Barry George has won his appeal against his conviction for the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando.

George, now 47, was present in the dock of the Court of Appeal in London as the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, and two other senior judges allowed the appeal and called for a retrial.

No application for bail was made and Lord Phillips said that George would be remanded in custody. Earlier Lord Phillips announced: "The verdict is unsafe. The conviction will be quashed."

George is to be rearraigned on a fresh indictment on the charge of murder within the next two months. He smiled at his sister, Michelle Diskin, as he was led out of the dock.

Speaking outside the court, George's sister Michelle Diskin said: "I just want to say thank you to the judges in there. They were very fair and they really did look at the evidence.

"This is just one step along the way. We do not really feel that we have a victory.

"We do not have Barry. He has not got his freedom yet and it has been an absolute nightmare journey so far."

Mrs Diskin said the retrial is expected to take place in about two months.

She said she had not spoken to her brother today but he also knows the decision is just the first step.

"We are back at first base now," she added. "We have been here before."

Mrs Diskin also appealed for information.

"The last thing I would like to say is I would still implore anybody in the public who has information about the real killer," she said.

"While Barry is locked up the real killer is still out there."

It was George's second legal challenge to a jury's 2001 verdict that he shot the 37-year-old BBC News, Crimewatch and Holiday presenter on the steps of her home in Fulham, south west London, in April 1999.

The new appeal centred on fresh scientific evidence relating to a single microscopic speck of firearm discharge residue found in George's coat after his arrest a year after the shooting.

Reading out a summary of the court's decision, Lord Phillips said: "The prosecution called expert witnesses at the trial whose evidence suggested that it was likely that the particle of FDR came from a gun fired by Barry George rather than from some other source.

"Those witnesses and other witnesses from the Forensic Science Service told the Court of Appeal that this was not the right conclusion to draw from the discovery of the particle of FDR.

"It was, in fact, no more likely that the particle had come from a gun fired by Barry George than that it had come from some other source.

"The Court of Appeal concluded that, if this evidence had been given to the jury at the trial, there is no certainty that they would have found Barry George guilty. For this reason his conviction had to be quashed."

Commenting on the decision Alan Farthing, Ms Dando's fiancee at the time of her murder, said: "I am disappointed, particularly for those of us who have suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one prematurely.

"We all cope in our various ways and have had to move on with our lives. Therefore I have great sympathy for those who will now have to take emotional steps back in time to recall again, in detail, their involvement in this tragic case."

Speaking outside the court, solicitor Jeremy Moore, from George's legal team, said he was "delighted with the outcome."

He added: "This is only the latest hurdle in what has been a very long road and we now look forward very much to preparing for the trial."

George was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2001 after being found guilty by a majority of 10 to one at his Old Bailey trial.

The first challenge to his conviction was rejected by the Court of Appeal in July 2002.

The latest proceedings follow a decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, to refer George's case back to the Court of Appeal.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.