Lawyers for the man convicted of murdering BBC television presenter Jill Dando have laid out their grounds for appeal.

Their main argument at the appeal later this month will be that Barry George was not conclusively identified as the killer.

George, now 42, was sentenced to life imprisonment last July after being found guilty of the murder of Ms Dando.

The taped confessions, which have been alleged in the media, have never been accepted by Mr George or his legal team.

Barry George's solicitors

The 37-year-old presenter of Crimewatch UK was gunned down on the steps of her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south-west London in April 1999.

George's appeal, which is due to last four days, starts at the Court of Appeal on 15 July.

'Implications for every case'

His solicitors said the "main thrust and focus" of the appeal would be on identification.

They said it had "implications for every case in the future where identification is in issue".

In April a Sunday newspaper claimed George had been tricked into confessing to the murder by a cellmate.

But George's solicitors said: "The taped confessions, which have been alleged in the media, have never been accepted by Mr George or his legal team.

"The Crown have indicated that having received the tapes and analysed them they will not be relied on in any way by them at the appeal."

Speck of gun residue

The lawyers said they would also be highlighting the scientific evidence used at the trial.

His conviction hinged on a crucial piece of forensic evidence - a speck of firearm residue found in his coat pocket.

George's trial lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, had argued that the particle - less than a half of a thousandth of an inch in diameter - was completely unreliable as evidence.

George, who lived half a mile from Miss Dando, always denied murder but was convicted by a majority verdict.

The Crown argued that he was a celebrity-obsessed stalker who had killed Miss Dando for some reason, possibly because he felt rejected after learning she had became engaged.