Dando jury set to retire next week
The Old Bailey jury in the Jill Dando murder trial is due to retire to consider its verdict next week.
Mr Justice Gage told jurors today that the defence case is likely to finish tomorrow and that closing speeches would start on Wednesday.
He said there was a "realistic prospect" that they would be asked to retire the following Wednesday. The judge added, however, that no-one could be sure how long speeches, or his summing up of the case, would take.
Barry George, 42, of Crookham Road, Fulham, south-west London, has denied murdering Miss Dando on April 26, 1999. The TV presenter was shot through the head outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham.
The defence has argued that the prosecution case hung "by the merest of threads". It has suggested Miss Dando could have been shot by a Serbian or underworld hitman.
Further witnesses have been called by the defence.
