Barry George cleared of Dando murder

After an eight-week retrial at the Old Bailey, Barry George was today cleared of the murder of the BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando (right) in 1999. George, who has spent eight years in jail for a crime he did not commit, showed no reaction when the jury returned their verdict. His sister, Michelle Diskin, who has led the fight for justice ever since her brother was convicted in July 2001, punched the air and said: "Yes".

George's lawyer, Jeremy Moore, later said that his client's first words
were: "I cannot believe it." He confirmed that George, 48, was considering claiming compensation for his years in custody. "Those years could have been better spent by the police in searching for the real killer," Moore said.

The jury took less than two days to reach their verdict after hearing that George, who suffers from epilepsy and a mental disability and was described in court as "the local nutter", claimed to be the cousin of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen, and to have served in the SAS. He had an IQ of 75 - putting him in the lowest five per cent of the population. The defence argued that he was incapable of planning the killing of 37-year-old Dando on the doorstep of her Fulham home.

More than 5,000 people were interviewed by police in the hunt for Dando's killer, an investigation that gripped the media given the presenter's fame and popularity. George became the prime suspect when, during three weeks of undercover surveillance in west London, he was seen approaching 38 women in the area and trying to make conversation with them.