Family of man wrongly convicted of Jill Dando's murder 'have no faith' in police probe

28.06.2022 - 13:37 / dailyrecord.co.uk

The family of a man wrongly convicted of Jill Dando's murder state that they have no faith that the Metropolitan Police will probe the shocking claims that she was killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Barry George's sister, Michelle Diskin Bates, said that she always thought police knew that her freed brother, now 62, was not guilty of killing the Crimewatch presenter.

Documents now submitted to a Paris court suggest that Jill may have been killed in error in 1999 by a Russian hitman who meant to target another BBC journalist.

Court papers claim that the killer was hired by French fashion boss Gerald Marie, who had been accused of multiple counts of sexual assault, to murder ­journalist Lisa Brinkworth.

Ms Brinkworth wrote in the Daily Mail in May how she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by Mr Marie while going undercover to expose his agency, Elite Model Management.

Lawyers reportedly argue that the mix-up may have been as a result of the similarities in the appearance of the two journalists, and the fact that they both lived in the same area of London.

It was also stated that Jill's partner, Alan Farthing, had been Lisa's doctor, The Mirror reports.

Lawyers in the documents refer back to a conversation witnessed by former Elite executive Omar Harfouch in which Mr Marie allegedly ordered a member of the Russian mafia to “deal with a problem”.

The documents from French law firm Bourdon Associes reportedly say: “Shortly thereafter…a BBC journalist, Jill Dando, was shot dead in April 1999.”

Michelle told the Mirror: “If this can be proved then it is huge.

“But that’s going to leave the Dando family, who were always told by police they had the right person, to realise how badly they were let down.

“There are two families