UK UK - Jill Dando, 37, Fulham, London, 26 Apr 1999

[crazychris]

'

Any chance this could have been mistaken identity?

I've wondered that too. Could he have got the wrong door and lady? Personal/ revenge killing but not intended to be her. Cops must have considered that.

 

[Deleted member 296917]

Thanks for the interest in my post. As I can say we will have to beg to differ on the validity of the hitman theory. She was as much of a vague blonde woman in the case as the Serbian make up girl who used to do the President's make up who was killed in a Nato missile strike on a TV Studio. This would have made him livid and revenge is a motive. Dodgy subject but there have been revenge killings on innocent people in other places including Northern Ireland. So to me she was the face of the West's intervention in the Balkans from the reverse perspective. Britain has long ceased to be a major power in the world and may decline further but listen to the ex Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe talk and he refers to the British before the Americans. My point being Jill Dando placed herself in the Balkans conflict unwittingly by trying to help innocent people and those innocent people were caught up me a conflict were innocent Serbs died like the Television girl there and her I am sure her family loved her. This theory is just one of many. It is a strange theory but the Jill Dando case is a strange case. The appeal posted above was in 1999 and in a short space of time Jill Dando was dead. As I say we will have to beg to differ.

And there was another prominent BBC journalist on the ground there who spoke to Slobodan Milosevic, they could have killed him. The theory is wild and already discounted. Add to the fact she was killed in a place that she very rarely visited!

 

[Deleted member 296917]

There are only 2 possibilities regarding somebody knowing that she was going home.

The 1st one is her neighbour Richard Hughes, who happened to be home at that time watching out of his window & commenting on every little thing that she did. He says he watched her arrive home, He heard her car alarm go on and the gate click shut but didn't hear the gunshots...

The other possibility is that she innocently spoke to somebody while she was leaving her fiance's house who was obsessed with her, and she told him he would she was nipping home.

It should also be noted that she had a friendship with that neighbour (RH) and would regularly go into his house for evening drinks. That neighbour was actually an initial suspect and it was him who led the police to Barry George!

He states in interviews he was the 1st on the scene (he wasn't, Vivian saunders found Jill) He claims he only saw the back of somebody walking away, yet when he was in court gives a detailed description and says that he thought he looked like Comedian, Bob Mills. Funnily enough you could describe Barry George's looking like Bob Mills.

Now picture the scene. He says he saw Jill arriving home and heard the car alarm go on. But he doesn't see any body else behind her. Now given the fact it would have taken Jill 30 seconds to get to her front door, it would be almost impossible not to see somebody following her.

The other option is that perhaps her killer was in her house and when she opened the door he was there and the scream of suprise was down to that. ( people don't see people coming with their backs to them if her killer came from behind)! Jill's keys were maybe left in the door and after he shot her he pulled the door shut before walking away Leaving police believing that she had not entered her house. If that explanation is what happened then the person was either in her house looking for something ( incriminating documents) or was burglarizing her property & had the gun with him ( maybe stolen in another burglary) and when she let out the suprise scream, he forced her to the floor with the gun and pulled the trigger.

I would be looking much closer to home!

 

[Inspector Evans]

Funnily enough for the theory that Jill's return to Gowan Avenue was just a random act that day Richard Hughes actually mentioned at the Old Bailey in the 2001 trial she usually returned home on Monday mornings to tidy up and collect post as she was going to do that day.

So clearly someone somewhere took that to be most likely time to get her compared to a weekend or other part of the week.

I tend to side more with professional hit given she'd been on Crimewatch for years with seemingly no issues and yet a few weeks after the Kosovo appeal she was gunned down. Could just be odd timing but think there's something in it.

One little thing on Barry George I never got or seemingly found a good explanation for....apparently a short while after she was gunned down he walked into a rehab centre and asked some people he knew to provide an alibi for him. Given this was 1999 would he have really known at the time it was Jill Dando who'd been shot or even anyone had been given it was a quiet residential street (compared to happening on a main road where rumours could spread quickly).

Another high profile case that I don't think will ever be solved although I remember Hamish Campbell on the BBC docu pretty much implying the Met still thought George did it and he got off on a technicality.

 

[Scorpiette]

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[Eastend Eagle]

Apparently, Jill Dando's front garden was hedge-sheltered. Is this where the gunman hid, out of public view, awaiting Jill's arrival?
But how would the gunman know that Jill would be travelling to her Gowan Avenue property that morning, to which she was by then only an infrequent visitor having moved in to her fiancé's in Chiswick? From the first trial of Barry George, it emerged that en route to her property that morning, Jill purchased 500 sheets of A4 fax paper and shopped for ink for her fax machine. In an article of 2019, Byline Times reported that Jill travelled to her Gowan Avenue property that morning in order to get her fax machine fixed-up so that a contract could come through on it. Was this information known to the gunman in what appears to have been a highly professional operation, afterall, let's face it, this crime remains unresolved more than 23 years after it occurred, or was it carried out by a random passer-by who happened to have a gun on him?
Apparently, in the months before she was murdered, Jill spent alot of time away filming. 2 days before she was killed, she visited her Gowan Avenue property to pick up post. Is this when she discovered that the contract she had been expecting had not arrived to her fax machine and then somehow the gunman found out that Jill would then be travelling back to Gowan Avenue the following Monday morning to tend to her fax machine?
Also, a few days before she was killed, agreement was reached for the sale of Jill's property. Is it possible that through the process of Jill's house sale, her prospective murderer obtained a key to Jill's house, this would give them the opportunity to escape through and out the back of Jill's property and thereby not run the risk of being spotted by a member of the public in Gowan Avenue?

 

[FOXINBOX]

Also, a few days before she was killed, agreement was reached for the sale of Jill's property. Is it possible that through the process of Jill's house sale, her prospective murderer obtained a key to Jill's house, this would give them the opportunity to escape through and out the back of Jill's property and thereby not run the risk of being spotted by a member of the public in Gowan Avenue?

Some very good points there. I wonder if she was selling through Sturgis estate agents where Suzy Lamplugh once worked

 

[Inspector Evans]

Richard Hughes said in the court trial in 2001 that she would often come back to her house on a Monday so there was a relative pattern there if not clockwork to pick up post and do some admin.

If you watch the Crimewatch from May 1999 there were loads of sightings from builders, postman and a traffic warden of a couple of well dressed people hovering around her property on the morning of April 29th in Gowan Avenue so don't think it was a case of a random passer by just seeing her get out of her car and deciding to murder her there and then, area was quietly being stalked out.

Been to that part of London many times but never actually walked down Gowan Avenue so no idea how busy or not it is at 11am on a weekday morning. Does seem incredible to me the killer could just jog down the street and fade into general life but of course in 1999 CCTV wasn't as advanced as it is today. You'd have thought the police would've done checks on everyone passing into range in the nearest cameras around the area in the hours after unless it was just too grainy?

 

[Whitehall 1212]

Apparently, Jill Dando's front garden was hedge-sheltered. Is this where the gunman hid, out of public view, awaiting Jill's arrival?
But how would the gunman know that Jill would be travelling to her Gowan Avenue property that morning, to which she was by then only an infrequent visitor having moved in to her fiancé's in Chiswick? From the first trial of Barry George, it emerged that en route to her property that morning, Jill purchased 500 sheets of A4 fax paper and shopped for ink for her fax machine. In an article of 2019, Byline Times reported that Jill travelled to her Gowan Avenue property that morning in order to get her fax machine fixed-up so that a contract could come through on it. Was this information known to the gunman in what appears to have been a highly professional operation, afterall, let's face it, this crime remains unresolved more than 23 years after it occurred, or was it carried out by a random passer-by who happened to have a gun on him?
Apparently, in the months before she was murdered, Jill spent alot of time away filming. 2 days before she was killed, she visited her Gowan Avenue property to pick up post. Is this when she discovered that the contract she had been expecting had not arrived to her fax machine and then somehow the gunman found out that Jill would then be travelling back to Gowan Avenue the following Monday morning to tend to her fax machine?
Also, a few days before she was killed, agreement was reached for the sale of Jill's property. Is it possible that through the process of Jill's house sale, her prospective murderer obtained a key to Jill's house, this would give them the opportunity to escape through and out the back of Jill's property and thereby not run the risk of being spotted by a member of the public in Gowan Avenue?

If, as is now implied, this was a professional hit, then the doorstep of 27 Gowan Avenue may have been assessed as the prime location with distraction (find keys), relative concealment, static target etc. The exact method and escape route will have been rehearsed.

If it was an action by a well resourced group then I feel it quite possible that they could have placed a magnetic tracking device on JD's car and may have been waiting for a Gowan Avenue visit. The tracker could easily have been removed by the assassin before they shot JD.

MOO

 

[Eastend Eagle]

Further to my previous post, does anyone know how normal it would be for there to be a lorry in Gowan Avenue? Google Maps indicates that Gowan Avenue is not set in an industrial area.

 

[Whitehall 1212]

Further to my previous post, does anyone know how normal it would be for there to be a lorry in Gowan Avenue? Google Maps indicates that Gowan Avenue is not set in an industrial area.

Gowan Avenue is a desirable residential road in SW London as it was when JD lived there.

I very much doubt if a 32 tonne LGV would ever venture along there and would quite likely be legally prohibited.

However a 7.5 tonne truck would be very likely, as it could be delivering large household goods such as furniture.

Additionally removal lorries for those moving home may also be present.

I'm interested to know what you are thinking to pose this question.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

Gowan Avenue is a desirable residential road in SW London as it was when JD lived there.

I very much doubt if a 32 tonne LGV would ever venture along there and would quite likely be legally prohibited.

However a 7.5 tonne truck would be very likely, as it could be delivering large household goods such as furniture.

Additionally removal lorries for those moving home may also be present.

I'm interested to know what you are thinking to pose this question.

Thanks @Whitehall. <modsnip: no source links>

 

[Whitehall 1212]

<modsnip: quoted post was snipped> There are too many unknowns here to make any judgement, e.g.

1. Type/size of vehicle
2. Where parked
3. Location of witness
4. Any other obstructions

I recall that it has now been assessed as professional hit. Fulham Palace Road is busy, it would have been easy to disappear then, less so now.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

There are too many unknowns here to make any judgement, e.g.

1. Type/size of vehicle
2. Where parked
3. Location of witness
4. Any other obstructions

I recall that it has now been assessed as professional hit. Fulham Palace Road is busy, it would have been easy to disappear then, less so now.

Apparently, GU-B was just inside his front gate at no. 30 when he saw the man disappear up the road so presumably he was just across the road from Jill Dando' who owned no. 29.
I think it is very unlikely that whoever shot Jill Dando had never killed before due to the hard-contact nature of the shooting.
If Fulham Palace Road is a main road, would it not be likely that the man GU-B saw would have been picked up on CCTV if he went there?

 

[Whitehall 1212]

Apparently, GU-B was just inside his front gate at no. 30 when he saw the man disappear up the road so presumably he was just across the road from Jill Dando' who owned no. 29.
I think it is very unlikely that whoever shot Jill Dando had never killed before due to the hard-contact nature of the shooting.
If Fulham Palace Road is a main road, would it not be likely that the man GU-B saw would have been picked up on CCTV if he went there?

I'd be exceptionally surprised if the killer walked for a considerable distance along Gowan Avenue to Fulham Palace Road. They will either have walked into Munster Road and got into a vehicle nearby or turned off Gowan Avenue into Sidney Street and done much the same. I favour the Sidney Street escape into a vehicle and away.

We have no idea if the person GU-B saw was the killer.

CCTV and dashcam was significantly less in 1999. CCTV on shops and private property should not look onto the street according to the Data Protection Act so recording people walking along the on the street is not so likely.

 

[Markybug]

There’s no earthly reason for a “professional “ hit on a newsreader imo.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

There’s no earthly reason for a “professional “ hit on a newsreader imo.

That may be so but the apparent execution-style nature of the murder points to ' professional ' involvement. There may be no apparent motive but that doesn't mean there wasn't one.

MOO

 

[Whitehall 1212]

There’s no earthly reason for a “professional “ hit on a newsreader imo.

No earthly reason.....check this out then! It is the preferred theory now and on the face of it very credible. The nature of JD's murder was that of an experienced assassin....close up, quick, cold, brutal.

Jill Dando 'murdered by Serbian hitman'

The widow of a Serbian journalist, murdered in almost identical circumstances, has come forward to say she is convinced Miss Dando was shot by a hitman acting on orders from the Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

www.lccsa.org.uk

This was also reported in September 1998. In April 1999 JD was murdered. Milosevic may have wanted to strike at the heart of the BBC (British Institution, state sponsored and wall-to-wall coverage). At the time JD was considered a national treasure.

MI6 `kill Milosevic' plot

JOHN WADHAM, the lawyer for the former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson, will today hand the Government a dossier of allegations of "illegal activities" by the secret service.

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Cluesleuth]

Richard Hughes said in the court trial in 2001 that she would often come back to her house on a Monday so there was a relative pattern there if not clockwork to pick up post and do some admin.

If you watch the Crimewatch from May 1999 there were loads of sightings from builders, postman and a traffic warden of a couple of well dressed people hovering around her property on the morning of April 29th in Gowan Avenue so don't think it was a case of a random passer by just seeing her get out of her car and deciding to murder her there and then, area was quietly being stalked out.

Been to that part of London many times but never actually walked down Gowan Avenue so no idea how busy or not it is at 11am on a weekday morning. Does seem incredible to me the killer could just jog down the street and fade into general life but of course in 1999 CCTV wasn't as advanced as it is today. You'd have thought the police would've done checks on everyone passing into range in the nearest cameras around the area in the hours after unless it was just too grainy?

Sightings of a male/males matching the same descriptions were also seen on Gowan Avenue on the 2 previous Mondays.

A Scoping Excerise?

 

[Cluesleuth]

Parabon Snapshot DNA Phenotyping​