They reckon in the tabloids that Barry George could get 1 million in compensation.

The whole sorry saga has left a bad taste in my mouth and yet still the police can't admit they got it wrong.

I concur with everyone, that the Dando family deserve total sympathy and for Barry George it's been nine years of hell.

The European Court of Human Rights could say my conviction was unsafe (for little reasons like I was on another continent at the time - and, if they rule it, that it breaches human rights to change dates without allowing the defendant time or facilities to prepare and present an alternative case) in which case the Court of Appeal HAVE to quash my convictions.

They COULD order a retrial but since I've served a whopping sentence for crimes I didn't commit, it would be rather pointless - "not in the public interest" to spend another 4 million quid and also unlikely they would find any juror who didn't think, thanks to the media, that I'm a Vile Pervert.

David Icke comments (posted here as a number of other posters here have sympathies with him):

Eight years in jail despite a ludicrous lack of evidence while the real killer - clearly a professional hitman - went unsought. Bloody outrageous.

I worked occasionally with Jill Dando at the BBC and found her to be a very nice person and an outstanding television presenter. For whatever reason she was the target of premeditated murder by an experienced killer - a killer who has not been sought for eight years because the police turned their whole investigation on an innocent man, an epileptic who suffers from mental illness.

He was an easy target while the real killer went free and is still free.

- from www.davidicke.com

It's been an interesting few days hasn't it?

Barry George's conviction is rightly quashed (it should NEVER have even gone as far as court in the first place) and today the Daily Mail online manages to dig up some woman who alleges George tried to rape her several decades ago. Very convenient. I'm sure that'll help ease any problems she was having because of the credit crunch.

I'll tie this in with an interview Tony Benn gave to Sky News earlier when he said that during his 50 years in parliament, not one person EVER came into his constituency surgery to say that they were concerned that the Prime Minister of the day wasn't "charismatic" enough. He pointed out that during Attlee's 4 years in power, he actually said very little but had the respect of most people (including his opponents) for getting on with the job and getting things done.

On a similar note, remember when William Hague was leader of the opposition? He used to outwit Blair most weeks at Prime Minister's Questions but this went largely unreported in the media. Now they're all over Cameron (a Blair clone) like a rash, because he's one of them, a member of the "media class". Intellectually and politically he's not a patch on Hague (who I've always rather liked as a person as well as a politician).

The media agenda and reality are two very different things, and the more intelligent members of our society are waking up to the reality.

JK- you say that there's no way they could find a truly impartial jury for you- well you might be right, but as you yourself say, the vast majority of people in the street don't give you any grief and you seem able to go about your business without too much hassle. Maybe that goes some way to proving most people don't hate you?

Look on the bright side, old chap. Supposing for a minute your convictions were quashed. All your "fair weather friends" would be coming out of the woodwork, with people you haven't heard from in years suddenly wanting to meet up for lunch. You'd find yourself doing the daytime chatshow circuit telling your story again and again- even Richard and Judy would learn to like you again.

I'm just trying to think one step ahead.......your life would change forever if your convictions were quashed.....and not all of it for the better.

And yes, I thought the statement from the police after Mr George was freed was absolutely outrageous. Yes, spare a thought for the Dando family certainly, but they should have acknowledged they got it BADLY wrong in the case of Barry George.

I think the reason the Barry George case is so important is the very fact that he was NOT a decent upstanding citizen.

The Sally Clark stitch up was in many ways far worse; jailing a tragic, innocent, cot death mother for murder and watching a decent citizen, a solicitor, be destroyed and eventually killed with our tax money and our resources.

But the reason Barry George's conviction was significant is that, in my experience, it is exaggeration and inflation and blurring of the truth that is the most common disgrace.

I met so many people in prison who were, like myself, guilty of something but not of what they were convicted for.

Me? I broke the law at the time by going with males who were under 21. I never went with children. And I've since discovered even my "crimes" ceased to be crimes when no complaint was made within 12 months.

So the police bent the evidence by trying to lower ages.

Others had relationships with older people, likewise made younger. Kissed someone who then said they were penetrated. Were inside for raping their wives, who tearfully stood by them and admitted to me they were forced to exaggerate events that never happened. "Stalked" women and were then done for murder. Smacked their children who falsely accused them of abuse when they became drug addict teenagers.

Yes there were real criminals inside. And yes, there was those who were totally innocent and got stitched up. But the majority were not perfect, had been foolish or naughty or technically criminal, who got fitted up for much more serious crimes in order to get convictions.

Now THAT is the real disgrace.

The "not a decent upstanding citizen" so it's not that bad attitude is troubling.

The media do seem to have sympathy for "innocent victims" (At least until a juicy kiss-and-tell or some such appears) but those "guilty" of being in an underclass are less deserving.

Barry George will be scorned by the Tabloids for the amount of compensation he gets... or rather the amount the Tabloids invents.