The smiling killer? Jill Dando judge hints at retrial for killer

Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips raised the prospect at the end of a three-day appeal hearing.

He asked whether the prosecution would seek another trial if he and his two fellow Appeal Court judges decided to quash George's conviction for gunning down the TV presenter on her doorstep.

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Prosecutor Orlando Pownall replied that he would, and the judges retired to consider their verdict, saying they did not anticipate taking very long. This was believed to mean two or three days.

Outside court, George's sister Michelle Diskin said he was pinning his hopes on a retrial which they believe could result in him walking free after more than six years in jail.

She said: "Obviously, we know what we would like but we just have to wait until they come back with their judgment."

The judges could also decide to throw out George's appeal for a second time - his first was rejected in 2002 - or clear him, though this option is considered unlikely.

In 2001, an Old Bailey jury found George guilty of shooting dead the 37-year- old BBC presenter at the door of her home in Fulham in April 1999.

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His latest appeal centres on scientific doubts about the significance of a microscopic speck of firearm discharge residue found in his coat pocket a year after the shooting.

His QC William Clegg said the prosecution had made huge play of this gunshot evidence at the trial, with the jury assured it provided "compelling evidence" of his guilt.

But Mr Clegg said scientists now agreed it was unlikely to have come from the murder weapon and survived on his coat for a whole year.

With the evidence thus "neutralised", Mr Clegg branded the whole conviction unsafe and said: "The jury and the judge were clearly misled on what was a very important part of the Crown's case."

Mr Pownall defended the prosecution case. He said: "This case was not, and never has been, based on a speck of dust. I accept that the firearms discharge residue formed an important part of the case, but it was not in itself the Crown's case."

Mr Pownall said a friend of George's had testified that he owned a gun which had never been accounted for. As well as the firearms evidence, there was a fibre found that matched one from the murder scene and witnesses who placed George in the vicinity, said Mr Pownall.

George, who lived half a mile from Miss Dando's home, was obsessed with celebrities and had taken photographs of his TV screen when newscasters were on, said the QC.

He added: "There were the demonstrable lies told in interview, and the demonstrable false alibi. It was a compelling circumstantial case in its totality."

Mr Clegg replied that no witnesses had seen George kill Miss Dando and that while obsessed with other celebrities he had not taken pictures of Miss Dando herself.