Barry George was freed from prison after eight years yesterday after being cleared of the murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando at a retrial.

Ms Dando, 37, was shot with a gun pressed against her head on the doorstep of her London home in April 1999. Her murder stunned the nation and prompted one of the police force's biggest murder investigations.

Mr George, 48, was arrested a year later and convicted in 2001. He was a loner who stalked women and took thousands of photographs of them as they walked home, but always maintained he did not kill Ms Dando.

He bowed his head, took a deep breath and his eyes filled with tears as the not-guilty verdict was delivered, according to Susan Young, a clinical psychologist sitting next to him in the dock.

"I am overwhelmed," Mr George said in a statement read outside the Old Bailey in London by his solicitor Jeremy Moore. "I want to thank my family and legal team."

His sister Michelle Diskin, who has campaigned for his release and was in court to hear the verdict, punched the air and cried "yes". Mr George was driven from court in a black taxi.

Defence lawyer William Clegg had argued in court that Mr George lacked the skills, ability, motive or expertise to have committed such a crime. During the retrial, the prosecution did not use a key piece of firearms evidence that was central to the first conviction.

The importance of the speck of gunpowder residue found in Mr George's coat pocket was discredited at an earlier appeal hearing.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury that there was no evidence "directly linking George" to the murder.

With no murder weapon, witnesses to the attack or a clear motive, the case was based on circumstantial evidence which failed to convince the jury.

The Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police said they were disappointed with the verdict.

"It would not be appropriate to comment any further at this time except to say that we will be reflecting upon today's verdict and considering how best to proceed," said Commander Simon Foy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Homicide Command. Before arresting Mr George, detectives examined a wide range of theories. One was that Ms Dando was killed by a Serb, angry that she had presented a TV fundraiser for Kosovan refugees.

Others suggested she was killed by an ex-lover or by an underworld hitman for her work helping the police on BBC's Crimewatch. Mr George had pretended to be an SAS soldier and liked to pass himself off as a cousin of the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury.

Ms Dando was one of the most popular figures on television and thousands of viewers turned out to pay their respects at her funeral in her hometown of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

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