In July 2001 Barry George was convicted of murdering the popular British television presenter Jill Dando.

Some have argued that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice, and this is the subject of a book by Scott Lomax.

The case against him depended on a witness who saw a man for five to six seconds, four and a half hours before the murder, and who identified that man as Barry George eighteen months later. This woman described the man she saw as having a "short, smart haircut" but at trial described the man as having long and untidy hair - a clear contrast to her earlier statement.

There was also a particle of alleged firearms discharge residue, but how it got there remains uncertain. The prosecution's expert witness could not rule out contamination and said, at best, it could only form a possible link between Barry George and the crime.

A witness at an advice centre claimed George was with her at 11:50. It was common ground at trial that if this witness was correct, George was certainly innocent. A second woman had originally claimed that George was at the advice centre at 11:50 but then one year later, when the police first took a statement, she was no longer sure and could only say the time was "around midday."

George was alleged to be obsessed with Jill - there were eight articles in his flat about the presenter printed before her death, but then she was in the papers a lot because she was popular. George hoarded newspapers. In fact he had more than eight hundred in his flat and the articles were not highlighted or cut out.

Reference

• Barry George, the victim of one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice? by S. C. Lomax