Barry George

[Rowntree]

So, considering that he's been found innocent in a court of law over the killing of Jill Dando yet spent eight years in jail, is there a valid reason why he wouldn't receive compensation for that time spent in jail?

At the time I thought he'd been fitted up so it seems more bizarre to me. The reasoning of the judges is apparently that his innocence isn't proven enough.

Thoughts?

 

[Luke Action McClure]

So, considering that he's been found innocent in a court of law over the killing of Jill Dando yet spent eight years in jail, is there a valid reason why he wouldn't receive compensation for that time spent in jail?

At the time I thought he'd been fitted up so it seems more bizarre to me. The reasoning of the judges is apparently that his innocence isn't proven enough.

Thoughts?

All seems a bit odd to me. In not paying compensation, it's as if the authorities are saying "OK, so some of the evidence is flawed (gun residue issues) so we've had to acquit you, but we still think you're guilty, so sod your compensation."

He had a string of offences prior to the Dando killing, so he would make an easy scapegoat for the police to make a quick arrest, though I think it was close to a year before they charged him for her murder.

What fascinates me though, is that if it wasn't George who killed her, who on earth did? And why? Surely they need to re-open the case if he's been acquitted? Not re-opening it only reinforces the idea that they think he IS guilty, but there's sufficient problems with evidence on which he and his team were able to successfully appeal...

 

[Rowntree]

I think the case wasn't re opened 'cause they haven't got a clue where to start, like they didn't at the time. To me it seemed that George was picked up because they saw him as the type and needed to get somebody in. Plus with him being a bit of a fantasist I expect under questioning nothing he said stacked up.

Even so, the evidence they put forward in the first place was faulty if not false. I'd be more minded to think why on Earth would George kill her as much as who on Earth did and why? Yes George is an oddball, but would somebody of his intellect have enough about them to assassinate a famous person outside their home, be somewhere else within so little time that he couldn't have been at Dando's house and also not been identified by witnesses who saw the killer? I don't know why she was killed or who did it but it doesn't add up that George did it. I guess it's too near the event still for the establishment to admit they f***ed up.

I think the problem is that it was such a high profile murder the police had to implicate somebody and continue to do so.

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

So, considering that he's been found innocent in a court of law over the killing of Jill Dando yet spent eight years in jail, is there a valid reason why he wouldn't receive compensation for that time spent in jail?

At the time I thought he'd been fitted up so it seems more bizarre to me. The reasoning of the judges is apparently that his innocence isn't proven enough.

Thoughts?

There are no gradations of innocence in law. You is or you isn't. As he is free he must be innocent, and therefore entitled to compensation. He might be an oddbod, but being an oddbod isn't a criminal offence, thankfully.