UK UK - Jill Dando, 37, Fulham, London, 26 Apr 1999

[Novosti]

From the Guardian:



Putting aside the obvious issue with Mr Paul’s evidence, that he had two fairly lengthy interactions with Barry George and apparently came away with the belief that George was a blonde, spiky haired east European, let’s assume that his recollection of events is correct - does this honestly sound like an attempt by George to ‘coach a witness’? I think that’s a stretch and a half, to put it mildly.

Mr Paul’s belief simply that he was dealing with a ‘nutter’, is surely the correct explanation here.

Did anything that Barry George do in the weeks after Jill Dando died make sense? Of course not - the man was a simpleton, with a poor memory and a personality disorder. He went to the council’s housing office and asked them to erect a memorial to Jill. He collected condolence cards from local businesses, which he forgot all about and left in his flat, to be found later by police. He told at least one random member of the public that he was going to speak at Jill’s memorial service!

All utterly bizarre behaviour obviously, but exactly the sort of behaviour you’d expect a man like Barry George to partake in.

No disagreement on the bizarre nature of his behaviour. But absolutely it was coaching a witness: going back to the taxi office at all for these purposes; asking about his clothing on the day of the murder; pointing to the sun to elicit the colour he wanted; lying about the e-fit. It was a plan (albeit not a sound one) to change the evidence a witness/alibi might give.

 

[rvlvr]

No disagreement on the bizarre nature of his behaviour. But absolutely it was coaching a witness: going back to the taxi office at all for these purposes; asking about his clothing on the day of the murder; pointing to the sun to elicit the colour he wanted; lying about the e-fit. It was a plan (albeit not a sound one) to change the evidence a witness/alibi might give.

Do you have a source for the e-fit thing?

It’s true George told people he resembled the description of the suspect, though that description was being circulated on the day of the murder. I’ve never found evidence to support the oft-made claim George said he resembled the e-fit prior to it being released, though? I suspect it’s a misconception but happy to be corrected!

 

[Novosti]

Do you have a source for the e-fit thing?

It’s true George told people he resembled the description of the suspect, though that description was being circulated on the day of the murder. I’ve never found evidence to support the oft-made claim George said he resembled the e-fit prior to it being released, though? I suspect it’s a misconception but happy to be corrected!

We obviously don't have court transcripts. But here is a relevant piece of Guardian reporting the day after the conviction:

"George, police learnt, had returned to Hafad two days after the murder and asked staff if they remembered what time he had been there on April 26.

George told them he was worried he looked like the e-fit of the man the police were looking for. Detectives, however, had not released an image of a man seen running away from the scene.

George went to Traffic Cars again and asked if the controller, Ramesh Paul, remembered what he was wearing on his previous visit. When he could not, George became agitated and said "I was wearing yellow, like the colour of the sun! You must remember!"

Lost clues that led police to Dando's killer

Eight clues lost in a mass of information provided by 16,000 calls finally led detectives to arrest and charge Barry George. The crucial "messages" were provided by members of the public who called the murder squad between April 26 and June 14 1999. On their own, they were not regarded as overly...

www.theguardian.com

 

[rvlvr]

Yes, I’ve read that piece before. I don’t really think it answers the question though - all the articles I’ve ever read that detail evidence given by the witnesses including direct quotes from Mr Paul and the women at HAFAD don’t mention this thing about the e-fit, which would be quite an extraordinary omission I think - it’s obviously a very different thing to say ‘I look like the description of the gunman’ vs ‘I look like the e-fit (which hasn’t been released yet)’.

I suspect that Guardian piece has its wires crossed but of course without the trial transcripts we can’t be certain.

 

[Novosti]

Yes, I’ve read that piece before. I don’t really think it answers the question though - all the articles I’ve ever read that detail evidence given by the witnesses including direct quotes from Mr Paul and the women at HAFAD don’t mention this thing about the e-fit, which would be quite an extraordinary omission I think - it’s obviously a very different thing to say ‘I look like the description of the gunman’ vs ‘I look like the e-fit (which hasn’t been released yet)’.

I suspect that Guardian piece has its wires crossed but of course without the trial transcripts we can’t be certain.

The point about the efit was also made in other Guardian articles, on Wikipedia and in Orlando Pownall's statements.

I think if you want to assert that it's all mistaken, you need to provide some explanation for that.