By Gerald Heneghan
Barry George, who was imprisoned for eight years after being wrongly convicted of murdering TV presenter Jill Dando, has lost his bid for compensation at the High Court.
Two judges at the body dismissed his application for recompense as a victim of a “miscarriage of justice” alongside those of three other individuals.
“In the end, there was no submission formulated by [counsel for Barry George] capable of persuading us that the trial judge was wrong to leave the case to the jury,” the Court said of the case.
It went on to state that Mr George’s claim failed the test that would make him eligible for compensation.
“We are very disappointed with the judgment and we shall be applying for permission to leapfrog the Court of Appeal to have the matter heard before the Supreme Court,” his solicitor Nick Baird said of the ruling.
Mr George’s was one of five test cases brought together to ascertain in what circumstances it is appropriate to award payments to wrongly-convicted individuals.
A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court in 2011 widened the definition of a miscarriage of justice, stating that compensation would only be awarded to those who could prove that no circumstances could result in their conviction by jury.
Jill Dando was murdered on her doorstep in London in 1999 and Mr George was convicted of the crime in 2001.
In 2008, a retrial took place that saw him acquitted of the killing and his original claim for compensation was dismissed in 2010.
