Dando jury to return on Saturday

Barry George denies murdering TV presenter Jill Dando

The jury in the Jill Dando murder trial has been sent home for the night but will resume their deliberations on Saturday.

The seven female and five male jurors will spend Friday night in a hotel after failing to reach a verdict on their third day of deliberations at the Old Bailey.

Barry George, 41, denies murdering the BBC TV presenter, who was shot through the head with a single bullet outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south west London, on 26 April 1999.

On Friday morning Mr Justice Gage told the jurors: "You must have as much time as you need. I do not want you to feel you are under any pressure."

Miss Dando was shot through the head

The jury was finally called back into court at 1610 BST and when they told the judge they had not yet reached a verdict, he sent them to a hotel and told them to return at 0930 BST on Saturday.

He advised them not to discuss the case outside of court time.

While juries are not usually asked to deliberate over the weekend, it is not unprecedented, especially in high profile cases.

On Thursday the jury had watched again a video identification parade.

Jurors spent nearly two hours in court watching the videos of five witnesses attending the parades, then returned to their room to consider their verdict.

The jury was originally sent out by the judge on Wednesday, after hearing six weeks of evidence.

Forensic evidence

Before sending them out Mr Justice Gage told the jury to concentrate on the evidence they had heard in court with a "cool head and dispassionate view".

In his summing-up he also reminded them of the evidence.

He said they had to be convinced by three main planks of the prosecution's case.

These were the implausibility of Mr George's alibi; the strength of the eyewitnesses who placed him in Gowan Avenue and the forensic evidence against him.

He spoke about the particle of firearm discharge residue found on the defendant's inside pocket - a result, according to the defence, of innocent contamination.