26 Facts About Barry George

Barry George was on born on 15 April 1960, in Hammersmith Hospital, London.

At 14, Barry George attended the publicly funded Heathermount boarding school in Sunningdale, Berkshire, for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Barry George has been likened to a "lone obsessive, Walter Mitty-type figure" for his desire to impersonate famous figures.

Barry George adopted several pseudonyms, starting at school, where he used the name Paul Gadd, the real name of singer Gary Glitter.

In March 1980, after Barry George failed in his attempt to join the Metropolitan Police, he was arrested and charged for impersonating a police officer, having obtained false warrant cards.

In 1980, Barry George joined the Territorial Army, but was discharged the following year.

Barry George then adopted the persona of SAS member Tom Palmer, one of the soldiers who ended the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege.

In both March and August 1980, Barry George was arrested and charged for indecent assault, going to trial on the two counts in June 1981; he was acquitted of indecent assault against one woman, and convicted of indecent assault against another woman, for which he received a three-month sentence, suspended for two years.

On 10 January 1983, as was revealed after his arrest for the Dando murder, Barry George had been found in the grounds of Kensington Palace, at that time the home of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Barry George had been discovered hiding in the grounds wearing a balaclava and carrying a poem he had written to Prince Charles.

On 29 October 1989, Barry George was arrested and charged, but the case was dropped and did not go to court; the marriage ended in April 1990.

Barry George was arrested for her murder on 25 May 2000, and charged on 29 May 2000.

Police discovered a photo of Barry George wearing a military gas mask while posing with a modified Bruni blank-firing handgun.

When shown this image during interrogation, Barry George admitted it was him in the photo and that he had purchased the weapon via mail order, however Barry George denied that it had been converted to fire live ammunition.

Prosecution psychologists studying Barry George concluded that he had several different personality disorders: antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic and possibly paranoid, as well as somatization and factitious disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Barry George was said to have epilepsy and to have an IQ of 75; however, a prior assessment found George to be of average intelligence.

Barry George was convicted by a majority of 10 to one, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 2 July 2001.

In 2002, Barry 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.

In March 2006, Barry 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 Barry George showed signs of "histrionics, paranoia and narcissism" and had a personality disorder.

Kopelman testified that "[He] described to me that he can be aware of what's going on around him but he just can't respond", and concluded that Barry George was not calculating enough to have committed the crime.

On 22 August 2007, Barry George was refused bail prior to the hearing, which began on 5 November 2007.

Barry George appeared before the Old Bailey on 14 December 2007 and again pleaded not guilty to the murder.

In 2010 Barry George moved to Ireland to be closer to his sister.

Barry George has won damages from tabloid newspapers over various allegations published about him, at least twice pursuing these libel claims to the High Court.

The decision was made by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and in August 2010 the High Court ruled that Barry George was entitled to a judicial review of the matter.