Barry George denied raping a teenage girl at Southwark Crown Court on Monday as he appeared by video-link before a judge in London. The 66-year-old pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and two counts of indecent assault, and also denied an alternative offence of attempted rape.

The allegations are said to concern a 14-year-old girl and incidents said to have taken place in the Hammersmith and Fulham area of west London between September 6 and 12, 1987. Judge Alexander Milne KC granted George bail, and he is due back at the same court on September 30 for a trial date to be set.

George is a figure long known to the public because of the case that made him famous. He was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2000, convicted in 2001 of the fatal shooting of television presenter Jill Dando, then had that conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in November 2007. A jury cleared him at a retrial in August 2008, and no-one has ever been convicted of Dando’s killing.

Dando was shot dead outside her home in Fulham, London, on April 26, 1999, and the case has remained unsolved ever since. The new allegations against George relate to events said to have happened almost four decades ago, adding another chapter to a legal history that has already pulled him back into court more than once.

What happens next is straightforward, if not simple: the case moves toward a trial listing on September 30, when the court is expected to set the timetable that will shape the next stage of proceedings.