The prosecution's claim that it had a compelling and powerful case against Barry George, the man jailed for life for the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando, was a "misdescription", the Court of Appeal in London was told today.
"It is in fact the reverse," George's counsel, Mr Michael Mansfield QC, told the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, sitting with Mr Justice Curtis and Mr Justice Henriques.
He said that an observation made by Mr Justice Morland when giving permission to appeal in December, was very fair and apposite in that it referred to the "overall paucity of cogent evidence of guilt, particularly in view of the weaknesses of the identification evidence".
Mr Mansfield added: "We say that, in short form, encapsulates this case. "It comes down to identification, one particle and a mass of other evidence which may be consistent with guilt but it's far from being cogent evidence directly linking this appellant with this particular crime."
George, dressed in navy trousers topped by a blue shirt, jumper and tie, was surrounded by four security officers as he sat in the dock, encircled by tall Gothic-style wrought-iron bars.
Supporters, including his sister, Michelle Diskin, listened as he spoke just once to identify himself to the court.
Mr Mansfield opened the four-day appeal by saying that it hinged "almost entirely" upon the identification evidence.
Other grounds related to the forensic evidence of a particle of firearms residue and the potential irregularity of what went on within the ambit of the jury.
"The prosecution have continued to assert, as they did at trial, that they have a compelling and powerful case," Mr Mansfield said.
"And we say that that is a misdescription of this case. It is in fact the reverse." George was sentenced to life imprisonment in July last year after being found guilty of the April 1999 shooting of the 37-year-old BBC Crimewatch presenter on the steps of her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south west London.
George, 41, from Crookham Road, Fulham, denied murder, but a jury at the Old Bailey, after deliberating for more than 30 hours, returned a guilty verdict by a majority of 10 to one.
PA