Kay Burley, the Sky News presenter, is receiving round-the-clock protection after expressing fears that she is being stalked by Barry George, the man acquitted of the murder of Jill Dando.

Miss Burley, 47, has been off work for a number of days after fainting at the Sky News studios and has a private security minder close by at all times.

Sources said yesterday that her ill-health was connected to worries that Mr George had become fixated with her after she interviewed him following his release from prison in August.

One said: “Kay told her local police as a precaution. She is genuinely concerned and she wants reassurance.”

Scotland Yard confirmed that Miss Burley had contacted police to raise her concerns. It is understood that senior officers have met to assess the situation and that officers close to Miss Burley’s home and Sky’s West London headquarters are on alert.

Sources said that Miss Burley had made a formal statement to officers and been given points of contact should she feel the need for a police presence. Mr George has not, however, had any personal contact with the newsreader since their interview.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We have received an allegation from a woman and inquiries are continuing.”

There have been a number of reports to police about Mr George’s behaviour since he was freed, including other allegations that he has been following and pestering women, but he has not been arrested or questioned.

The Times understands, however, that he is being monitored by social work and health service agencies who can contact police if they are alarmed. A source said: “There are arrangements in place by which checks can be made on his behaviour.”

Mr George, 48, a convicted sex attacker, was jailed for the murder of Miss Dando, 37, a BBC newsreader and presenter, in 2001. She was shot dead by a man on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, West London, in 1999.

Mr George’s murder conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal last year after serious doubts were raised about the validity of a single speck of firearms residue said to have been found on his coat. A retrial was ordered and resulted in Mr George being cleared by an Old Bailey jury in August.

In a number of interviews after his release he admitted behaving oddly around women but said he was a changed man. He robustly denied any involvement in Miss Dando’s murder.

In one interview he said that he could not have killed Miss Dando because he was stalking another woman at the time she was shot.

One of the interviews Mr George gave was conducted by Miss Burley. Last month Mr George was reported to have cycled seven miles to Sky’s studios in Isleworth, West London, to request a tape of the interview.

Miss Burley, a mother of one whose partner is also a journalist, was offered personal security after that incident.

At his trial Mr George was described by his own defence team as the “local nutter” but they said his low IQ, mental health problems and epilepsy meant that he could not have carried out the murder of Miss Dando.

He did, however, have a record of violent offences including the attempted rape of a woman he followed home from a Tube station before assaulting her on her doorstep.

A number of other women testified at his retrial that Mr George had stalked and harassed them in the Fulham area but the jury returned a unanimous not guilty verdict.

Scotland Yard expressed its disappointment with the outcome of the case and is not looking for anyone else in connection with Miss Dando’s murder. Mr George’s solicitor was unavailable for comment but family friends dismissed allegations that he had harassed Miss Burley or anyone else. They say that Mr George called Sky to request a tape of his interview before going to collect it in person.

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