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I leapt into a passing car to escape from Dando suspect, woman tells murder trial
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent13 Jun 2008
The man accused of murdering Jill Dando told one of his stalking victims he was in the SAS, the Old Bailey heard today.
Witness Angela Gordon described how she was approached by a man matching Barry George's description after coming home late one night to her home in Fulham in 1985. She found the man standing near her shoulder as she searched for her flat keys. "It gave me a shock and a fright," she said.
"He asked me 'do you live here?' I was still frightened and just scared so I said 'yes'. He asked me which flat and I told him I lived upstairs. He told me he was in the SAS. My hands were shaking as I tried to get my key in the lock. He asked to kiss me and I said no. I think he asked me twice."
The court heard how Ms Gordon was too frightened to turn the lights on for fear that it would show which flat she lived in. When police raided George's home they discovered a picture of Gordon's car in his collection.
Barry George was not in court today. His barrister William Clegg, QC, said he had not felt well yesterday. "As this evidence is not being challenged he is content that the trial proceeds in his absence," said Mr Clegg.
George, 48, who is described by the prosecution as a man obsessed with guns and celebrities - particularly women TV presenters - is standing trial for the second time for the murder of Miss Dando, 37. The Crimewatch presenter was shot in the head on her doorstep in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, in April 1999.
Earlier today Claudia Casey broke down in tears as she told the court how she was grabbed by the accused as she was going home on a Sunday evening in the winter of 1994/95. She struggled free and ran down the street, flagged down a motorist and jumped into the stranger's car for safety.
The assailant had followed Miss Casey, who at the time was a Foreign Office diplomat, from a bus stop in Fulham Palace Road and handed her a business card with the name Freddie Bulsara. "I knew that was Freddie Mercury's real name and then I realised there was something very strange about this guy," she told the jury.
"The roads were very quiet. I started walking and turned the corner when I felt somebody following me, right behind me. He caught up with me and started talking to me. I ignored him but he grabbed my arm.
"He kept saying 'I want to talk to you, I want to talk to you' as he walked alongside me. I completely ignored him the first time but when he persisted I just said: 'No thank you.' Alarm bells were ringing because he would not go away. When I started walking faster he kept up with my pace." At this point Miss Casey began to cry and took a few seconds to continue with her evidence.
"I was walking very fast to get away. I started running and that's when he grabbed my arm. I just tried to shake him off and run at the same time and half pushed him away. I started to run and he was still holding me. I could see his face in the street lights.
"I broke free and I ran as fast as I could. I passed my house and got to the far end of Lambrook Terrace and saw a parked car and crouched down behind it to think what to do.
"At that second a car came around the corner and I just jumped out in front of it and made him do an emergency stop and I opened the passenger door and just jumped in.
"I didn't know who was in the car but I thought I would be safe. He drove me to my front door and walked me to the door. I rang my mother and took a cab to her house."
Miss Casey described the man as "about the same height as me, 5ft 6ins tall, he looked very fit, with short dark hair, possibly a moustache, he looked almost military like as if he was a soldier. He was wearing a bomber jacket, US-style, and on the back I think it said Freddie Mercury."
The case continues.
