Barry George charged with rape and indecent assault in non-recent case, linked to Jill Dando inquiry

Barry George, the man who was wrongly convicted of Jill Dando’s 1999 murder, has been charged with rape and two counts of indecent assault connected to a non-recent incident in 1987 involving a girl who was a teenager at the time. Prosecutors said the charges relate to the alleged assault on a 14-year-old girl almost four decades ago. George, 65, faces one count of rape and two counts of indecent assault. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 October 2025.

George was convicted of the 1999 murder of Jill Dando, a BBC presenter who was shot on her doorstep in Fulham, but was acquitted in 2008 after a retrial. He served eight years in prison before being freed when experts raised questions about the legal weight of a single particle of gunshot residue found in his overcoat pocket. Dando’s killer has never been found, and in recent years investigators have pursued a range of leads without resolution.

Since his acquittal, George has been living with his sister in Cork, Ireland, beginning in 2010. In the years after Dando’s death, speculation about potential suspects has circulated, including mentions of Milorad Ulemek, a convicted Serbian assassin who is serving a 40-year sentence and has been named by some as a possible suspect in the case. Authorities have cautioned that naming individuals as suspects is not evidence and that inquiries continue to be pursued through appropriate channels.

Lionel Idan, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London South, said that after reviewing a file of evidence the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to prosecute George on the charges of rape and two counts of indecent assault. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 October 2025. Idan emphasized that the proceedings are active and that George has the right to a fair trial. He also noted there would be substantial public interest in the case, but stressed that reporting or online commentary should avoid prejudice to the ongoing proceedings.

The Jill Dando case remains unresolved. Dando was murdered on her doorstep on 26 April 1999, shortly after she had hosted a television appeal that raised about 54 million pounds for Kosovan refugees fleeing Serbian paramilitaries during the Yugoslav conflict. In the wake of her death, the BBC received a call claiming the killing was revenge for a NATO attack on a Belgrade television station in which 17 people died, a line of inquiry that has not produced a proven lead.

The charges announced Friday mirror a broader pattern of investigators revisiting past offenses connected to figures previously tied to the Dando case, though prosecutors cautioned that each matter stands on its own facts and should be considered independently of the earlier trial and conviction. As the case proceeds, legal observers will watch closely for how prosecutors present the non-recent allegations and how the defense contest the claims in court.