Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court,
Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London, EC4.
Tel: 0171 236 0116.
Old Bailey/dc
15 May 2001
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The court had heard from staff working at Colon Cancer Concern, a charity based in Rickett Street, where George asked to be dropped off by the taxi.
Helen Quinn, an advisor at the research centre, told jurors that the offices are not open to members of the public.
She recalled how George turned up at ‘around lunchtime’ and asked for information about a bowel disorder.
She said: ‘I remember regretting letting him in.
He was agitated which made me feel uncomfortable.
‘I fetched him a telephone number for a helpline which may be able to help him.
But he didn’t seem anxious to leave, just fixated with his problems.
‘He was very sweaty, possibly from distress.
He stayed around 15 minutes.
‘
Jurors heard how George was quizzed by police more than a year later and decided to revisit the cancer charity group to obtain confirmation of his previous visit.
He told staff members he used to work there as a volunteer and needed proof of his visit 14 months earlier because the police were harassing him ‘for doing something he hadn’t done’.
His request was refused, the court heard.
Jurors also heard from librarian Nicholas Baker who said he was approached by the defendant the day after Jill was shot.
George said he had reported a suspicious car at the time of the killing, Mr Baker told the court.
He also claimed that police had initially viewed him as a possible witness but then treated him as a suspect and searched his flat.
But George’s flat was first searched by police on April 17, 2000 – almost a year after the alleged conversation with Mr Baker, jurors were told.
He told how George had been a regular visitor to the reference section of Fulham Library over the years, mainly researching higher education opportunities, health matters and ways of complaining to various authorities.
Recalling George’s visit of April 27, 1999, the librarian said: ‘He came in and said he had a matter he would like to speak to me about in confidence.
‘He told me he had been to the police and said he had seen something around the time of the death of Jill Dando – I think it was a car.
‘He said he had been to the police and told them this and he said the police had switched from looking at him as a potential witness to being a suspect.
‘He said the police had gone to his house and searched it and he was very concerned.
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Mr Baker told how George asked him to speak to his solicitor if need be to vouch for him and the subjects he looked up in the library.
Jobless George, of Crookham Road, Fulham, was arrested one year later but denies murdering bride-to-be Jill and the trial continues.
ends
