Dando killer to appeal

Barry George: Said to be devastated by the verdict

The man convicted of killing television presenter Jill Dando is to appeal against his conviction, Barry George's lawyer has confirmed.

George, 41, of Fulham, west London, will make the appeal as soon as possible, based mainly on identification evidence, Marilyn Etienne said on Monday.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this month after an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of murdering the celebrity on the doorstep of her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, in April 1999.

A case will be lodged with the Court of Appeal once it has been approved by George this week.

Ms Etienne said the grounds related to the way in which "identification evidence is admitted or received in the criminal courts for consideration by juries".

'ID in question'

Ms Etienne continued: "In this case the prosecution rested primarily and fundamentally upon identification evidence.

"The judge directed the jury in terms that they could not convict unless they accepted the identification evidence as reliable. There was no other evidence which could found a conviction."

The evidence that convicted George

Gunfire residue on his coat

A fibre from his trousers at the crime scene

Eyewitnesses placed him at the scene

He was fascinated with guns

He was obsessed by celebrities and the BBC

She said five of 13 potential witnesses identified George and "in effect there was only one positive unqualified identification of the defendant being in Gowan Avenue prior to the murder, and none by witnesses who saw the gunman."

The other four "qualified" identifications related to sightings prior to the shooting and took place on video identity parades held between 16 and 21 months after the murder, she added.

"They varied greatly in their quality and did not contain an underlying consistency or unity of description," she said.

Ms Etienne said these and other matters, including forensic evidence, would be canvassed in the application for leave to appeal currently being finalised.

'Miscarriage of justice'

George, a known sex offender, denied the killing but a jury of six women and five men convicted him by a 10-1 majority after an Old Bailey trial lasting nearly two months.

Doctors who studied George, of Crookham Road, Fulham, concluded he had "psychiatric personality characteristics" and hated women.

Miss Dando was found dead on her doorstep

He was convicted on the basis of a mixture of circumstantial, forensic and eyewitness evidence.

Barry George's family greeted the guilty verdict on 2 July with defiance, saying the unemployed loner was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

George's lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, fought at every stage to have the case thrown out.

During the trial he said there was no proper evidence against his client, and there was substantial prejudice against him which would prevent him getting a fair trial.