Dando accused had gun 'similar to murder weapon'

A jury on Thursday was shown a picture of the man accused of killing popular BBC presenter Jill Dando wearing a gas mask while holding a gun prosecutors claim was similar to the murder weapon.

The picture of Barry George, 48, was found by police in his house when he was arrested in 2000, the Old Bailey heard.

Prosecutors have told the jury the adapted gun was similar to the murder weapon used to kill the 37-year-old "Crimewatch" presenter, who was gunned down in her doorway in April 1999.

He told police it was only a replica, the court heard.

George, who lived nearby, is claimed to have been obsessed with celebrities and female television personalities, had a hatred for the public broadcaster, was fascinated with weapons and frequently stalked women near Dando's Fulham home.

He had been in the Territorial Army, had weapons training and also enjoyed wearing combat gear, the court was told.

"He had the sort of gun which could have been converted into the sort of weapon used to kill Dando," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw had told the court.

Prosecutors have told the jury there was no direct evidence linking George - who has a personality disorder - to the crime, but various additional strands of circumstantial evidence "provide a compelling case".

The court was told on Thursday that George used rollerblades to stalk women, follow them into parks and after them if they got on a bus. The court has been told that police also found more than 4,000 photographs of the stalked women.

Witness Susan Coombe, who lived with George in a hostel in the mid 1980s, testified to the jury that George would follow the women to gauge if they lived alone.

George, she said, told her he had been in the SAS and owned several guns as well as army fatigues and a balaclava.

She told the court of one occasion at the hostel where he produced a rifle and then frightened people by dressing in combat fatigues before leaping out at them.

George was originally tried for Dando's killing in 2001 and is now facing a retrial.

He denies murdering Dando with a single gunshot to the head, five months before she was due to be married.

The trial continues.