The jurors in the Jill Dando murder case were today told to cast their minds back to the spot where the television presenter died before making their decision.
"We ask you to return to the scene of the crime and go back to the moment of Jill Dando's death when she was cruelly cut down with a single shot to the head," said Mr Michael Mansfield QC, defending.
He finished summing up in the trial of Mr Barry George at the Old Bailey in London by saying the prosecution had twisted the evidence to suit their case.
"The Crown have said he was interested in the BBC and personalities - what they cannot say is that he showed an exaggerated, special or obsessive interest in Jill Dando," he said.
Mr George (41) of Crookham Road, Fulham, south west London, has denied murdering the TV presenter on April 26th 1999.
Miss Dando was shot through the head with a single bullet outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham.
Mr Mansfield said there were several themes running through the case which undermined the prosecution's allegations.
He said: "It is really making something fit that does not fit, so what they have to do is turn it the evidence all around.
"Where they say there is underlying unity, there is no continuity. They have no identity of the gunman. The prosecution is turning all this evidence on its head." Mr Mansfield said only one of 13 witnesses called to give evidence had provided any kind of possible basis for saying George had been in Gowan Avenue.
He said identification was the central part of the prosecution case - but it did not hold water.
"Whatever you may think about him and the feelings you have about her, the evidence is nonexistent. Fortunately that is not all in the case that is in his favour."
Mr Mansfield also countered prosecution claims that George had produced a false alibi to cover his tracks.
He said Mr George had been at Hafad, a disability centre for the Hammersmith and Fulham area, carrying a plastic bag full of letters.
Mr Mansfield said: "What is the point of leaving home at 12.30 or 12.45pm if he is the gunman and shot Jill Dando at 11.30?
"But you do have to ask yourself if he is the gunman having gone home, why go out at all? Why not stay at home out of sight out of mind?"
Mr Mansfield said George had a sound alibi at the time of Miss Dando's murder. He said the prosecution's claim there was something wrong with the clocks at Hafad was "desperate".
He said: "There is no evidence from Hafad that the clock was not working. They (the prosecution) are desperate for it not to be 11.50.
"This is a case, just about a non-existent case against him. The evidence is overwhelming that he was in Hafad somewhere between 11 and 12," Mr Mansfield told the jurors.
"If you think that that is right or may be right, that is it. That is the end of the case," he added.
Mr Mansfield said the killing "could not be bettered" and suggested the murder was carried out by an eastern European group who used bullets with unnatural markings similar to the one found at the scene.
He told the jury to draw on their common sense and return a not guilty plea.
The judge dismissed the jury until Monday when he will begin his summing up.
PA