Barry George has always denied he murdered Miss Dando

George was jailed for life in 2001 for shooting the BBC TV presenter dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, south-west London, in April 1999.

But doubts have persisted as to how the TV golden girl's life came to such a tragic end, with campaign groups claiming much of the evidence was circumstantial.

George won the right to a fresh appeal last June when the Criminal Cases Review Commission said a speck of firearms residue found on his clothing was "given too much importance" at his trial.

Welcoming the move, his solicitor Jeremy Moore said: "Mr George has now spent seven extremely difficult years in custody for a conviction which we believe that, in the fullness of time, will be seen as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in recent years."

Doubt was cast on whether the new appeal would go ahead as scheduled when George asked to change his legal team with just weeks to go.

Contentious particle

It remains unclear who will represent him after he requested that William Clegg QC and a new solicitor replace Mr Moore.

In a further development last month, the unidentified foreman of the jury that convicted George told the BBC's Panorama programme new doubts about firearms forensic evidence could have changed the outcome of the trial.

Mr George has now spent seven extremely difficult years in custody for a conviction which... will be seen as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in recent years Jeremy Moore Barry George solicitor

The murder was particularly shocking because Miss Dando, aged 37, was one of the UK's most popular stars, fronting Crimewatch UK, the Holiday programme and various news bulletins in her career.

Initial witness reports described a well-dressed man outside her house, then a "sweating" man at a bus stop and even a man running across a park and jumping into the River Thames.

One theory was that some malcontent from the criminal underworld might have been upset by something Miss Dando had worked on for the Crimewatch UK programme.

Soon speculation widened, including suggestions that Miss Dando's killing was a reprisal for the bombing of Serbia by Nato forces after Miss Dando had fronted an appeal for Kosovan refugees.

By December 1999, it emerged the gun used to kill her was rare and experts suggested it would only have been used by an amateur.

This fact, backed up by methods such as psychological profiling, led the police to believe Miss Dando's killer was a "lone stranger" with an "obsessive" personality.

Stalking history

Police then turned their attention to Barry George, who called himself Barry Bulsara and was interested in celebrities. He was charged with murder on 29 May 2000.

Jill Dando's career was blossoming when she was shot dead

The investigation, codenamed Jill Dando Operation Oxborough, had been exhaustive. At the time it was the largest criminal investigation since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.

Just over a year later, a jury of six women and five men took five days to decide - by a majority of 10 to one - that George was guilty of murder.

George lived half a mile from Miss Dando's home and had learned about firearms as a member of the Territorial Army and at a local gun club.

After the trial, it emerged he had a history of stalking women and had once served a prison sentence for attempted rape.

'No motive'

Police searching George's flat found more than 2,000 undeveloped photographs of 419 different women he had followed around London.

One of the Crown's key pieces of scientific evidence centred on the tiny speck of gun residue found in the pocket of a jacket removed from George's flat, which was similar to residue found at the murder scene.

This evidence was very much in contention during George's unsuccessful first appeal against conviction in 2002.

His lawyer at the time, Michael Mansfield QC, said it was unreliable evidence, and that the jacket could have been contaminated after being seized by police.

The day after the verdict, campaign group Miscarriages of Justice claimed the case had all the hallmarks of injustice.

Brian Cathcart, who has written a book about the murder, said George was a "vulnerable" defendant and insisted that there was an "absence of motive".

George himself has always protested his innocence.