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

[wfgodot]

This was a huge story, both in the UK and internationally, in 1999 - Jill Dando (Wiki), a journalist, television presenter and newsreader for 14 years employed by BBC, was shot dead on her doorstep, aged 37. Subsequently, a neighborhood "character" was arrested for, charged with, and convicted of her murder - for many, based on the facts of what happened, that just didn't seen likely. Indeed, he was granted a retrial and found not guilty after serving eight years. The 'Yugoslav connection" theory - more of it can be read at the Jill Dando Wiki link above - is back in the news, and it seems quite plausible. An interesting story for those who believe that assassinations are not entirely the province of "lone nuts." An interesting look below at what makes sense about the Serbian hitman theory:

Jill Dando 'murdered by Serbian hitman' (Telegraph)

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.
---
Mrs Prpa was with her husband, Slavko Curuvija when he was shot dead outside their home in Belgrade on April 11, 1999 – just 15 days before Miss Dando, 37, was killed in Fulham, west London.

She said: “I think there is a link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both executed.”
---
Both victims were high profile journalists who had upset the Serbian regime. Both were returning home when they were approached from behind, forced to the ground and shot in the head at close range.

Furthermore, both killings bore the hallmark of professional assassinations, with both victims dying instantly and the shootings over in a matter of seconds.
---

the rest at Telegraph link above

The story from the Mirror, the basis for several UK news reports this weekend about the Dando crime:
'This wasn't the work of a loner, this was a professional hit': Lawyer backs Jill Dando assassination claim
Daily Mail has a go at it, written by Dando's agent:
Why I believe Jill Dando was killed by a Serbian hitman,
with an interesting sidebar about the man originally charged with and convicted of the crime:

---
The police, however, had other theories and, in time, they turned their attention to Barry George, a local loner with an IQ of 75 who had previously exhibited an unhealthy interest in celebrities, including Jill.

It’s entirely understandable that he might be a suspect yet, from the moment he was arrested, I felt uneasy. Could a man of such limited intelligence have carried out a clinical execution and never have mentioned it to a soul?
---
A year after he was charged and after several delays to the beginning of his trial, a jury convicted him of her murder at the Old Bailey in July 2001.
---
His barrister, William Clegg QC, said a microscopic speck of firearms residue found in the pocket-lining of George's coat had been found 'inconclusive' as evidence.George was sensationally acquitted of Ms Dando's murder after an Old Bailey retrial in 2008.
---

And thus, here's WS's first Jill Dando thread - interesting stuff. A search showed mention of her name on five of the Joanna Yeates threads from 2011 - another UK killing of an attractive blonde which for awhile had many theories in play (and also included the initial arrest of a man later released from custody in the killing).

 

[Lilachaze]

I remember this happening watching it on the news. I never believed Barry George did it I don’t know why but something about the case against him didn’t add up to me. I know he was a creepy guy and had a history of stalking women, sexual offending and other anti-social and attention-seeking behaviour.

But her shooting was so quick and clean cut, to me it seemed more like a profession hit then a crazy fan or stalker. That’s why this story seems to make a lot more sense to me.

Maybe I’m wrong but that’s just my :twocents:

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jill-dando-murder-five-unanswered-7764700

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the murder of Jill Dando...

Last year, files obtained by investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas and the Sunday Mirror revealed a number of leads which appear to have been pushed to one side as Scotland Yard pursued its case against Barry George.

The investigation has never been officially closed but despite calls for a fresh probe it is understood little or no police time has been devoted to the case since December 2013.

 

[Amonet]

Is this the only thread for this murder?

I have recently been watching some 'real crime' documentaries focusing on UK murders and this case is one that has kind of stuck in my consciousness. I think if I could go back in time to when it happened and be on the investigating team that this would be one of the crimes on my list.

It definitely seems like a 'hit' or a punishment crime, not a stalker. I wonder if Jill was the intended target...who else lived in that street, who lived at the same number in the next street? I wonder about Jill's boyfriend, not that he committed the crime but punishment attacks aren't always on the person being punished or warned, sometimes they'll go for a person they love. I'd also be interested in a list of men who left the UK at that time, and any similar style murders around the globe, especially places like the US, Canada and Australia, but not limited to those countries.

Sometimes the best way to find a murderer isn't by focusing on the victim, it's by focusing on the murderer, his style and any other convictions or other attacks he (or she) may have involvement in.

Surely someone who was so cold and capable, who had access to a gun and could plan this kind of attack has been involved in other crimes, either before or after.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

There are calls to reopen this case:

Ex-Flying Squad boss calls for a new probe into Jill Dando's murder amid claims Met Police detectives ignored 'excellent leads'

A former Scotland Yard Flying Squad boss says his former colleagues ignored 'excellent leads' into the unsolved murder of television presenter Jill Dando.

The former Crimewatch presenter was shot dead outside her flat in Fulham, West London, in 1999 and no culprit has yet been found.

It has long been suspected that the 38-year-old died at the hands of a professional assassin, but now John O'Connor has revealed that she may have been killed in a state-sponsored attack, but this theory was ignored by officers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...laims-Met-Police-ignored-excellent-leads.html

 

[jiminy]

If it were a state-sposored killer, I do wonder if her murder was aimed towards her employer rather than her personally.

Edit: She was more tv presenter than any sort of journalist.

 

[Littlegreenlady]

The thing that I wonder about is if it was aimed at her employer, or because of Crimewatch, then why was she the only person from the programme targeted? Why her and not anyone else associated with the programme? I don't recall there being anything about other people working for the show being targeted or threatened by anything.

Also, really, did she actually work on solving the crimes? She presented the programme yes but most of the work would be done by the police.

 

[north_west]

"Two unsolved murder cases feature in this month's edition of the crime-solving programme - the seemingly motiveless killing of two dog-breeders, and the mystery death of a man who went missing in 1993."

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/7f7d14af8ab3489bbc96a6abe24231b5

 

[chimpface]

I've just seen this on the dailyhatemail.

Ex policeman and investigative journalist says he knows the name of the "professional hit man" who killed Jill Dando nearly 20 years ago.

Former detective claims he knows NAME of hired assassin who killed Jill Dando | Daily Mail Online

<modsnip: rumor>

 

[Markybug]

Bump for jill. <modsnip>

 

[dotr]

Jan 29 2019
Who killed Jill Dando? Six theories behind her murder
Mystery of the Crimewatch presenter’s death remains unsolved nearly 20 years on

"To mark the 20th anniversary of her death, BBC One will air an hour-long programme featuring “previously unseen archive and photographs” and interviews with Dando’s colleagues, friends and close family.

The BBC said the film, provisionally titled The Murder of Jill Dando, would “go behind the headlines and speculation to offer unique insights into Jill’s life and the hunt for her murderer”.
"Here is what we know:

At 10.03am a postman delivering mail to Dando’s house in Fulham noticed he was being watched by a dark-haired man in a suit. At the same time, a traffic warden patrolling the area spotted a blue Range Rover parked illegally. She began to note down the licence number but stopped when the driver protested.

Both the man in the suit and the Range Rover were seen by several different people over the next hour.

At 11.30am Dando walked to her front door and was shot once in the head. Two witnesses reported seeing a man with thick black hair and a waxed jacket running away from the house.

Minutes later, CCTV images showed a blue Range Rover travelling at high speed down Fulham Palace Road away from the scene of the crime.

At 11.40am a man was spotted crouching by some railings in a nearby park, furtively talking on a mobile phone, and ten minutes later a motorist was forced to brake hard when a man ran across the road away from Dando’s street.

At 1.03pm Jill Dando was declared dead at Charing Cross Hospital."

 

[dotr]

Snippets of each theory..
Who killed Jill Dando? Six theories behind her murder
"Gangland hit
The nature of the shooting “appeared to have all the hallmarks of a professional gangland hit”, says the Daily Mirror. “An intelligence report named two men from one of London's most prominent crime families.”

"Serbian hitman
In 2012, the widow of Slavko Curuvija, a prominent Serbian journalist, said that Dando became a target for Serbian warlords after presenting a BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan-Albanian refugees driven from their homes by militias backing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Branka Prpa was with Curuvija when he was shot dead outside their home in Belgrade just 15 days before Dando was killed. According to The Daily Telegraph Prpa said: “I think there is a link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both executed.”

"IRA
Another theory is that senior paramilitaries from the IRA chose Dando as a target “because of her links to police through her work presenting Crimewatch”, says the Mirror."

"Paedophile ring
In 2014, a former colleague of Dando’s came forward and said she was trying to expose a VIP paedophile ring just months before her death.

According to the Daily Express, the source said Dando raised concerns to her BBC bosses about allegations of sexual abuse happening at the corporation."

"Obsessed stalker
The theory first adopted by police was that of a crazed opportunistic individual.

The only certain sighting of the killer - a six-foot-tall (183 cm) white man aged around 40 - came from Richard Hughes, Dando’s neighbour, who said he heard a surprised cry from the presenter, “like someone greeting a friend”, but heard no gunshot."

"‘Joe’ the Spanish barman
A report from the now defunct National Criminal Intelligence Service suggested Dando’s murder could be traced back to a gunman called Joe who worked in a bar in Spain and had links to murderer Kenneth Noye.

Noye was sentenced to life in prison for a 1996 road rage killing with the help of a Crimewatch appeal."

 

[dotr]

Some random thoughts..
Devout Baptist, wonder if LE ever checked out a church connection?
JD was to get fitted for her wedding clothing, maybe someone did not want JD to marry the very well placed doctor, or vice-versa?
Did JD anger anyone/competition, when she dated a BBC executive?
If the killer used his left hand to shoot JD, should it be assumed he was left-handed?
speculation, imo.rbbm.
Jill Dando - Wikipedia
"Dando was a devout Baptist.[1] From 1989 to 1996, she dated BBC executive Bob Wheaton.[1][3] She also had a relationship with national park warden Simon Basil.[1] In December 1997, Dando met gynaecologist Alan Farthing on a blind date set up by a mutual friend. Farthing was separated from his wife at the time.[11] A couple of months after Farthing's divorce was finalised,[12] the couple announced that they were engaged on 31 January 1999.[11][12] Their wedding was set to take place on 25 September of that year.[12]

Murder
On the morning of 26 April 1999, 37-year-old Dando left Farthing's home in Chiswick. She returned alone, by car, to the house she owned in Fulham. She had lived in the house, but by April 1999 was in the process of selling it and did not visit it frequently. As Dando reached her front door at about 11:32, she was shot once in the head.[13] Her body was discovered about 14 minutes later by neighbour Helen Doble.[14] Police were called at 11:47.[7] Dando was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival at 13:03 BST.

"As Dando was about to put her keys in the lock to open the front door of her home in Fulham, she was grabbed from behind. With his right arm, the assailant held her and forced her to the ground, so that her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch. Then, with his left hand, he fired a single shot at her left temple, killing her instantly. The bullet entered her head just above her ear, parallel to the ground, and came out the right side of her head."

— Bob Woffinden, The Guardian, July 2002[15]
Forensic study indicated that Dando had been shot by a bullet from a 9 mm calibre semi-automatic pistol, with the gun pressed against her head at the moment of the shot. Richard Hughes, her next door neighbour, heard a surprised cry from Dando "like someone greeting a friend" but heard no gunshot. Hughes looked out of his front window and, while not realising what had happened, made the only certain sighting of the killer—a six-foot-tall (183 cm) white man aged around 40, walking away from Dando's house.[7]"

 

[ZaZara]

Jill Dando's murder: 20 years on, fresh witness accounts raise disturbing questions | Daily Mail Online

Jill Dando's murder, the untold story: 20 years on, fresh witness accounts raise disturbing questions as reconstruction reveals how crime scene was contaminated after she was shot 'clutching keys'

• The Daily Mail has started a three-part reassessment of the cold-blooded death
• Investigation will draw on previously unavailable police and prosecution documents

‘I don’t think I fully grasped what I was going to see and it seems odd now, with hindsight, but I took my mug of tea with me,’ Mrs Saunders said.

A booking clerk spoke to Jill, confirming her tickets to see the hit Abba musical, Mamma Mia!. Jill was said to have sounded ‘excited and bubbly’. She told the booking clerk the tickets were a present for her fiancé, whose birthday was approaching.

That last phone call she took was at 11.23am. From background noises heard by the caller, she was probably still inside the fishmongers. She had less than ten minutes to live.

The next phone call to her mobile was timed at 11.31am. This time she didn’t answer and the call went to voicemail. It is likely that this was the ringing Mrs Saunders heard when she saw Jill lying dead on her doorstep.


(...)

Jill Dando was probably dead before she hit the ground. Mrs Saunders’s recollection confirms that everyone who saw her before the emergency services arrived realised she was dead. Yet extensive efforts to revive her were made at the scene by paramedics and members of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service.

As a result, Jill did not reach Charing Cross Hospital — only three minutes away by road — until 12.30pm. The attempted resuscitation continued there for another half an hour before she was declared dead at 1.05pm.

The Mail can reveal that an official police report blames the resuscitation efforts for creating a major, perhaps insurmountable, obstacle to future detective work.

Jill’s clothes were ripped off to perform cardiac massage and the ground about was ‘trampled’ by those trying to save her. The body was not left in situ. Vital clues were bound to have been lost.

The unusual lack of forensic evidence at the crime scene would become a hallmark of the Dando case. And it was not absent because of the cunning of the killer, as we shall see in Part 2.

BBM


On Monday we will meet the Serb ‘hitman’ who was accused of being the killer in Gowan Avenue. Tracked down by the Mail, he has spoken for the first time about his part in the Dando affair.

 

[ZaZara]

Dramatic first interview with criminal investigated over Jill Dando's murder | Daily Mail Online

The truth about the Serbian hitman theory: Dramatic first interview with criminal investigated over Jill Dando's murder amid theory that her death was an act of revenge for Britain's involvement in the Kosovo war

Over the course of several meetings with the Mail ‘Milan Mitrovic’ admitted he knew how to handle a gun. More sensationally he confirmed he had been questioned by detectives from Scotland Yard’s murder squad over the allegation that he was the mystery hitman who shot dead BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando on April 26, 1999.

Mitrovic — a pseudonym agreed in return for his testimony — has never spoken publicly before. Having spent much of his adult life in organised crime he was demonstrably unhappy to have been approached by us at all. Our reporter was advised by him to ‘emigrate’; this from a man who has served four prison terms and committed his first armed robbery of a post office at the age of 17.

But we persisted. Because Mitrovic is unique.

We understand he is the only Serb still alive to have been named in the 2014 police cold case review of the unsolved Dando murder. As such he is the personification of one of the most popular and persistent of the colourful conspiracy theories surrounding the motive: that Jill’s death was an act of revenge for Britain’s participation in the 1999 Kosovo war.

(....)


We can reveal that officers pursuing the Serbian connection also interviewed veteran BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson. He was in Belgrade in April 1999, covering the Nato bombing campaign. He met Arkan on the day the Crimewatch presenter was killed.

Simpson told police that Arkan said he had never heard of Jill Dando and was not interested in the murder. Simpson also made the observation that if Arkan or the Serb regime had wanted to kill a prominent BBC journalist then why not Simpson himself? Much easier.

Dr Adrian West, one of Britain’s foremost forensic criminal psychologists, also questioned the Serb theory. In an analysis of the evidence which he presented to police in May 1999 he asked why, if Jill’s was a politically-motivated revenge killing, there had been no credible public claim of responsibility or explanation by those behind the assassination.


(...)

But the elimination of a whole shoal of red herrings proved time consuming. And serious errors of judgment were made along the way.

Two missteps were made in the very first week after her death.

One was the release of an e-fit picture based on a ‘sweating man’ seen at a bus stop on Fulham Palace Road, half an hour after the killing. Detective Chief Inspector Hamish Campbell who was leading the investigation did not want it released, but there was pressure to do so from above.

How many murderers make their getaway by standing at a nearby bus stop for half an hour? Officers had to log and follow up every one of the hundreds of calls the e-fit produced.

Equally unhelpful was the early release of a CCTV still of a ‘suspicious’ blue Range Rover seen crossing Putney Bridge, less than a mile from the crime scene. The car had been seen jumping a red light near Gowan Avenue minutes after the murder.

Another deluge of calls had to be fielded and followed up. It was not until July that the car in question was identified as belonging to an antiques dealer returning to his showroom.

(...)

Other contract killer conspiracy theories have persisted down the years. One website which has been viewed 250,000 times claims Jill might have been killed by MI5 because she was privy to ‘very sensitive information.’

But the contradictions inherent in these theses were apparent from the start.

Why would an experienced hitman who wanted to give himself the best chance of a kill and a successful escape choose to attack his victim in the middle of the day on a relatively busy street before fleeing on foot under the eyes of the world?

The gunman could have forced Jill inside her house — she was about to unlock her door — before administering the coup de grace out of sight. He could have shot her in her car — or under cover of darkness outside her fiancé Alan Farthing’s house where she spent almost all of her time outside work.

Jill was rarely at Gowan Avenue and her visits were irregular. There was no pattern upon which a hitman could latch.

Forensic psychologist Dr West was an early advocate of the lone operator theory.

DCI Campbell also came to this way of thinking. A combined reward of £250,000 — including £100,000 from this newspaper — had failed to tempt anyone from the underworld to inform upon the conspirators. ‘It was the dog that didn’t bark,’ the officer observed to the Mail in 2001, paraphrasing Sherlock Holmes. In other words the lack of response to the reward offer was significant in itself.

The murder weapon has never been found but forensic examination of the shell casing and bullet suggests it was a smooth bore 9mm handgun which had either been modified from a starting pistol or some other reactivated weapon.

The bullet — 2mm shorter than standard ammunition — would have had a low muzzle velocity. The cartridge bore ‘crimping’ scratches where a pointed tool had been used, possibly to tighten its grip on the bullet. This was not the weapon of a professional assassin. Nor was the single shot the modus operandi of someone who had been hired to make a certain kill.

In his report for DCI Campbell one month after the murder, Dr West remarked: ‘Although the killing appears to have been carried out proficiently, an obvious contradiction is that the shell casing has been left at the scene . . . a professional who knew what he was doing would not have allowed a shell to be ejected.

‘Furthermore, it is unlikely that a professional would have used a reactivated weapon, this is not the weapon of choice of someone who is going to do a hit.’

In another report for DCI Campbell, Dr West said a professional killer would ‘not have risked blood/tissue transfer with a tight head shot’.

(...)

Put simply, at such close proximity, blood, DNA samples and fibres from clothing were likely to have been transferred between Jill and the gunman. On Saturday we revealed that the long and futile attempts to revive the dead presenter at the scene had the unintended consequence of eradicating vital forensic clues.

Jill’s death was not a long range sniping kill a la Jason Bourne, but the firing of a crude, ‘makeshift’ weapon at point blank range. What if the gunman was not an international contract killer but an amateur acting alone, who got lucky?

Aside from Jill’s two immediate neighbours, six other people reported seeing a man of early middle age with a ‘swarthy or Mediterranean appearance’ in Gowan Avenue on the evening and morning before the murder. The Mail can now reveal a man of similar description was also seen in a local fishmonger’s at the same time as Jill just before her murder.

A staff member said that just before he served Jill, he noticed a be-suited man with black hair and carrying a mobile phone. He did not buy anything but stayed in the shop for a few minutes, as if gripped by indecision.

In his second analysis of the available evidence — passed to the police in June 1999 — Dr West explored the possibility that the killer was acting alone.

Later the security services failed to uncover any credible foreign involvement.


BBM


Much more at link, even more so if you are interested in the many warlords from former Yugoslavia.

I wonder if in the upcoming part 3, the suspicons turn to Barry George once again. I hope there are new and different clues and a new possible suspect.

 

[dotr]

Nine people investigated over Jill Dando's murder were all dismissed
March 24 2019
"NINE suspects were investigated over Jill Dando’s murder in addition to loner Barry George, The Sun can reveal.

But detectives ruled out all of them to focus on the convicted sex offender and serial stalker."
"George, now 58 and living in Ireland, lived near Crimewatch presenter Jill at the time of her murder in April 1999.

He was convicted of her shooting but later acquitted on appeal. A Scotland Yard cold case report says “there is no evidence that points to any other person being responsible for the murder”.

 

[Markybug]

Interesting re the Range Rover , I wasn’t aware they had tracked it down and eliminated it.

<modsnip>

 

[dotr]

<modsnip>
Nov 2018
Why Barry George is still haunted by his wrongful conviction of Jill Dando's murder and how he joined mourners in Belfast to say farewell to Gerry Conlon - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
"Michelle, who throughout her brother's trial and eight years behind bars never gave up on her battle to clear his name, suddenly had a new fight on her hands which features heavily in her book.

But the publication also looks back over all of the 18 years of legal struggles on behalf of her brother who before the murder was widely seen as something of a Walter Mitty character in London.

He constantly adopted false personas to represent himself variously as a policeman, a karate champion, a stuntman and a session musician with the Electric Light Orchestra.

Among the names he used was Bulsara, the real surname of Queen singer Freddie Mercury. He also apparently claimed at a wedding in Ireland that he was an SAS soldier."

In court it was said he was a "local nutter" with a personality disorder but his family said he was a "naive eccentric".

Stock Photo - Barry George, wrongly convicted for the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando, protesting at the Houses of Parliament over the refusal to award him compensation for the

 

[ZaZara]

Cleared Jill Dando murder suspect Barry George's indignant words in an extraordinary encounter | Daily Mail Online

How dare they say I'm 'not innocent enough' for compensation: Cleared Jill Dando murder suspect Barry George's indignant words in an extraordinary encounter

What can be reported is that George — who has made numerous live TV appearances since his acquittal and was happy to speak to us — talked with passion about his continued ‘fight for justice’ and the lingering doubts on the part of officialdom which still assail him. Doubts which in 2013 saw the High Court rubber-stamp decisions by successive governments to refuse him even a penny of compensation for the years he spent behind bars.

Compensation is only paid when the court quashes a conviction because a new fact has emerged to show beyond reasonable doubt that the applicant did not commit the offence.

‘How can you be acquitted unanimously by judge and jury, which means you (regain) innocent status, but then get told you are not innocent enough?’ he asked us last week.

‘How more innocent than innocent can a person be? I spent years in custody and then they have looked at the thing and decided I’m not innocent enough.’

BBM


Part three of the series has been posted, but IMHO it was not complete at the time that I read it. This is how it ends:

In interviews he protested his innocence. He said he had no idea who Jill Dando was, nor where she

Looks like there is a lot more to come.

 

[Satchie]

Jill Dando - Wikipedia
....On the morning of 26 April 1999, 37-year-old Dando left Farthing's home in Chiswick. She returned alone, by car, to the house she owned in Fulham. She had lived in the house, but by April 1999 was in the process of selling it and did not visit it frequently.

This jumps out at me. If she rarely visited the home, and it was on the market, how did the killer know she would turn up that morning? Did they just wait, 24 hours per day, watching her front door? That would point to an obsessive neighbour, a professional might go off to lurk around her workplace if she was rarely home. Or did the killer follow her from her new home, park their vehicle, and catch up to her on the doorstep?