"Despite the thousands of man hours and unquestionable dedication of Campbell's team to catch the killer it was all to no avail - until Barry George entered the frame." Photograph: PA
Detectives involved in the Jill Dando murder investigation made it known before the start of Barry George's appeal hearing this week that if George's conviction for the 1999 killing of the television presenter is overturned, it is unlikely that the case will be reopened.
In other words, as far as the police are concerned they got their man and that's the end of it. Sadly such indiscretions by the police are a regular feature of difficult and controversial cases and it is about time they were outlawed. True, this was a particularly difficult case for the police.
It was one of the highest profile murder investigations in recent years. The victim was a vivacious, nationally popular media figure, cut down in the prime of her apparently perfect life. It was an unbelievable tragedy. Many people commented at the time that it was "surreal".
The pressure the police faced was merciless. The horrific crime had taken place on the victim's own doorstep in broad daylight yet there were no witnesses - and no murder weapon.
Initial leads looked promising. A smartly dressed man carrying a mobile phone was seen walking calmly but briskly away from the crime scene. A metallic blue Range Rover travelling south on the Fulham Palace Road appeared to figure in some way. And then at a press conference Hamish Campbell, the DCI in charge of the investigation, announced that the prime suspect had "made his getaway on a number 74 bus". (The man had been seen talking on a mobile phone before getting off at Putney Bridge.)
In the end, however, all the leads led precisely nowhere. Despite the thousands of man hours and unquestionable dedication of Campbell's team to catch the killer it was all to no avail - until Barry George entered the frame.
George's profile history is well known. Variously described as an "oddball" a "fantasist" and a "loner" he is clearly a man who has suffered from some form of mental incapacity for much of his adult life.
During last Sunday evening's brilliant Channel 4 Cutting Edge programme Did Barry George Kill Jill Dando, in which the case against George was meticulously unravelled, police video footage of the inside of George's flat gave us a glimpse of his lifestyle.
The detritus of a badly functioning life was evident throughout. Littering the rooms were stacks of old newspapers and magazines, strewn dirty clothes and perhaps most tellingly, on George's bed they found his faeces, where according to one of the officers he had "taken a dump". It was a sad existence by any measure.
It looked to me like the unlikely lair of an assassin, cool enough to put a .38 calibre pistol to his victim's head and pull the trigger - and stealthy enough to simply disappear afterwards.
Nevertheless, the police gradually and painstakingly built a case against George, sufficiently compelling to get him into the dock at the Old Bailey and to convince the majority of a jury that he was guilty.
Dismissing George's first appeal in 2002 the appeal court judges said there were "no doubt as to the correctness of the conviction".
The Criminal Cases Review Commission's subsequent investigation uncovered serious doubts however which ultimately led to this week's appeal. This time George's defence team have presented what amounts to a catalogue of new evidence, the main focus being the fact that the single speck of firearms residue that was found in George's coat pocket, supposedly linking him forensically to the crime, is in fact of neutral relevance and according to a number of leading forensic scientists of no evidential value.
The judges have reached their decision and will hand down the judgment in a few weeks. It could go either way. If the appeal is dismissed, George will go back to HMP Belmarsh and the high security prison system for the rest of his life and the police can feel satisfied.
But if the conviction is overturned, and no retrial is ordered, George will walk down the steps of the Court of Appeal a free and innocent man. If it is the latter then there should be no sour grapes from the investigating police. They should pledge to re-open the case immediately and vigorously pursue whoever it was that really killed Jill Dando.
