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24 May 2001
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The Jill Dando murder suspect span a web of lies when grilled by detectives, jurors heard today.
(THURS)
Barry George, 41, claimed he didn’t know the BBC presenter, had never owned a gun, and didn’t learn of her murder until he saw it on the news.
But he was accused of lying when interviewed by police following his arrest in May last year – one year after the Crimewatch UK host was shot dead on her doorstep.
Jurors continued to watch the video tapes of him being quizzed by Detective Michael Snowden on Day 14 of the Old Bailey trial.
George admitted it was him ‘posing’ in a photograph of a man hooded with a balaclava, wearing a gas mask and holding a handgun despite previously claiming he had never owned a gun.
He was informed that the gun used to shoot 37-year-old Jill in the back of the head had been a modified blank-firing gun, like the one in the picture.
George told the detective he didn’t know if his ‘replica’ pistol had been modified.
‘Before I showed you the picture, you said you had never owned a firearm,’ said Dc Snowden.
‘Now you are telling me that you didn’t know if the gun in your possession was modified.
In my opinion, you are lying.
‘
George responded: ‘I have no reason to lie.
‘
But the detective raised his voice at softly-spoken George: ‘You do because you are on suspicion of the murder of Jill Dando.
‘You were in Fulham that day and she was shot on her doorstep by a man fitting your description with a gun like the one you are holding in the picture.
That’s why you are lying.
‘
George said: ‘I am telling the truth.
‘
He was later asked if he knew who Jill Dando was, but he claimed before her death he wouldn’t recognise her if ‘she walked up in the street’.
The defendant was shown a selection of the 650 newspapers seized during a raid on his home one month before his arrest.
He had kept one magazine, with a front page picture of the Holiday presenter, for more than five years.
He was also shown newspapers published on April 26, 1999 – the day of the killing – and asked why he had kept them all this time.
He said: ‘At the time you searched my flat you’ll recall there were a lot of newspapers on the floor.
There were articles boxed up.
‘I just hadn’t bothered to throw them out.
‘
But the court heard how several copies of the same edition were found.
When asked for the reason he was so interested in her death, he replied: ‘Apart from the sad loss, there was no reason at all.
‘
George, of Crookham Road, Fulham, denies murdering the presenter and the trial continues.
ends
