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

[CSIAngus]

Dando murder: I know Barry George killed my friend Jill Dando murder: I know Barry George killed my friend Jill

In case anyone hasn't seen it, interesting article here containing a letter by Nick Ross, Jill's colleague from Crimewatch. (from 2007).

I'm afraid, Nick Ross's opinions have no weight. IMO

 

[rvlvr]

I am not a mind reader, I have no idea what the defence was thinking. What I know that both witnesses that saw the perpetrator from pretty short distance described a waxed/Barbour coat. I can buy into one witness getting it wrong but two different men, looking at the perpetrator from two different angles, having the same kind of weird optical illusion that makes the woolen coat look shiny like the Barbour, is too much for me to swallow.

And it’s not just the finish, is it. Barbour jackets are distinctive in other ways, like the collar and pockets. They’re typically hip to thigh length too, whereas George’s coat would’ve hung much lower, probably to the knees. The effect that running or even walking at pace has on such a garment would imo be highly noticeable.

Wool coats typically shed a lot of fibres too, yet none matching George’s coat were found at the scene. People typically retort to this by saying the paramedics destroyed the scene, yet the prosecution were happy to introduce fibre evidence when it suited them - no matter how weak that was. Heads we win, tails you lose.

 

[rvlvr]

I'm afraid, Nick Ross's opinions have no weight. IMO

I wouldn’t go this far, personally. But he’s obviously not an impartial observer. Which is perfectly understandable - he lost a close friend after all.

But I think his work on Crimewatch, a show dedicated to trying to solve crimes, probably clouds his judgement too. He always said he thought Jill was killed by an obsessive stalker, and even though you have to stretch the profile a bit to fit Barry George, when George was convicted he was essentially proven right. So there’s a mix of personal and professional biases at play here.

 

[Novosti]

And it’s not just the finish, is it. Barbour jackets are distinctive in other ways, like the collar and pockets. They’re typically hip to thigh length too, whereas George’s coat would’ve hung much lower, probably to the knees. The effect that running or even walking at pace has on such a garment would imo be highly noticeable.

Wool coats typically shed a lot of fibres too, yet none matching George’s coat were found at the scene. People typically retort to this by saying the paramedics destroyed the scene, yet the prosecution were happy to introduce fibre evidence when it suited them - no matter how weak that was. Heads we win, tails you lose.

Not really. None of those other features of a coat were identified by witnesses in a way that could have stood up in court. And I think (but please do correct) that only one witness mentioned a waxed coat anyway.

There was little to no chance of the absence of wool fibres at the scene being regarded as exculpatory - as you say, outdoor scenes typically need rapid weather preservation, yet that was prevented by paramedic activity. Wool transfer occurs primarily by contact. It's likely there was little to no transfer to the ground - the key thing to have tested was Jill herself, but this would have obviously required the wool coat to have touched her, which may not have happened during the attack.