Barry George, the person wrongly jailed for murdering BBC star Jill Dando, seems in courtroom charged with historic rape and indecent assaults
The man who was wrongly convicted of killing TV presenter Jill Dando has appeared in court charged with raping and indecently assaulting a teenager.
Barry George appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink from Ireland today, accompanied by a family member, accused of attacking the 14-year-old girl almost 40 years ago.
The 65-year-old would have been aged 27 at the time.
George, wearing a dark jumper over a white shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during the 15-minute hearing before His Honour Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London. He was not asked to enter pleas.
He is charged with one count of rape and two counts of indecently assaulting the same girl in the west London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in September 1987.
Prosecutor Kate Bex KC said George will also face a fourth count of attempted rape – an alternative to the rape charge – when he is asked to enter pleas at a future hearing.
He was released on bail ahead of his next appearance, on February 13 next year.
The court heard the defence will apply for psychiatric and psychologist reports on their client, who has existing medical conditions.
Barry George appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink
George, pictured in 2019, has been charged with rape
The defendant was previously wrongly convicted of murdering BBC presenter Jill Dando
George was convicted of murdering broadcast journalist and Crimewatch presenter Ms Dando in 2001, but he was acquitted unanimously in 2008 following a retrial.
He served eight years in prison before being freed after experts raised concerns about the legal significance of a single particle of gunshot residue that was found in his overcoat pocket.
Ms Dando was forced to the ground and shot in the head on the doorstep of her home in Fuljham on April 26 1999. She was 37.
Her killer has never been found.
Following his acquittal, George went to live with his sister in Ballincollig in Cork.
He has always denied any involvement in Ms Dando’s murder and has called for Scotland Yard to reopen the investigation to identify the killer.
Milorad Ulemek, 57, a Serbian former paramilitary commander and convicted assassin who is serving a 40-year prison sentence, has been named as a possible suspect in the case.
After Ms Dando was killed, the BBC received a call saying she was targeted in revenge for a recent Nato attack on a TV station in Belgrade, Serbia, in which 17 people died.
Weeks earlier she had hosted a television appeal that raised £54 million for Kosovan refugees who fled Serbian paramilitaries during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.
