Barry George's Compensation Claim Rejected

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Man cleared of Jill Dando's murder will appeal

Barry George, the man who was cleared of the murder of TV star Jill Dando, has had a claim for compensation rejected because Government law officials say he has not proven his innocence.

His solicitor said he would appeal against the verdict.

Mr George, 50, had claimed for £1.4 million compensation after serving eight years in jail, before a jury at a retrial found him not guilty of the murder.

He was found guilty of Miss Dando’s murder in 2001, two years after the Crimewatch presenter was shot dead on her doorstep in Gowan Avenue in Fulham.

He was granted a retrial in August 2008, at which time the judge ruled out firearms residue evidence and the prosecution presented a circumstantial case against him. A jury of eight women and four men unanimously cleared Mr George.

Jill Dando, who was 37 at the time of her death, worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was killed by a single gunshot to the head in April 1999, and sincer Mr George's acquittal, the identity of her murderer remains a mystery.

Last year, it was announced that Scotland Yard was reviewing new evidence in the case. At the time there were rumours that a man of Serbian descent had boasted of killing her, in revenge for NATO's bombing of Belgrade.

This week, police confirmed they are carrying out a forensic review, but denied newspaper reports that a breakthrough had revealed "compelling" new DNA evidence