His claims for compensation for wrongful imprisonment have been dismissed, on the grounds that a reasonable first trial had occurred, with the successful appeal having been on legitimate technical issues rather than due to an overt "miscarriage of justice".
[2][3] At 14, George attended the publicly funded Heathermount boarding school in Sunningdale, Berkshire, for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
[11] Using the name Steve Majors, he claimed to be a stuntman and convinced a stadium to stage a show in which he would jump over four double-decker buses on roller skates; he injured himself attempting this stunt.
[11] On 10 January 1983,[3] as was revealed after his arrest for the Dando murder, George had been found in the grounds of Kensington Palace, at that time the home of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.
[17] In 2002, George appealed his conviction, with his legal team disputing his identification as Dando's killer and the reliability of forensic evidence used in the trial.
[19] In March 2006, George's lawyers sought an appeal on fresh evidence based on medical examinations suggesting he was not capable of committing the crime because of his mental disabilities.
The defence brought in neuropsychiatrist Michael Kopelman to dispute the prosecution's claim that George showed signs of "histrionics, paranoia and narcissism" and had a personality disorder.
In September 2006, following investigations by George's campaigners and a BBC Panorama documentary about the conviction conducted by miscarriage of justice victim Raphael Rowe, first broadcast in the UK on 5 September 2006 and which included an interview with the foreman of the trial jury, fresh evidence was submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission by the programme-makers and by George's solicitor.
A forensic scientist, interviewed in a 2019 BBC documentary on the case, stated that potentially one in a hundred people could have gunshot residue on their clothing, picked up from someone else, possibly a hobby shooter or armed police officer.
[10] Initially there was a large amount of coverage in the press, especially of the prosecution portrayal of the defendant as being highly obsessive, lacking in social skills and a danger to women.
For the defence William Clegg QC reminded the jury that evidence from three women from HAFAD (Hammersmith and Fulham Action on Disability) placed the defendant's arrival at their offices at 11:50 or 12:00, which, according to Clegg's argument, would have made it impossible for him to have committed a murder at Dando's house at 11:30 and then gone home (in the wrong direction) to change.
[26] George has won damages from tabloid newspapers over various allegations published about him, at least twice pursuing these libel claims to the High Court.
[27] In May 2010 Mirror Group Newspapers settled with George after claims, unrelated to the Dando murder, that he had developed an obsession with singer Cheryl and newsreader Kay Burley.
[28] In April 2010 it emerged that the Ministry of Justice had denied a claim of £1.4 million compensation made by George in respect of his wrongful imprisonment for Jill Dando's murder.
[29] The decision was made by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and in August 2010 the High Court ruled that George was entitled to a judicial review of the matter.