The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (53 page)

After nine long months of deliberation the legal teams made their final summaries and the jury were retired to the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to consider their verdict. After
just five hours Judge Ito was informed that they had completed the task. He confirmed to a waiting world that he would reconvene the court in the morning and make known the outcome at 10 a.m. As
expected the courtroom was packed the next day, as were the streets surrounding the courthouse – this was an unprecedented media offering and the whole of the Western world held its
breath.

Only in Los Angeles could such a tele-visual extravaganza occur and nothing in Hollywood could rival it.

At 10 a.m. precisely Judge Ito asked the newly appointed foreman of the jury, Armanda Cooley, to stand. He then asked the question the whole world wanted an answer to. Did the jury find O. J.
Simpson guilty or not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman? The courtroom was silent as she replied, “Not guilty.” The relief was evident on Simpson’s face
as the news sank in that he had won and the defence teams smiled their satisfaction at winning what had clearly been a most difficult case.

The statistics for the case speak for themselves. The defence team had consisted of eleven lawyers, the prosecution had maintained a team of 25 staff and the total cost of the trial had risen to
$20 million. The court had produced 50,000 pages of typescript, had called 150 witnesses and it had all been covered by some 2,000 reporters. The trial spawned 80 books including one by Detective
Mark Fuhrman who had suffered much personal criticism during the proceedings.

The debating continued across the nation for months after the trial, but for O. J. Simpson the nightmare was still not over. During the trial and the period of his incarceration the court had
awarded temporary guardianship of his children to their maternal grandparents, Nicole’s mother and father. Simpson now prepared to go back to court to gain custody as he could not come to an
agreement with the grandparents. At the same time Nicole’s parents and those of Ron Goldman engaged further legal assistance, this time to pursue a civil action against Simpson.

The matter of custody was settled when the courts once again came down in favour of Simpson, but the civil trial would be a different matter. During the criminal trial the jury had to be sure
beyond all reasonable doubt that Simpson was guilty of the murders, however, in civil terms they need only be convinced that he probably was the most likely person to have committed the crimes,
based on the “balance of probabilities”. This time the jury voted unanimously in favour of Simpson’s culpability, in the case of the death of Ron Goldman, and found him liable for
having committed malicious battery against Nicole Simpson. No further charge was pursued here for the death of Nicole Simpson. Following the civil action, the court awarded damages of $8.5 million
to the family of Ron Goldman and a further $25 million in punitive damages, $12.5 million awarded to Nicole’s estate, money that would be held in trust for her children, and the balance to go
to Goldman’s father.

Simpson’s financial situation, however, had become a point of controversy, as those acting for him claimed he was broke. They stated that Simpson’s previous estimated worth of some
$10 million was now $800,000 in the red and therefore the likelihood of him making any payment was nil. Those pursuing Simpson pointed to his expensive Rockingham estate, his Bentley and other cars
and the fact that he was still able to employ a large staff. The truth, however, was that the attorneys acting on behalf of Simpson had acquired security on the Rockingham house to ensure that
their bill was settled.

It was estimated that even given the bad publicity of the trial, Simpson might be able to earn as much as $3 million a year from his fame, and under Californian law his creditors would be able
to claim 25 per cent of his earnings at source. Simpson’s final decision was that the Rockingham estate should be repossessed by the bank, which had a significant mortgage on it, and he
meanwhile moved to Florida, one of two states in the US where the family home cannot be used to settle civil damages. This move also protected his estimated $4.1 million pension fund, and so nine
years after the murders none of the awards have been met.

There continue to be many theories regarding the murders and the USA is still split as regards to Simpson’s guilt. There are other possibilities that were not fully pursued by the police
that are quite possible. One suggests that Nicole was murdered because of her interference in an illegal gambling operation that involved Simpson introducing high rollers to the mob in exchange for
a fee. Simpson regularly mixed with highly paid sports stars on the golf circuit and would introduce them into a well-run, high-class gambling operation, making use of the latest technology, but
which was operated by members of the East Coast mob. According to this theory, Nicole found out and threatened to spill the beans if the mob did not let Simpson leave quietly; they subsequently
killed Nicole and set Simpson up, planting the evidence and even luring him to the scene that evening.

Another line of enquiry involved Simpson’s son from a previous marriage, Jason. In a BBC documentary aired to shed new light on the crimes they suggested an investigation into Jason should
not be ruled out. Known to have had a testy relationship with Nicole, he also had a history of violence, including an alleged attack on someone with a knife.

Nicole had also had death threats in the months before the murders and it is thought there may have been a contract out on her life. She was trailed by a friend of Simpson’s, who had
supplied them both with cocaine, and had been tasked with taking photographs of her and any men she might meet.

The police were aware of all of these possible lines of enquiry and yet concentrated their efforts on just one man.

In a recent interview Simpson said he was devoted to his children, but had to relearn how to be a father again. He said he was always a great father, but made a poor mom and in an interview with
New Yorker
magazine Simpson said that, “Instead of being treated like a pariah, he now gets nothing but love, and women are his biggest defenders.”

“It is just a matter of time before I am killed. I think somebody in the underworld killed Jill and now they want to silence me. I think I will die in prison. Someone
will have me done away. I never shot Jill, never did it, but I don’t think people in authority want to know. They would rather I die and the whole thing go away.”

These are the words of Barry George, the man jailed for life in July 2001 for the murder of the popular television presenter Jill Dando in his first interview from prison. Since his imprisonment
George has continued to plead his innocence and deny emphatically any involvement in the shocking crime which was carried out at Dando’s Fulham home on Monday, 26 April 1999. At around 11.30
a.m. that day a man forced Dando at gun point onto her knees and fired a single gunshot into her skull, killing her instantly. Shortly after lunchtime, the news of the murder spread and sent the
entire nation into shock. Dando had presented an array of popular television programmes and had become one of the BBC’s main programme anchor ladies. In contrast to many of her counterparts,
Dando had cultivated an image of “the girl next door”, very down to earth and devoid of the attention-seeking ego which is generally symptomatic of many media personalities. A slightly
harder person in real life, Dando was ambitious and would often be the one to end relationships.

By the time of her death Dando was in a fulfilling relationship with her fiancé Alan Farthing, they had announced their plans to marry and had subsequently moved in together, living at
Farthing’s house in Chiswick. It was increasingly rare, therefore, to see Dando visiting her Fulham address. She now only called back to collect mail and to occasionally stop there if it was
easier in terms of her many television assignments. Was it purely bad luck for Dando that day that she happened to be visiting the address when her assailant was planning the attack? Or was the
crime more organized, a planned strike, for reasons as yet not known? Like many personalities Dando had attracted many adoring fans, even the odd fanatic. In the months before the attack Dando had
confided to friends that she believed she was being stalked. In any event the gunman timed his approach perfectly, delivered the terminal shot where it would do most damage and calmly left, giving
the impression that it was more the work of a professional assassin rather than a crazed fan, who although carrying a gun had stumbled across an opportunity and had acted on impulse. It is these
and many other questions which have given rise to the doubts over the conviction of Barry George. And to the confusion as to why the authorities are loath to re-examine the facts. George has on a
number of occasions been denied a re-evaluation of his case at the Court of Appeal.

There are many possibilities when searching for a motive for the murder of Jill Dando – the crazed fan is certainly one of them and one which is not uncommon, as in the case of Mark
Chapman’s murder of John Lennon. But Dando had a more complex set of circumstances – she co-hosted with Nick Ross the
Crimewatch
programme, which presented information to and
sought out information from the public, information that was passed to the police and in many cases used to bring villains to court. Dando also had a number of relationships before Farthing, some
of which overlapped, causing consternation among her suitors who she would drop, claiming her work schedule was too busy to accommodate a full-time relationship. Maybe on the announcement of her
engagement to Farthing, this had triggered some vengeful emotion. Dando had also been involved publicly in raising money for the Kosovans, providing help for the thousands who had been displaced
following the bitter civil war between Kosovo and Serbia. It was therefore considered a possibility that Dando had been murdered by a Serbian assassin. Another perhaps less likely version has Dando
knocked off by a spurned Mafia boss. All were to some extent possible, but with few convincing facts to support them; yet what are the facts which persuaded a jury of seven women and five men to
convict George of this heinous crime?

Dando had been shopping on the morning of her murder; her final television appearance would be the security video footage of her leaving a department store. She had planned to make a visit to
her home at 29 Gowan Avenue just to collect mail and arrived slightly before 11.30 a.m. As she prepared to unlock her front door, she was approached from behind by a man holding a pistol. She
turned to face her attacker and was forced to kneel on her front doorstep; without further delay the attacker fired once, at point-blank range, into her head. Then calmly and without drawing
further attention to himself, the killer walked back down the path and away from the crime scene. Dando was discovered just ten minutes later – she was dead.

These events sparked the largest and most expensive police investigation that had ever been organized in Britain. A team of 50 officers was assembled, who slowly interviewed, tracked down and
eliminated literally thousands of suspects from the enquiry, which had been code-named Operation Oxborough. The police operation eventually ran to a cost of £2 million, and was headed by
Detective Inspector Hamish Campbell, who was determined to bring the culprit of such a high profile murder case to book.

All the neighbours of Dando’s Fulham address were interviewed and it appeared that a number of residents had seen the person likely to have been the murderer – one as he left
Dando’s front garden and others who had seen people in the general area. Richard Hughes, one resident, said he saw the man walking calmly away. Other witnesses came forward to describe other
men who had been seen acting strangely in the vicinity of Gowan Avenue. The similarity in the descriptions led police to believe that they had all probably seen the same person and the likelihood
was high that he was the person responsible. The man was described as white, thick set with collar-length black hair, combed back off his face. He was wearing a dark-coloured wax jacket and either
a white or blue shirt depending on the witness giving the description. There were also conflicting reports, some suggesting that they had seen a Mediterranean-looking man, others say not. It would
appear that several people had been seen in the area that morning, and to this end the police initially announced their belief that three men had been involved in the murder, although shortly
afterwards they altered their stance – they now felt strongly that they were looking for a lone gunman. The reason for the change in this important assumption was driven by Hamish
Campbell’s firm belief that if there had been a multi-person conspiracy to murder Dando, the police would have heard something of this from their connections in the criminal underworld. The
suspicious behaviour of several people seen in the area was now discarded in favour of pursuing a single person.

Over the months that followed the police interviewed many ex-cons, those who lived in London and who had previously been jailed for murder, sex crimes or stalking, and ruled out those who could
provide solid alibis, which in general was most.

Barry George had not enjoyed a trouble-free existence, so when he was picked up for questioning on 11 April 2000, nearly a year after the attack, it was by virtue of his previous record. During
the 1980s he had been jailed for attempted rape, following the assault of a young woman in his tower block. After his release, he had, as far as all who knew him were concerned, led a perfectly
normal and crime-free life. During his questioning the police were initially satisfied that he had a strong alibi, but were concerned that George had apparently been preparing his defence in
advance, as if he was expecting to be accused. In the days following the attack George had spoken to those he had been with to provide a record of his movements around the time of the attack.
Although that morning George had been at the Hammersmith and Fulham Action for Disability (HAFAD) premises, as borne out by Susan Bicknell, one of the staff, the police were now highly suspicious
that the man who had spent his time preparing those alibis may have had something to hide. Bicknell confirmed that George had been at HAFAD at 11.50 a.m., just 20 minutes after the attack, and even
though Gowan Avenue was half a mile away and George could not drive, the police still focused their attention on him. Bicknell also confirmed that George was wearing a yellow shirt beneath his
anorak, not the white or blue shirts as described by the witnesses at Gowan Avenue.