ended in George's acquittal on 1 August 2008. After George's acquittal, some newspapers published articles which appeared to suggest that he was guilty of the Dando murder and other offences against women. In December 2009, George accepted substantial damages from News Group Newspapers over articles in The Sun and the News of the World, following a libel action in the High Court. Lines of inquiry Lines of inquiry explored in the police investigation included: Theories that a jealous ex-boyfriend or an unknown lover had killed Dando. This was quickly ruled out by the detectives who interviewed all Dando's friends and acquaintances and checked her phone calls. A belief that somebody had hired an assassin to murder Dando as revenge for their being convicted as a result of evidence garnered by Crimewatch viewers. After exhaustive inquiries this was also ruled out by detectives. Various theories relating to Bosnian-Serb or Yugoslav groups in retaliation for NATO actions against media outlets and her appeals for aid during the Yugoslav Wars. The possibility that a deranged fan may have killed Dando after she had rejected his approaches. Dando's brother, Nigel, informed detectives that she had become concerned by “some guy pestering her” in the few days before her death, but this was ruled out by detectives. A case of mistaken identity. This was judged unlikely, given that the killing took place on the doorstep of Dando's own home. Following the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal a claim was made that Dando had investigated a paedophile ring at the BBC during the mid-1990s and had handed a dossier containing her findings to BBC management, purportedly prompting a revenge attack. The BBC said it had seen no evidence to support the claim. Actions taken by a professional rival or business partner also had to be considered. Her agent Jon Roseman stated that he had been interviewed as a suspect by police. The original police investigation had explored the possibility of a contract killing, but since Dando was living with her fiancé and was only rarely visiting her Fulham residence, it was considered unlikely that a professional assassin would have been sufficiently well informed about Dando's movements to have known at what time she was going to be there. CCTV evidence of Dando's last journey (mainly security video recordings from a shopping centre in Hammersmith, which she visited on her way to Fulham) did not show any