Man cleared of Jill Dando murder charged with rape

The man who was wrongly convicted of killing Jill Dando has been charged with rape and indecent assault, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Monday. Barry George, 65, is charged with raping a girl who was 14 at the time of the alleged attack in 1987, and with two counts of indecent assault. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 October 2025. George was convicted of Dando's murder in 1999 but was acquitted in 2008 after a retrial. He served eight years in prison before being released after experts questioned the legal significance of a single particle of gunshot residue found in his overcoat pocket. The 37-year-old Crimewatch host was killed on her doorstep on 26 April 1999, a crime whose killer has never been found.

Following his acquittal, George moved to Ireland and lived with his sister in Cork from 2010. The case has continued to generate discussion about the original investigation and the possibility of reopening efforts to identify the killer. Milorad Ulemek, a convicted Serbian assassin serving a 40-year sentence, has been named as a possible suspect in the Jill Dando case in some accounts, though no charges have been brought against him.

![Barry George](