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,080 [gripping music playing] 167 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:25,080 Investigation is about methodology, uh, and process. 168 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:28,680 I went back to the forensic exhibits. 169 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:33,000 I searched his home address. We found a coat. 170 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,160 The three-quarter length coat which was very similar 171 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,440 to the one that witnesses had described as being worn by the shooter. 172 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,120 It had been photographed at the laboratory and sent for forensic analysis. 173 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,440 [Barry] Allegedly, the coat that they recovered for evidence, 174 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,520 it was a black cashmere coat, just like this one. 175 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:06,480 And if I had been the perpetrator, there'd be cashmere and wool evidence. 176 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:07,640 Thousands of fibers. 177 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,960 [Hamish] Forensic material erodes very quickly. 178 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,880 So the idea there would be blood, 179 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,880 fibers or gunshot residue would be minimal 180 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,120 because we were a year behind. 181 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,240 If we couldn't find any direct evidence 182 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,000 which could link George to that crime scene, 183 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:30,840 he would need to be released. 184 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:34,680 And then we received the report. 185 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:39,440 The laboratory had found a single particle of gunshot residue 186 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,000 in the inside coat pocket of the three-quarter length coat. 187 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:50,120 George had been in the presence of discharged gunshot residue. 188 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,320 And of all the types it could have been, 189 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,960 that particle was the same type as found at the crime scene. 190 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,800 This changed the investigation dramatically. 191 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,520 [male interrogator] How do you explain the firearms residue 192 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,480 in your coat pocket, Mr. George? 193 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:09,480 The coat pocket of the coat that you may have been wearing 194 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,320 on the day that Jill Dando was killed. How do you explain that? 195 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:16,360 I can't explain. 196 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,960 I have no knowledge. 197 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,280 [Hamish] That's when his solicitor advised him to make no further comment. 198 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,480 We had sufficient evidence now. 199 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:31,600 And he was charged with the murder of Jill Dando. 200 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,800 [male reporter] After four days of questioning at Hammersmith police station 201 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,840 in West London, the self-styled Barry Bulsara was charged with murder 202 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,000 under his original name of Barry Michael George. 203 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,080 The detective leading the inquiry, Hamish Campbell, 204 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:49,560 left the police station without comment. 205 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,040 Mr. Bulsara was driven away to a jail in South London. 206 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,160 [female reporter] Tonight, Barry Bulsara 207 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,600 is spending his first night in prison after being charged 208 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,560 with the murder of Jill Dando. 209 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,000 [Michelle] I was in a department store in Cork 210 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,360 and I got a phone call from Barry's solicitor. 211 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,400 I thought that she was ringing me to say, "Okay, they're going to let him go." 212 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:16,160 But that wasn't what she said. 213 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,120 She said, "I'm really sorry." 214 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,840 "I have to tell you that they're going to charge him." 215 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:31,360 And she said, "They found this particle of gunshot residue on his coat." 216 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,000 At that moment I had to ask, "Could he have done it?" 217 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:37,960 [suspenseful music playing] 218 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:47,320 I spent 32 years in prison and I was serving a sentence in Belmarsh. 219 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,240 I knew a journalist who worked for Punch magazine. 220 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,520 He phoned me up one day and said, "Barry George was arrested 221 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:01,080 and on remand for high-profile execution-style murder with a firearm." 222 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,280 "Is there any chance you can get a personal interview?" 223 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,000 So I said, "Well, yeah." 224 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,520 I put the phone down, sidled up to a friendly screw. 225 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,080 I said, "I hear Barry George is in here." He said, "Yeah, he's in the hospital." 226 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:17,840 Okay. I went back to my cell. Half hour later, I faked a heart attack. 227 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:23,800 Uh, so the screws come rushing in, took me over to Belmarsh hospital, 228 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,240 and I spotted him from the newspaper pictures. 229 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,360 Tried to start a conversation with him. 230 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,520 Obviously, I couldn't write anything down 231 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,000 because, you know, I'm over there for a suspected heart attack, 232 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,640 and if I had a notebook and a pen, they'd get suspicious. 233 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,120 First question I asked him, "All right, mate. What's your name?" 234 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:46,680 And he went, "Barry." 235 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,800 I went, "Okay." I said, uh, "Do you like guns?" 236 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:55,680 He looked at me for a minute and he said, "I like Guns N' Roses." 237 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,760 And I remember thinking, he's got to be drugged out of it 238 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,960 because he was so slow in his speech. 239 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,360 And obviously I wanted the juicy story, didn't I? 240 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,560 "Yes, I killed Jill Dando." That's going to be my journalistic coup. 241 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,480 Uh, "Did you do the murder?" 242 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,120 And he went, "No." 243 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,560 And I went, "You know who was murdered?" And he went, "Yeah, it was Jill Dando." 244 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:18,840 [imperceptible] 245 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,120 I looked at him and I thought, 246 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,720 "There's something not quite right about this guy." 247 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,440 [intriguing music playing] 248 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,880 I sent the interview and I said, "I've spoken to him." 249 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,400 "He's not capable of committing a cold-blooded execution in broad daylight 250 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:37,600 and then not speaking about it for a year." 251 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,040 "No way," I said, "there's no way he could keep that secret." 252 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,440 Seeing Barry behind the horrible Perspex screen, 253 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,240 it was the most awful thing. 254 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:58,840 He looked so vulnerable and we couldn't touch, 255 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:05,160 but he put his hand up against the glass like that. And I put mine. 256 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:10,960 He just looked straight in my eyes and he said, "I didn't do it." 257 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,040 And I thought, "Right. That's enough for me." 258 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,520 I just said, "We will fight this." 259 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:25,720 We needed to get the best legal representation we could. 260 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:27,760 [man] Michael Mansfield, slate nine. 261 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,360 [male interviewer] It would be helpful if you could list 262 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,800 some of the major cases that you've worked on. 263 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:35,080 How long have you got? 264 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,040 [male reporter 1] There were serious acts of violence 265 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,160 by senior and junior police officers… 266 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,640 [male reporter 2] Michael Mansfield is a high-profile barrister. 267 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,600 He's represented the likes of the Birmingham Six. 268 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,720 Guildford Four, Tottenham Three, Cardiff Five. 269 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,760 Bloody Sunday in the north of Ireland. Hillsborough. 270 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,400 A full examination of the issues and the truth of what went on 271 00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,480 hasn't even been fully explored yet. 272 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,760 Mohamed Al-Fayed and Diana, that's pretty big. 273 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,040 A whole series of cases involving the Black community, 274 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:09,880 and then that culminated with the Lawrence inquiry. 275 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:17,760 [pensive music playing] 276 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:22,720 When I first met Barry, it took a little while to create, 277 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,720 as it sometimes does, a relationship. 278 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,599 I didn't recognize just how serious 279 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,760 the workings of his mind were. 280 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,560 He didn't respond in the way that people usually did. 281 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:45,000 My concern then was the police allowed the case to be infused with this theory 282 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,680 that it was this loner man. 283 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:50,640 What is the case against him? 284 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:55,360 That he's an oddball character, he has an obsession with women, 285 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,320 but not particularly with Jill Dando. 286 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:00,640 He had an interest in guns. 287 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:05,560 And all of that produces an incontrovertible case 288 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:07,640 that he's the man who did it. 289 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:10,000 No, it doesn't. 290 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,680 Now, if I were a police officer, I'd approach it a different way. 291 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,800 Nearly every crime scene has the answer within the scene. 292 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,320 I went on a bicycle to have a look at it. 293 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:30,200 The front garden's tiny. 294 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,560 It'd take you four or five paces from the gate. It's nothing. 295 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,120 Between the time she clicks her driver's door closed, 296 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,120 walks to the front door, it's a matter of yards only. 297 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,840 It cannot have been a lone gunman. [chuckles] 298 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,040 [intriguing music playing] 299 00:18:54,120 --> 00:18:57,720 It has to have been somebody with inside information. 300 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:02,600 Every time you put Barry George into the role of the executioner, 301 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:03,800 it doesn't work. 302 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,560 He'd had to have had the loaded gun on him ready to fire 303 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:13,080 and be crouched in the front garden so that she didn't see that he was there. 304 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,800 Well, he'd have to be there for hours. 305 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:19,120 Doesn't add up. 306 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,360 I realized that this was an injustice in the making. 307 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:34,600 So then, what kicks in is the feeling of, sadness is the wrong word, anger. 308 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:36,040 I want to do something about it. 309 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:38,000 [gripping music playing] 310 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:40,120 [metal door slams] 311 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,480 I had to ask myself, "Well, is it right?" 312 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,320 "Is it fair? Is he fit to stand trial, understand the proceedings?" 313 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,720 And so I'd asked him to be examined by the psychologists, 314 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,040 in order to make some kind of assessment. 315 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:07,800 [professor] I learned that the legal team 316 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,400 were having huge difficulties with Barry George. 317 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,120 Michael Mansfield said, "I think there's something not right here 318 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:18,960 and he needs to be tested." 319 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,880 I sat on the train thinking, what's this person going to be like 320 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,160 'cause you know it had been in all the press, 321 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,760 this monster who'd "killed" Jill Dando. 322 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:30,600 [pensive music playing] 323 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:37,040 But when I arrived, he was just so distressed 324 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:40,360 and so all over the place. 325 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,520 It was extreme. It was all coming one way. 326 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:47,440 I felt like it was an avalanche of words hitting at me. 327 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,440 "They've done this and they've done that." 328 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,440 For his intellect, I found that he fell in the borderline range, 329 00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,520 so that's extremely low. 330 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,280 With his working memory, his processing speed, 331 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,160 actually, everything else was at the first percentile. 332 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:13,760 So 99% of people would perform better than him. 333 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,520 [intriguing music playing] 334 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,400 [Jane] All newspapers were put on to what we call, 335 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,960 getting the background on that person. 336 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,720 And of course, what we found was very colorful indeed. 337 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,040 It rapidly became clear that Barry George had built up 338 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,880 a sort of a very fantasy life for himself. 339 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:44,480 In the '80s, he had been fined for impersonating a police officer. 340 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,560 He told women he was in the RAF, then it became the SAS, uh, 341 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,640 whereas in reality he'd just been rejected from the Territorial Army. 342 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:55,400 [male reporter] Aren't you a nutter? 343 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:56,480 No. 344 00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,640 [Jane] And then this footage emerged. 345 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,280 And now he was called Steve Majors all of a sudden 346 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:08,040 and he was doing this stunt which involved going over the top 347 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:12,240 of four double-decker buses whilst wearing roller skates. 348 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,520 So you've never actually done anything like this before? 349 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,960 Never in the world. It's never been done. 350 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,000 Haven't you had a go on a mini-ramp just to have a practice? 351 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:23,160 -No, not at all. -[chuckles softly] 352 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:24,960 [gripping music playing] 353 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:27,760 [Barry screams] 354 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:33,680 [Jane] I think he dislocated his spine, he fractured his femur 355 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,320 and you think, fantasist of the first order. 356 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:43,120 But could you make the leap from that to this is the man 357 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,280 that walked up to Jill Dando and shot her in cold blood in the head? 358 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:55,520 [birds screeching] 359 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,800 [pensive music playing] 360 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,200 [Michael] The essence of the case has two dimensions. One is a culprit, 361 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,880 and the other thing you need to grasp is the evidence. 362 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:12,320 The ballistics, namely the cartridge case left behind from the bullet. 363 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,480 It had been adapted. 364 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,240 The crimping of the cartridge case, that's rare. 365 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,960 Somebody had written in to the police, trying to help, 366 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,160 saying, "I'm very familiar with this kind of ammunition." 367 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,280 "I served in Eastern Europe in the Balkans, 368 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,480 and crimping is a characteristic." 369 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:41,120 So then you have to say to yourself, where does that take you? To Serbia. 370 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,000 [loud explosion] 371 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,240 [gripping music playing] 372 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:48,960 [distant explosion] 373 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:50,840 [distant siren wailing] 374 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:52,840 There was a Serbian connection. 375 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,320 Right there on the doorstep. 376 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,120 And it had happened before. 377 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,880 Earlier in April, the month in which Jill Dando was murdered, 378 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,960 another journalist was also murdered 379 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:12,120 outside his home in Belgrade, I think about 11 days before. 380 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:16,120 [reporter] Talk of Serbian involvement in the murder was all but discarded. 381 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,840 There is no link whatsoever between any of those more speculative theories 382 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:20,760 that we've been… 383 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:22,920 [Michael] I don't want to be facetious, 384 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,200 but I think the police didn't take it seriously 385 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,400 because there'd been no real investigation of the Serbian connection. 386 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:36,560 It has all the hallmarks of an organized, orchestrated execution, 387 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,560 which in my view, point heavily away from Barry George. 388 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,040 Am I getting carried away? 389 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,160 [laughs] 390 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,000 [gripping music playing] 391 00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,880 [Hamish] A major part of the inquiry was to try to follow up 392 00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:03,120 on some of the women who were in the photographs. 393 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,200 [Barry] The undeveloped film. 394 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:11,080 If they were for myself, why didn't I develop them? 395 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:12,600 Because there were masses of them. 396 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,480 They said that I'd been… 397 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,720 What is it, their words? Stalking people. 398 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,920 But where I was talking with people, right, 399 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,640 and if at any time they didn't feel comfortable in my presence, 400 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:32,960 I would have walked away. 401 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,360 As time went on and we got closer to the trial, 402 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,520 other details started to emerge. 403 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:45,360 There was a real escalation in the level of disturbing behavior. 404 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,720 We'd gone from what looked like a sort of a harmless, quirky fantasist 405 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,280 towards something much more sinister. 406 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:59,840 There was the arrest for attempted rape, sexual offences. 407 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,640 Then, of course, this other piece of evidence came up. 408 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:05,600 [people cheering] 409 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,120 He had an obsession with Princess Diana 410 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,400 and he had been caught in the grounds of Kensington Palace 411 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:17,400 with a coil of rope, wearing combat gear, carrying a 12-inch hunting knife. 412 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,080 And at the time, the police had just thought it was harmless, 413 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,440 which I have to say, I find astonishing. 414 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,600 That was not normal behavior. 415 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,040 [imperceptible] 416 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:34,400 So this became another part of the puzzle that, for the media, 417 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,440 pointed towards the possibility of him being involved. 418 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,520 [intriguing music playing] 419 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:47,200 [female reporter] In May last year, detectives arrested Barry Michael George. 420 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,760 His trial, which begins at the Old Bailey today, 421 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,680 is expected to last at least six weeks. He denies murder. 422 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,720 [man] I was the courts correspondent of the London Evening Standard. 423 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,280 There was a thirst, a desperation for information 424 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,440 which had to emerge from the trial. 425 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:04,960 [people clamoring] 426 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,200 The road outside the Old Bailey was packed with television crews. 427 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:14,720 It stopped the traffic. It was a massive media occasion. 428 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,200 [male reporter 1] Two years and eight days after Jill Dando's murder, 429 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,120 her fiancé Alan Farthing arrived at the Old Bailey. 430 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,800 With him was Jill's brother Nigel and other members of the Dando family. 431 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:27,720 [male reporter 2] From the defendant's family, 432 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,600 Michelle Diskin, Barry George's sister. 433 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,000 [female reporter] George is being defended by Michael Mansfield QC. 434 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:47,640 It was the first sighting in public of Barry George since his arrest, 435 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:51,000 which was big in itself because everybody wanted to see 436 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,600 the man who was accused of killing Jill Dando. 437 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,280 [tense music playing] 438 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,440 [Michelle] I was allowed to be quite close to Barry. 439 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,440 He looked totally lost. 440 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,120 [breathing heavily] 441 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,640 [Nigel] When the prosecution started to outline the case, 442 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:16,640 uh, we were able to hear more details 443 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,920 of exactly what the police case was against Barry George. 444 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,880 The first few weeks of the trial, we had learned 445 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:31,200 that a witness on Gowan Avenue had potentially placed Barry George 446 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,040 on that road at 7:30 in the morning. 447 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,200 [male reporter] Susan Mayes, who told the court 448 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,360 she was very sure she had seen the defendant 449 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,040 near Jill Dando's house. 450 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:41,800 Ms. Mayes told the court that the man 451 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,680 seemed nervous and tried to shield his face. 452 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,320 We also heard that Barry George had attempted 453 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,280 to retrace his own steps that morning. 454 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,880 [female reporter] On the same day, George had visited 455 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:54,800 a local advice center known as HAFAD 456 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:59,080 Two days later, he went back trying to establish what time he'd been there. 457 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:04,080 [Jane] And in the prosecution's view, he was trying to create a false alibi. 458 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,480 And then, of course, the particle of gun residue 459 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,960 that was found in the coat pocket, 460 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:16,320 which then the prosecution claimed put him in the presence of a fired gun. 461 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,800 In police interviews, George couldn't explain 462 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,040 how the particle had come to be in his coat, 463 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,280 and the jury were told it was compelling evidence of his guilt. 464 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:32,040 The prosecution made the allegation that I forced her to the ground 465 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,200 and then put a gun to her head. 466 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:39,120 But if I had pushed her down, if you think, if you just-- 467 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,920 -Do you mind, come, being a guinea pig? -[female interviewer] Yeah. 468 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,520 If I had pushed you down, 469 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,560 -you're facing your door… -Yeah. 470 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,000 -Putting the keys in your door. -Yeah. 471 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,880 If I had pushed you down, and it was alleged 472 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,400 -I pushed you down with my left hand… -Yeah. 473 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:04,360 There'd be masses of blood or gunshot residue over the perpetrator. 474 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,880 They found one particle, right? 475 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:09,960 I rest my case. 476 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,800 [Jane] We sort of got to the closing of the prosecution 477 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:21,800 and we realized that, hang on, that is… that is all there is. 478 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:23,720 [indistinct chatter] 479 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,920 The particle of gun residue was dynamite piece of evidence, 480 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,800 but actually all of the other stuff, 481 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:36,160 unpleasant though some of it was, was very circumstantial. 482 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:37,560 [intriguing music playing] 483 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,440 When the prosecution case wound up, the question was, is it enough? 484 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,040 [camera shutters clicking] 485 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,760 It's a long-standing maxim around Scotland Yard 486 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,440 is that until you've actually been cross-examined by Michael Mansfield 487 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,600 on the contents of your notebook, 488 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,800 then as a police officer, you haven't earned your stripes. 489 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,080 [Hamish] Yes, there was a level of nervousness, of course, 490 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:06,080 because Mr. Mansfield is not someone you can ever [chuckles] fool 491 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,960 or seek to evade answers from. 492 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,000 [Paul] Michael Mansfield once said that he took the view 493 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:17,120 that whenever he's cross-examining a policeman in court, 494 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,920 his thoughts are, "This man is lying." 495 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,360 So, the great moment arrived 496 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,360 when Michael Mansfield came to cross-examine Hamish Campbell. 497 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,840 It was a battle of wills across the courtroom. 498 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,640 [Michael] You found a particle of firearms residue, 499 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:37,680 but, well, it works the other way, doesn't it? 500 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,080 The absence of particles anywhere else at all 501 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:42,760 in his flat, that's important. 502 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:48,360 [Hamish] George had been in the presence of discharged gunshot residue, primer, 503 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:53,400 but he denied firing any gun of any sort for many, many years. 504 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,160 There was no evidence indicating that he'd ever owned a weapon 505 00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,160 that could have been the gun in this case. 506 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,680 The possession of the firearm, armorer's gun cards, 507 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:04,840 the magazines, the holster. 508 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,560 If there'd been a real investigation of the Serbian connection… 509 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,840 [Hamish] We did explore this Serbian issue by asking the security services, 510 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,560 and there is no evidence at all which suggests 511 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,920 that the Serbians or the NATO conflict was responsible. 512 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,160 [Michael] Where was the evidence of an obsession with Jill Dando? 513 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:27,560 He might go up to women and talk to them 514 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,680 and pretend to be the cousin of Freddie Mercury, 515 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,560 but that doesn't make him a murderer. 516 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:38,080 Barry George was perfectly capable of committing that crime. 517 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,520 Barry George did not murder Jill Dando. 518 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,560 [female reporter] Defense barrister Michael Mansfield QC 519 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:49,560 has suggested the Crimewatch presenter 520 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,560 may have been assassinated by an underworld hitman 521 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,080 or a Serbian gunman in retaliation… 522 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:59,120 Mr. Mansfield told the jury that there's no evidence since the mid-1980s 523 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,240 that his client has owned, possessed, 524 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,200 carried or bought any weapon or ammunition… 525 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,440 Mr. Mansfield also pointed out that police had been able to find 526 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:11,360 no forensic evidence of any firearms, fired or otherwise, at Mr. George's flat. 527 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:13,240 [gripping music playing] 528 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,680 [Michelle] I was really quite confident that, um, it would not be a conviction 529 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:23,520 because it was quite obvious 530 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,560 from the evidence that Barry hadn't done it. 531 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,800 The judge took nearly three days to sum up all the evidence. 532 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,080 And then the jury was sent out for their deliberations. 533 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,680 Mr. Justice Gage told them to take their time in considering their verdict 534 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,560 and asked that they try to come to a unanimous decision. 535 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,800 [Hamish] Each day we were just waiting at court for the verdict. 536 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,560 We were all called back into court. 537 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,360 We were told, um, "Oh, there's a decision, there's a decision." 538 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,120 [suspenseful music playing] 539 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,760 [Michael] One member of the jury sat on the front row, she was in tears, 540 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,480 and that could have meant a number of things. 541 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,200 [Michelle] The foreman was asked to rise. 542 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,239 In fact, I even caught his eye. 543 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,040 He was then asked, "Do you find Barry George 544 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,120 guilty or not guilty of murder?" 545 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:23,000 And the answer was… 546 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,600 [suspenseful music intensifies] 547 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:28,920 [music fades] 548 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:30,480 They found me guilty. 549 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,560 How could they have convicted me? 550 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,000 [Michelle] I looked at Barry. 551 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,280 And the look on his face. 552 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,520 It was the most desolate look. 553 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:50,000 And then all hell broke loose. 554 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:51,000 [clamoring] 555 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:55,400 Late this afternoon at the Old Bailey, Barry George was found guilty… 556 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:57,520 …of the murder of Jill Dando. 557 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:02,600 The judge told Barry George his actions have deprived Ms. Dando's fiancé, family, 558 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:07,040 friends and the wider public of a much-loved and popular personality. 559 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,800 A woman-hating loner has been sentenced to life in jail… 560 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,880 Ending a case that shocked the country in 1999. 561 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,880 You are unpredictable and dangerous, and are likely to remain so for some time. 562 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,280 There can be only one sentence, imprisonment for life. 563 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,720 [male reporter] As Barry George begins his life sentence for the murder, 564 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,640 people are contemplating what turned him from a relatively harmless eccentric 565 00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,160 into an astonishingly cold-blooded assassin. 566 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:37,520 [Jane] Barry George, who all his life had sought fame, 567 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,280 suddenly the most famous man in Britain, 568 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:45,400 a fame that he probably didn't want, but he certainly got. 569 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:47,080 [gripping music playing] 570 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:51,960 [Michael] It affected me very badly 571 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,320 because I felt we pulled out all the stops. 572 00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:00,120 We had really demonstrated an extremely weak-to-non-existent case. 573 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:05,080 I thought, "What on earth have I done? Have I got it right or wrong?" 574 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,240 I have no doubts, and if people were to read the information 575 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,760 and understand the full facts, I think, like the jury, 576 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,960 they would equally be assured that Barry George murdered Ms. Dando. 577 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,720 That verdict of guilty was viewed as a success. 578 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,040 On behalf of Jill's family, I'd just like to say 579 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,200 that obviously I welcome today's verdict. 580 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,920 You'll appreciate that these past two years 581 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,920 have been a very difficult time for those closest to Jill. 582 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,760 But we've gained strength from the enormous amount of goodwill 583 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,040 from people all over the country for whom Jill meant so much. 584 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,200 [interviewer] Tell us how you felt in that moment. 585 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,000 No, I'm not going to answer that question. 586 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:43,640 Because of what happens next. 587 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:50,160 [birds squawking] 588 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,560 [pensive music playing] 589 00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:05,240 [Barry] I live in Ireland now. 590 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:10,880 It's quiet here. 591 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,760 You're treated like a scab in London, but you're not here. 592 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:18,280 [birds chirping] 593 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,520 [breathing heavily] 594 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:31,640 [female interviewer sighs] 595 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:33,320 -Moment. -[female interviewer] Oh, yeah. 596 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:35,920 -Refreshment break. -Refreshments. 597 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,200 I was locked up for eight years. 598 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:47,480 I knew in my own conscious I hadn't done anything of what they said. 599 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:52,800 I was taking everything step-by-step. 600 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,240 I was just keeping my eyes and ears open 601 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:04,000 and hoping what I hear, you know, is good, 602 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,080 um, and it was. 603 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,280 [man] My name is Raphael Rowe. 604 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,000 I am an investigative journalist. 605 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:26,840 A few years after Barry George was convicted, 606 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:28,680 his sister reached out to me. 607 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,600 She was asking if I could help 608 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:34,000 highlight the fact that her brother was wrongly imprisoned. 609 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:36,800 I was at BBC Panorama at the time, 610 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:38,840 but when I was 20 years old, 611 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,000 I was wrongly convicted of murder and a series of robberies. 612 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:43,840 [people cheering] 613 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:47,720 I spent the next 12 years in maximum security prisons. 614 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,920 I've waited a long time for this. 615 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,680 The only reason I'm standing here now is because of my sister… 616 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,000 And Michelle was convincing. 617 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:00,680 You know, she sounded like my sister did 618 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,440 when my sister was saying, "Help my brother." 619 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:04,840 It resonated with me. 620 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,360 [Barry on phone] I haven't committed this crime, right? 621 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,040 I don't deserve to be here. 622 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,240 [Raphael] When I first spoke to Barry George, 623 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,360 he was able to tell me that he was innocent, 624 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,400 but he wasn't really able to tell me why he was innocent. 625 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,560 [Raphael on phone] So you didn't kill Jill Dando? 626 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,360 -[Barry] Of course not. -[phone beeps] 627 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,760 All right, I'll go and see if I can find out 628 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:27,440 whether he's telling the truth. 629 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:31,600 I did what I did best, 630 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:34,680 which is read every line of every statement, 631 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:36,440 looking for inconsistencies. 632 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:40,600 And I was really shocked by what I found. 633 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:46,040 The only piece of evidence that supposedly linked him 634 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:48,040 to the crime was the gunshot residue. 635 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,360 The link is there, the jury heard that, you're guilty. 636 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,440 Why would that be in there if you didn't? 637 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:59,120 So, I went to America, I ended up in Boston, speaking to the FBI, 638 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:04,040 who started to question the reliability of gunshot particles 639 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:06,160 because it was no longer being relied on 640 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:10,680 in cases in America, um, for contamination concerns. 641 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:13,720 So I spoke to this ballistic expert and said, 642 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:17,000 "Was it from the gun that killed Jill Dando? Was it even a gunshot?" 643 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:21,600 If this particle was found in a taxi, 644 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,080 uh, nobody would think about gunshot residue. 645 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:29,120 [Raphael] He completely undermined the science 646 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,760 that was relied on at Barry George's trial. 647 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,600 At the end of my investigation, the findings were then presented 648 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:40,880 to the Criminal Cases Review Commission 649 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,840 and it led to them commissioning a new report 650 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:49,640 that this ballistic evidence shouldn't be admissible as evidence 651 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:53,400 as to guilt or innocence and could no longer be relied on. 652 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:01,840 That's when the court said, "We dismiss the finding of guilt 653 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:06,320 on account of the new understanding and appreciation of gunshot residue." 654 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,800 "So there must be a retrial." 655 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,560 [pensive music playing] 656 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,960 It was like déjà vu. 657 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:17,760 [reporter] Michelle arrived from Ireland, 658 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,680 after years of waiting for the evidence in her brother's case to be reviewed again. 659 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,400 Today, we're hoping that we're going to get justice for Barry. Thank you. 660 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,080 The judge asked for their decision. 661 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,120 And he said, "Not guilty." 662 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,600 For the first time in all of those years, 663 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,120 I let emotion show on my face. 664 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:46,640 We stood up and just whooped. Joy. 665 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:49,120 [reporters clamoring] 666 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,880 Following the verdict, the Crown Prosecution Service said, 667 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:55,880 Mr. George now has the right to be regarded as an innocent man. 668 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,440 I was still trying to get my mind around it. 669 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,760 [male reporter] Barry George leaving the Old Bailey 670 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:07,360 a free man for the first time in eight years. 671 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:09,800 [Barry] I was glad to be out of there. 672 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:14,680 When you've got allegations coming at you 24/7, 673 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,960 you know, no let up. 674 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:21,960 How, I mean, how else would you feel? 675 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:25,280 Barry George left the court through the back. 676 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,600 He was bundled into a car, looking absolutely exhausted but very relieved. 677 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,680 [all clamoring] 678 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:34,640 [camera shutters clicking] 679 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:36,400 My sister is my rock. 680 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,240 Don't tell her I said that. 681 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:41,920 [solemn music playing] 682 00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:47,720 First thing I want to say is that we're disappointed at today's verdict 683 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:51,120 but we're especially disappointed for Jill's family and friends. 684 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,600 [Hamish] Do I think he should have been found not guilty? 685 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,800 We accept and respect the decision of the court this afternoon. 686 00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:01,760 I thought the guilty verdict in 2001 was the correct verdict. 687 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,080 We will reflect upon today's verdict 688 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:09,160 and reconsider what the next steps will be. 689 00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:10,240 Thank you very much. 690 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,520 [male reporter] A huge embarrassment for the police? 691 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:13,440 Thank you. 692 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:16,320 Barry George tonight walks free. 693 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:17,760 But the question remains, 694 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:21,040 if he did not kill Jill Dando, then who did? 695 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:23,560 [pensive music playing] 696 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:34,920 I think it's really interesting, after his acquittal 697 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:38,400 there has been no more serious investigation into, 698 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:39,720 into Jill Dando's death. 699 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,840 I think as far as the police were concerned, it was case closed. 700 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:51,240 It's been in the news or subject to comment and report 701 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:53,080 every year for 23 years. 702 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:55,920 I think people like a mystery. 703 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,000 But I don't think it's a mystery at all. 704 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,440 [female interviewer] If I was to say to you, did you kill Jill Dando? 705 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,440 -What would you say? -Simply no. 706 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:21,720 It makes me angry that they've taken eight years of my life… away. 707 00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:25,200 They just basically persecuted me. 708 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:27,080 [pensive music playing] 709 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,960 [male interviewer] Do you think that Barry George killed Jill Dando? 710 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:33,640 I did, yes. 711 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:37,400 [male interviewer] But do you now? 712 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:39,800 I don't think I've changed my mind. 713 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,000 If anybody in this documentary who you interview, 714 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:46,200 uh, says that Barry George did it, 715 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:50,560 I think they need to see somebody, get help. 716 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:54,560 They wasted all those resources they had, uh, on this guy, 717 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,520 when the real perpetrator is free 718 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:03,000 and having dinner somewhere. You know, it's just ridiculous. 719 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:10,400 Barry George had been acquitted by a jury, which is the seal of innocence. 720 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,360 And the police say, "We're not looking for anybody else. We got it right." 721 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,480 Well, sorry, the file should still be open on this case. 722 00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:20,480 They should be looking. 723 00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:26,160 The public also know where there hasn't been any resolution. 724 00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:30,440 So it makes sense they want to examine it themselves. 725 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:35,120 -[gripping music playing] -[keyboard clacking] 726 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:36,640 [mouse clicks] 727 00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,680 What happened that morning remains a mystery, the crime unsolved, 728 00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:45,600 her killer never held to justice. 729 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:48,560 [Nigel] There have been a number of stories 730 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,480 about perhaps this had something to do with Jill, 731 00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,760 perhaps that had something to do with Jill. 732 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,320 Big story for one day and then it goes away. 733 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,160 And really, I just shrug my shoulders at them. 734 00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:01,920 Uh, they don't have legs, they don't seem to travel. 735 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,560 Uh, they make a headline for 24 hours and then they're forgotten about. 736 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,200 [Raphael] The theories that have surfaced 737 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:14,960 over the years in this case, that Jill Dando was looking into something 738 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:20,520 that may have been, um, one of the reasons somebody wanted to silence her, 739 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,520 just doesn't wash with me. 740 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:25,080 She wouldn't have been doing it alone 741 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,480 and it would in fact make those who survived the assassination 742 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:34,840 be all the more determined to expose whatever that secret investigation was. 743 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:38,320 You hear of such terrible people in this world doing terrible things 744 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,440 and that's what worries me, is the mentality of some people 745 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,520 that can actually do those awful things. 746 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,280 [male interviewer] Have you got an inkling as to who… who was responsible? 747 00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:50,640 I don't really want to talk about that for my own safety. 748 00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:54,200 But there are rumors in the criminal world who done it, 749 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:55,440 let's put it that way. 750 00:46:56,720 --> 00:47:00,160 And it's not who you'd think and it's not Barry George. 751 00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:02,960 It was a professional hit. 752 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:04,680 [intriguing music paying] 753 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:08,880 Can you give any insight into why? 754 00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:13,800 No. No, if I tell you why, you'd know who done it. So, no. 755 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:16,480 [woman] What advice you have for up-and-coming journalists? 756 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,240 When I was on the local paper, I'd go to council meetings, 757 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,480 interview the couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. 758 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:24,560 You learn what real people are really like. 759 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,360 I think being a good journalist is about getting under the skin of people. 760 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:34,160 As a journalist, unsolved crimes play on your mind. 761 00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:38,120 For me to be sitting here 24 years on and saying 762 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,960 that we still do not know who killed Jill Dando 763 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:46,920 is just mind-boggling to me. 764 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,360 Crimewatch has results. You go on air and about ten minutes later, 765 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:53,920 the phones are ringing, people are ringing in with all sorts of suggestions. 766 00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,480 I've had 20 years of people coming up to me 767 00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,680 and asking me the questions that I'm answering now. 768 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,800 Uh, and I'm okay with that, I'm fine with that. 769 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:10,120 I also believe and hope that one day, uh, there will be an answer to it. 770 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:14,960 Whether any new evidence will come forward. I hope it will. 771 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:17,400 Uh, but we'll just have to wait and see, 772 00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:20,720 until the day that the police come along and say, 773 00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:24,360 "Right, okay, we've now got enough evidence to nail Jill's killer." 774 00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:28,520 [girl] Do you ever get worried about things you see on Crimewatch? 775 00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:29,760 [Jill] Oh, yes, you do. 776 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,960 But at the end of the day the crimes that we show are so rare. 777 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:35,440 It's not something that you walk out into the street 778 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,120 and think, "The same thing's going to happen to me." 779 00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:42,200 [theme music playing]