Barry George, 66, is scheduled to stand trial in April 2027, accused of raping a 14-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her in west London in September 1987. George, who resides in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape, two counts of indecent assault, and an alternative charge of attempted rape.
His trial is expected to last between two and three weeks and will be heard before a High Court judge and jury. George was not required to attend a four-minute administrative hearing at Southwark Crown Court where the trial date was set.
George previously spent eight years in prison after being convicted in 2001 for the 1999 murder of TV presenter Jill Dando. His conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2007, and he was acquitted at a retrial the following year. The murder of Ms. Dando, who was shot on her doorstep in Fulham, remains unsolved.
In recent years, detectives have investigated evidence suggesting a Serbian assassin may have been involved in Ms. Dando's murder, though the case is currently inactive. George was arrested in 2000 in connection with the murder, a crime that occurred on April 26, 1999. Ms. Dando was a prominent BBC personality at the time of her death.
