The man accused of murdering the BBC television presenter Jill Dando was an obsessive character with an "exaggerated interest" in guns, the military and television celebrities, a court was told yesterday.Barry George, 41, was seen by at least three witnesses near Ms Dando's house in Fulham, west London, on 26 April 1999, the day she was killed by a single pistol shot to the head. A crowded Court 1 at the Old Bailey in London was told Mr George, who was unemployed, had spoken to one witness of a "special lady" living in Gowan Avenue, Ms Dando's address, and when police raided his home they found pictures of BBC celebrities, including Ms Dando and Anthea Turner.For the first time the full details of the murder emerged, while Dr Alan Farthing, Ms Dando's fianc?Nick Ross, the co-presenter of Crimewatch, her brother Nigel and Mr George's sister Michelle Diskin listened. Orlando Pownall, the senior Treasury counsel, told the jury that Ms Dando had been grabbed by the right arm and forced into a crouching position outside her front door. She had time to scream before a gun was pressed with so much force against her head that it left the imprint of the barrel. Then she was shot.Mr George, a former Territorial Army soldier who lived less than half-a-mile from Ms Dando's home, denies murderAccording to Mr Pownall, Mr George had "obsessive" aspects to his personality.

Mr George, Mr Pownall said, was positively identified by three witnesses in Gowan Avenue before the murder. Others who did not positively identify him gave descriptions matching his appearance. He alleged that Mr George committed the murder at 11.30am then went home to change his clothes before going to the offices of a charity, the Hammersmith and Fulham Action for Disability (Hafad) ­ which he attended as an epileptic ­ and a taxi office in an attempt to secure an alibi."Two days later he went back to Hafad and the cab office to confirm his movements," Mr Pownall said. "He was no longer concerned about his medical treatment but required confirmation of the fact that he attended the centre and cab office on the 26th." He said Mr George badgered staff to confirm he was there because he fitted the description of a man police were looking for.The trial continues..

Five pet sheep barricaded into their owner's home for five days to spare them from a foot-and-mouth disease cull looked doomed to be slaughtered last night. Five pet sheep barricaded into their owner's home for five days to spare them from a foot-and-mouth disease cull were slaughtered by vets last night.Legal action by Carolyn Hoffe to save her Dutch Zwartble animals, which had been locked in her living room since Monday, failed yesterday after a case of the disease was confirmed on a farm surrounding her home.Hours later, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food officials entered Mrs Hoffe's home, accompanied by a six-strong team of soldiers, and a vet carried out the cull by injecting the sheep one by one in the living room.Mrs Hoffe said afterwards: "They were so beautiful. They should not be dead." Her last request, for the sheep to be buried on her own land, has been denied.Mrs Hoffe, a widow, had moved the sheep into her home in Glasserton, near Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, after they had tests to prove that they were not infected with the virus. Earlier in the day lawyers presented arguments saying the sheep were not exposed to the disease.Alistair Forsyth, for Mrs Hoffe, said there could be "no reasonable suspicion" that the animals had breathed in the virus while kept in a pen outside her home and that they had, in effect, been quarantined since. But confirmation yesterday that animals on a farm in Glasserton had foot-and-mouth sealed the fate of the sheep.The judge, Lord Clarke, said there were no grounds for granting a suspension of the preventive cull policy..

When they examined Jill Dando's corpse after her murder, the sheer brutality of the killing had left behind a clue. So hard had her assailant pressed his gun against her head before pulling the trigger that it had left an imprint of a barrel and a gunsight on her skin. When they examined Jill Dando's corpse after her murder, the sheer brutality of the killing had left behind a clue. So hard had her assailant pressed his gun against her head before pulling the trigger that it had left an imprint of a barrel and a gunsight on her skin.It was just one of the terrible details to emerge yesterday when the trial of Barry George, the man accused of killing her, began in earnest.