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CAMPAIGNERS trying to free Jill Dando's murderer have persuaded law chiefs to investigate claims Jeffrey Archer was behind it.
Allegations that Dando died in an identity mix-up by someone trying to kill Archer's former secretary Angela Peppiatt are to be probed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Loner Barry George 45, is serving life for killing the Crimewatch TV presenter but his family and friends have always argued he is innocent. Now he has won the right for the extraordinary Archer allegations to be formally investigated after his uncle Michael Bourke wrote to the CCRC.
Angela Peppiatt lived in the same West London area as Dando, looks very similar and even drove the same kind of BMW car as her. Witnesses saw a blonde woman, who looked like Dando, driving a BMW near where the TV star was killed. The lookalike was seen just hours after Dando was shot dead in Fulham, West London, in April 1999.
A spokesman for the CCRC said: "We have a duty to consider any submission made by applicants or their representatives. The commission has already begun its inquiries into this particular issue and any findings will be considered as part of the overall review in due course."
Another secretary of Archer's has revealed how she was interviewed by police investigating links between the peer and Dando's death. Last night Mr Bourke said: "I am making no claim against Lord Archer, but this was significant evidence that was never heard by the jury at Barry's original trial. "I got a letter this week confirming that the matter would be considered by the case officer. It is significant because I believe the jury was finely balanced and a tiny piece of evidence could have swayed them. This information, however unfeasible, should have been aired in court."
It was Peppiatt's damning evidence as main prosecution witness at the Old Bailey that sent Archer to jail for perjury in 2001. She exposed the disgraced peer's lies, revealing how she helped shore up his alibi by falsifying an appointments book. He had won his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star during which they failed to prove claims he slept with a prostitute.
George was jailed two years after Dando's killing, despite there being no motive for the murder. No murder weapon has ever been found. His supporters have lost two appeals against the conviction. They have consistently maintained Dando was murdered by a professional hitman. When she was killed, Archer was bidding to become London Mayor. Two years later his reputation was in tatters after he was jailed for lying during the libel case. The CCRC is the body that decides whether a case should go to the Court of Appeal.
Bizarrely, Archer is preparing a bid to overturn his perjury conviction by citing the allegations that he was responsible for the Dando murder. It may provide a legal argument for Archer's planned appeal. Archer claims that information about the Dando allegations was given to the police in the run-up to his trial. His lawyers will argue that police did not observe rules obliging them to disclose to him all of the material gathered.
Dando, 37, was engaged to gynaecologist Alan Farthing when she was murdered. Barry George, who also has a conviction for attempted rape, had previously been arrested for stalking Princess Diana. He is celebrity-obsessed and even changed his name to Barry Bulsara - the real surname of his rock star hero Freddie Mercury.
CAMPAIGNERS trying to free Jill Dando's murderer have persuaded law chiefs to investigate claims Jeffrey Archer was behind it.
Allegations that Dando died in an identity mix-up by someone trying to kill Archer's former secretary Angela Peppiatt are to be probed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Loner Barry George 45, is serving life for killing the Crimewatch TV presenter but his family and friends have always argued he is innocent. Now he has won the right for the extraordinary Archer allegations to be formally investigated after his uncle Michael Bourke wrote to the CCRC.
Angela Peppiatt lived in the same West London area as Dando, looks very similar and even drove the same kind of BMW car as her. Witnesses saw a blonde woman, who looked like Dando, driving a BMW near where the TV star was killed. The lookalike was seen just hours after Dando was shot dead in Fulham, West London, in April 1999.
A spokesman for the CCRC said: "We have a duty to consider any submission made by applicants or their representatives. The commission has already begun its inquiries into this particular issue and any findings will be considered as part of the overall review in due course."
Another secretary of Archer's has revealed how she was interviewed by police investigating links between the peer and Dando's death. Last night Mr Bourke said: "I am making no claim against Lord Archer, but this was significant evidence that was never heard by the jury at Barry's original trial. "I got a letter this week confirming that the matter would be considered by the case officer. It is significant because I believe the jury was finely balanced and a tiny piece of evidence could have swayed them. This information, however unfeasible, should have been aired in court."
It was Peppiatt's damning evidence as main prosecution witness at the Old Bailey that sent Archer to jail for perjury in 2001. She exposed the disgraced peer's lies, revealing how she helped shore up his alibi by falsifying an appointments book. He had won his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star during which they failed to prove claims he slept with a prostitute.
George was jailed two years after Dando's killing, despite there being no motive for the murder. No murder weapon has ever been found. His supporters have lost two appeals against the conviction. They have consistently maintained Dando was murdered by a professional hitman. When she was killed, Archer was bidding to become London Mayor. Two years later his reputation was in tatters after he was jailed for lying during the libel case. The CCRC is the body that decides whether a case should go to the Court of Appeal.
Bizarrely, Archer is preparing a bid to overturn his perjury conviction by citing the allegations that he was responsible for the Dando murder. It may provide a legal argument for Archer's planned appeal. Archer claims that information about the Dando allegations was given to the police in the run-up to his trial. His lawyers will argue that police did not observe rules obliging them to disclose to him all of the material gathered.
Dando, 37, was engaged to gynaecologist Alan Farthing when she was murdered. Barry George, who also has a conviction for attempted rape, had previously been arrested for stalking Princess Diana. He is celebrity-obsessed and even changed his name to Barry Bulsara - the real surname of his rock star hero Freddie Mercury.
posted by phylos @ 20:29
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