Writer celebrates after Barry
George is freed
Published
Date: 07 August
2008
The
Derbyshire Times
By
Jennifer Ivers
A
Chesterfield
writer who campaigned for the release of Barry George is celebrating after he
was cleared of murdering TV presenter Jill Dando.
Scott
Lomax (25) was at the Old Bailey in London
on Friday to see the jury acquit George (48), who had been jailed for the
high-profile shooting eight years ago.
He said: "I was absolutely delighted and collapsed in tears. It was an
amazing experience being in court having been involved in this case from the
beginning."
Mr Lomax, who lives in Brimington, joined the campaign to acquit George after
the first appeal failed in 2002.
The author of The Case of Barry George, which was later updated as Justice
for Jill, was thanked for his efforts by the freed prisoner over the phone.
Mr Lomax, an archaeologist at the University
of Leicester, said:
"I had huge doubts about the evidence and I was totally convinced that
Barry was innocent."
He said his grandfather taught him from an early age about the need to fight
for justice, adding: "That had a profound effect on me. When I saw this
injustice I was determined to do something about it.
"There was a man in prison who was being viewed as a notorious
cold-blooded killer when he was innocent of the crime."
Mr Lomax said he did not believe George was capable of orchestrating the
murder.
And he said witnesses who had seen the murderer at Jill Dando's West London home had failed to identify George as the
killer.
Mr Lomax backed calls for an urgent re-investigation. He said: "Now that
we've achieved justice for Barry, I'm quite anxious that the police re-open
the case so the killer might be found."
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