The man jailed for murdering BBC presenter Jill Dando in 1999 won an appeal against his conviction today.
BBC file photo of television presenter Jill Dando. Photograph: BBC/PA Wire
Barry George (47) will face a retrial, the Court of Appeal heard. He took the appeal after his first attempt to overturn his conviction failed in 2002.
George, from west London, was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2001, two years after Ms Dando (37) was shot dead on the doorstep of her Fulham home.
During the two-day hearing at the Court of Appeal, George's lawyer, William Clegg ,said forensic evidence at the original trial was unsatisfactory.
Mr Clegg told the court that a microscopic particle of discharge from a firearm measuring two-thousandths of an inch had been found in the pocket of a coat belonging to George.
But he said that since George's conviction there had been concern at the Forensic Science Service that this evidence might have been "placed before the jury in a manner that attributed undue weight to it".
Prosecutors said the new evidence made no difference to the overall case against George.