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

[dotr]

snippets from lengthy article.

Who is Jill Dando’s brother Nigel – and where is he now?

The murdered TV anchor’s brother has never stopping fighting to track down her killer

www.standard.co.uk

By Vicky Jessop 39 minutes ago
'Netflix’s new documentary series Who Killed Jill Dando? has just dropped, and already the internet is buzzing with conspiracy theories, potential leads and renewed interest in the case.'

'Many of the interviews that Nigel has done have focused on getting somebody to come forward and give information on Jill’s death. Speaking to RadioTimes, he said that “the reason I do these things [interviews] is to publicise the fact that Jill’s killer is still at large, and the publicity about the circumstances surrounding her death can’t be a bad thing.”

''However, he has expressed a desire for Barry George to explain what he was doing on the day of Jill’s death – George declined to give evidence at both his trial and re-trial.''

''However, he has no belief that any of the more outlandish theories surrounding her death – such as being targeted by Serbian hitmen – hold up. "My theory before this happened and that’s been reinforced since by watching this documentary,” he told Sky, “is that Jill was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that somebody walking down the street, holding a gun for whatever reason, spotted her, either knowing her or not knowing who she was, and shot her dead."

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Did anyone else notice that BG was clearly lying in his interview when he said the picture of him posing in a mask and gun was not him? The mask's eyeholes were large enough to see his eyebrows and he has one that is noticeably more arched that the other. That was definitely him in that photo IMO, and he could easily have allayed any suspicions it might have led the police to form by producing the gun he was holding. For some reason that gun was never found; I wonder why.

I was never convinced of BG's guilt... until I watched the new Netflix documentary and saw what a lying creep he is.

My friends and family tell me I'm a good judge of a person's character, and BG sets off all my alarms. I don't like him at all, and I think he's lying through his teeth. Does that make him guilty? No, not with any certainty. But I find it much easier to believe he got away with murder.

Your follow-up post also ties into a thought I've had for a while: what if the killer didn't originally intend to kill?

Obviously the man was carrying a gun, but for some people that's just a habit and doesn't guarantee they plan to use it. BG had a track record of following women right up to their front door. If he did that to Jill Dando, it's possible a short scuffle ensued and the end result was that she was shot to make her stop fighting. I believe the autopsy showed some injuries to Jill's arms which might support the idea of her briefly trying to fight back.

I think most people, myself included, have assumed Jill's death was always the intention, and that it happened very quickly without a struggle. But now I wonder if that was necessarily the case.

 

[WestLondoner]

BG sets off all my alarms. I don't like him at all, and I think he's lying through his teeth. Does that make him guilty? No, not with any certainty. But I find it much easier to believe he got away with murder.

Have you read Nick Ross' 2019 blog on the case? Very interesting and persuasive, especially what he says about courts not understanding probabilities.

 

[JennieM]

Have you read Nick Ross' 2019 blog on the case? Very interesting and persuasive, especially what he says about courts not understanding probabilities.

Great analysis, thanks for sharing.

 

[IamRaven9]

Respectfully I disagree. I think the police were just under pressure and had tunnel vision on BG.

A layperson with no investigative experience could be forgiven for having tunnel vision. This was a murder investigation by professional police detectives. If they could seriously believe pinning the crime on a random man with no credible evidence against him at all is how you find the guilty party then we better let everyone out of prison.

 

[WestLondoner]

This was a murder investigation by professional police detectives. If they could seriously believe pinning the crime on a random man with no credible evidence against him at all is how you find the guilty party then we better let everyone out of prison.

Indeed, and as Nick Ross summarises on his blog, the case against BG was *a lot* stronger than that:

• He had been seen in the road four hours before Jill’s murder.
• He had been identified as having been by two separate witnesses near the killing in an agitated state soon after the murder.
• The witnesses, including a mental health worker, were so concerned about him that in the days after Jill’s murder they had rung the incident room repeatedly.
• He had returned to both witnesses the following day seeking to persuade them he had been there at different times and in different clothes.
• He had a history of violence against women, including formal warnings, convictions for sexual assault and a prison term for attempted rape.
• When under surveillance he routinely stalked women.
• He had once been found in the grounds of Kensington Palace with a balaclava, a knife and a rope – but was never charged because he was thought to have mental problems.
• Itsuko Toide, briefly his wife in a marriage of convenience, was so frightened of him that she reported his violence to the police and fled back to Japan. (She later told me she had no doubt he was Jill’s killer).
• Despite denying he had an interest in Jill Dando or the BBC, undeveloped film recovered from his apartment showed he took photos of women from his TV, and he kept copies of the BBC’s in-house magazine.
• Although he denied he had ever owned or held a gun, a reel of undeveloped film was processed and revealed him posing with a pistol.
• The pistol he was holding was of the same type that killed Jill.

We might add that the pistol never turned up. If it hadn't been used to kill someone why did it disappear?

He was not at all a random suspect. The above list is a decent circumstantial case - even without the firearm residue point, which is not in the list.

 

[JennieM]

Is this the end of the road as far as BG is concerned or could there be another arrest and trial in the future?

 

[WestLondoner]

I don't think he can be tried twice on the same charge.

 

[RichardKimble]

I don't think he can be tried twice on the same charge.

Think the rules on double jeopardy have altered.

Part 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) reforms the law relating to double jeopardy, by permitting retrials in respect of a number of very serious offences, where new and compelling evidence has come to light. Previously, the law did not permit a person who has been acquitted or convicted of an offence to be retried for that same offence.

Retrial of Serious Offences | The Crown Prosecution Service

www.cps.gov.uk

 

[Scorpiette]

Indeed, and as Nick Ross summarises on his blog, the case against BG was *a lot* stronger than that:

• He had been seen in the road four hours before Jill’s murder.
• He had been identified as having been by two separate witnesses near the killing in an agitated state soon after the murder.
• The witnesses, including a mental health worker, were so concerned about him that in the days after Jill’s murder they had rung the incident room repeatedly.
• He had returned to both witnesses the following day seeking to persuade them he had been there at different times and in different clothes.
• He had a history of violence against women, including formal warnings, convictions for sexual assault and a prison term for attempted rape.
• When under surveillance he routinely stalked women.
• He had once been found in the grounds of Kensington Palace with a balaclava, a knife and a rope – but was never charged because he was thought to have mental problems.
• Itsuko Toide, briefly his wife in a marriage of convenience, was so frightened of him that she reported his violence to the police and fled back to Japan. (She later told me she had no doubt he was Jill’s killer).
• Despite denying he had an interest in Jill Dando or the BBC, undeveloped film recovered from his apartment showed he took photos of women from his TV, and he kept copies of the BBC’s in-house magazine.
• Although he denied he had ever owned or held a gun, a reel of undeveloped film was processed and revealed him posing with a pistol.
• The pistol he was holding was of the same type that killed Jill.

We might add that the pistol never turned up. If it hadn't been used to kill someone why did it disappear?

He was not at all a random suspect. The above list is a decent circumstantial case - even without the firearm residue point, which is not in the list.

Also, I have copied the following from Wikipedia:

"After leaving school without qualifications, his only employment was as a messenger at BBC Television Centre[3] a fixed term contract for six months; the job lasted only five months."

"In March 1980, after (BG) failed in his attempt to join the Metropolitan Police, he was arrested and charged for impersonating a police officer, having obtained false warrant cards. "

Also,

"In 1980, (BG) joined the Territorial Army, but was discharged the following year.[9] He then adopted the persona of SAS member Tom Palmer, one of the soldiers who ended the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege."

I've looked at the photograph of BG again with with gas mask and gun. It seems there are a few certificates on his wall, but I can't quite make out what they say. Can anyone with better eyes or computer make out the writing? I wonder if they are gun certificates (fake or real). I wonder how he got on in the Territorial Army?

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Have you read Nick Ross' 2019 blog on the case? Very interesting and persuasive, especially what he says about courts not understanding probabilities.

I read it many years ago, but thank you for reminding me. I've always found Nick's argument very compelling, and the evidence against BG (as you point out in your subsequent post) was always a much stronger circumstantial case than it appears to be on the surface. Certainly the lead investigator, DCS Hamish Campbell, still seems to think they caught the killer.

I've looked at the photograph of BG again with with gas mask and gun. It seems there are a few certificates on his wall, but I can't quite make out what they say. Can anyone with better eyes or computer make out the writing? I wonder if they are gun certificates (fake or real). I wonder how he got on in the Territorial Army?

I can't tell what they say, other than "this is to certify," but the colours might be relevant. There's a blue, reddish-brown, and black certificate. Those are the colours of karate belts. The symbol at the top of the certificates also resembles some kind of martial arts logo.

We know BG falsely claimed to be a karate champion. It probably wouldn't be surprising if he had in fact taken karate classes. And if he was a black belt, all questions of his ability to calmly and efficiently incapacitate another person are probably answered.

 

[CSIAngus]

This will have been covered many times but is BG left or right handed?

 

[WiseOwl]

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) Jill Dando - Wikipedia

JMO but this has always struck me as a professional killing. Quick, no struggle, single modified bullet to the head. Nothing about the act makes me think BG was capable of this level of organisation. Who knew she was intending to visit her property that day? Could her phone have been hacked?

How did Woffinden know what happened to Jill that morning, that the assailant grabbed her from behind. held her and forced her to the ground - where did he get this information from or is it just guesswork on his behalf? He could have simply held the gun to her head and told her to kneel down. Also what did happen to Jill's coat - did the police check it for any possible DNA, hairs, fibres, etc.?

Also, if she was shot when her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch, wouldn't Jill have slumped head-first onto the step after she had been shot? This seems at odds with what the first two people on the scene saw.

Jill Dando murder: What woman who found BBC presenter noticed

Helen Doble, the first person to come across Jill's body, said:

"At first it was difficult, in the first few seconds, to realise it was actually Jill and she was actually in that position. She was on her doorstep leaning against her front door.

She had changed colour, there was a lot of blood loss and it was clear to me that she was dead. I looked around and there was nobody else in the street and I quickly got my phone out to call the emergency services."

Then we have Vida Saunders account:

Netflix airs new documentary 23 years on from murder of Jill Dando

Much-loved BBC Personality of the Year, Jill Dando, 37, was killed outside her own front door in Fulham, London by a single gun shot to the head in April 1999.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'Mrs Saunders said:

In those days much of the white painted Victorian frontage of 29 Gowan Avenue was screened from the street by a privet hedge and a small tree. 'But what I saw as soon as we stepped through the front gate hit me like a physical blow.'

What she saw was the body of Dando, 37, killed only minutes earlier outside her own front door by a single gunshot to the head. Jill's body was lying at such an odd angle,' she recalled. 'She looked like she had collapsed on the spot. The back of her head was against the front door and her chest was facing back out towards the pavement.

'She was in a pool of blood and I noticed her lips were blue and there were some small drips of blood running from her nose. It was such a disturbing image. I think we knew immediately she was critically injured. She was still clutching a set of keys in one hand, probably her door keys or possibly her car keys. The handles of her handbag were over the other arm and her mobile phone was inside, ringing constantly.'

So Jill wasn't found lying face down on the step, the back of her head was against the door and facing back out towards the pavement. Is it possible that Jill could have still have been conscious for a minute or two after she had been shot and had managed to prop herself against the door?

Also, why didn't the next-door neighbour RH hear Jill's mobile phone ringing? He said he heard her scream and the click of the gate, but no mention of her phone ringing at all?

 

[WiseOwl]

I read it many years ago, but thank you for reminding me. I've always found Nick's argument very compelling, and the evidence against BG (as you point out in your subsequent post) was always a much stronger circumstantial case than it appears to be on the surface. Certainly the lead investigator, DCS Hamish Campbell, still seems to think they caught the killer.


I can't tell what they say, other than "this is to certify," but the colours might be relevant. There's a blue, reddish-brown, and black certificate. Those are the colours of karate belts. The symbol at the top of the certificates also resembles some kind of martial arts logo.

We know BG falsely claimed to be a karate champion. It probably wouldn't be surprising if he had in fact taken karate classes. And if he was a black belt, all questions of his ability to calmly and efficiently incapacitate another person are probably answered.

I don't believe for one minute that BG was a black belt in karate.

IMO he couldn't fight his way out of a paper crisp bag.

 

[CSIAngus]

How did Woffinden know what happened to Jill that morning, that the assailant grabbed her from behind. held her and forced her to the ground - where did he get this information from or is it just guesswork on his behalf? He could have simply held the gun to her head and told her to kneel down. Also what did happen to Jill's coat - did the police check it for any possible DNA, hairs, fibres, etc.?

Also, if she was shot when her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch, wouldn't Jill have slumped head-first onto the step after she had been shot? This seems at odds with what the first two people on the scene saw.

Jill Dando murder: What woman who found BBC presenter noticed

Helen Doble, the first person to come across Jill's body, said:

"At first it was difficult, in the first few seconds, to realise it was actually Jill and she was actually in that position. She was on her doorstep leaning against her front door.

She had changed colour, there was a lot of blood loss and it was clear to me that she was dead. I looked around and there was nobody else in the street and I quickly got my phone out to call the emergency services."

Then we have Vida Saunders account:

Netflix airs new documentary 23 years on from murder of Jill Dando

Much-loved BBC Personality of the Year, Jill Dando, 37, was killed outside her own front door in Fulham, London by a single gun shot to the head in April 1999.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'Mrs Saunders said:

In those days much of the white painted Victorian frontage of 29 Gowan Avenue was screened from the street by a privet hedge and a small tree. 'But what I saw as soon as we stepped through the front gate hit me like a physical blow.'

What she saw was the body of Dando, 37, killed only minutes earlier outside her own front door by a single gunshot to the head. Jill's body was lying at such an odd angle,' she recalled. 'She looked like she had collapsed on the spot. The back of her head was against the front door and her chest was facing back out towards the pavement.

'She was in a pool of blood and I noticed her lips were blue and there were some small drips of blood running from her nose. It was such a disturbing image. I think we knew immediately she was critically injured. She was still clutching a set of keys in one hand, probably her door keys or possibly her car keys. The handles of her handbag were over the other arm and her mobile phone was inside, ringing constantly.'

So Jill wasn't found lying face down on the step, the back of her head was against the door and facing back out towards the pavement. Is it possible that Jill could have still have been conscious for a minute or two after she had been shot and had managed to prop herself against the door?

Also, why didn't the next-door neighbour RH hear Jill's mobile phone ringing? He said he heard her scream and the click of the gate, but no mention of her phone ringing at all?

What you have quoted is not inconsistent with what Woffinden said, IMO.

 

[WestLondoner]

I don't believe for one minute that BG was a black belt in karate.

IMO he couldn't fight his way out of a paper crisp bag.

Via a reputable karate association, it takes four to five years to get from beginner to black belt. You have to pass eight to ten gradings, and these happen about three times a year. Between the highest non-black belt grade and black, you have to wait at least six months.

Nothing in BG's personal history suggests he could stick at anything for four to five years.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

I don't believe for one minute that BG was a black belt in karate.

IMO he couldn't fight his way out of a paper crisp bag.

I don't know if BG was or wasn't capable of earning a black belt, just as I don't know if he was or wasn't capable of murdering Jill Dando.

I do know he was capable of completely reinventing himself numerous times; that he was manipulative and able to convince people he was something he wasn't; also that he was capable of stalking and harming women on multiple occasions.

The *real* BG is an enigma, and one of his biggest strengths seems to be that people underestimate him.

 

[dotr]

This will have been covered many times but is BG left or right handed?

Who did kill Jill Dando? Documentary will see family relive ...​

Irish Examiner
https://www.irishexaminer.com › news › Spotlight
Sep 26, 2023 — ... left side of Jill's head especially since he is right handed. And then to calmly walk away. “He (Barry) has so many disabilities.''

ETA, noting watch on right wrist, often associated with left-handedness, imo, speculation, fwiw

'They put gun to my head' - Barry George on Jill Dando mystery

He was acquitted almost 10 years ago of the killing of the loved Weston-super-Mare star, but says he still does not feel free

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Also, if she was shot when her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch, wouldn't Jill have slumped head-first onto the step after she had been shot? This seems at odds with what the first two people on the scene saw.

Key Jill Dando murder evidence from the crime scene revealed for the first time

A team of 47 detectives pored over these clues to the killing – but failed to work out why the Crimewatch star was gunned down on her doorstep

www.mirror.co.uk

The bullet apparently struck the door, about eight inches above the doorstep. Jill was shot in the left side of the head, just above the ear, and the bullet went straight through exiting just in front of the right ear. For it to enter the door eight inches above the step she must have had her head right down near the floor.

I've always wondered about the position Jill was reportedly found in, because it doesn't seem to make sense. For Jill to be found slumped with her back to the door, you're either correct that she was momentarily conscious and able to move--or the killer perhaps moved her for some reason. Evidence that Jill might have moved (or been moved) after she was shot is some of the valuable evidence which might have been lost as soon as the paramedics began working on her.

This will have been covered many times but is BG left or right handed?

I'm not sure it actually matters.

For the bullet to strike the door the way it did, the shot was presumably fired almost perpendicular to the door. And Jill's wounds mean she must have had her head turned almost parallel to the door. When you line everything up, IMO it would have been possible for a shooter to use either hand: they weren't behind her using their left hand, nor in front of her using their right hand, they were at her left side with either hand able to point the gun at her head.

 

[NeroHolmes]

The below article makes a very interesting discussion on the killing method, the Serbian theory and Barry George.

Shadow of doubt?

"From the outset, there appeared to be two vital clues to the kind of crime this was: the method of killing and the ballistics evidence. As Dando was about to put her keys in the lock to open the front door of her home in Fulham, south-west London, she was grabbed from behind. (The late Iain West, then Britain's leading pathologist, identified a recent bruise to her right forearm.) 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. It was very close to 11.30am. The bullet entered her head just above her ear, parallel to the ground, and came out the right side of her head and into the door, leaving a mark that was a mere 22cm above the doorstep.

For the killer, there were three advantages to such a clinical, one-shot murder. The first was silence. The gases escaping as the gun was discharged, which normally cause the report, instead exploded inside the head, so there was virtually no noise: Richard Hughes, Dando's neighbour, was working at the front of the house and heard a brief, sudden cry, but no gunshot.

The second was that the assailant did not end up covered in flesh and blood. The third was speed - Hughes estimated a gap of only 30 seconds between hearing Dando get out of her car and the latch of the gate as the assailant, his job done, closed it behind him; the police estimated it happened even faster than that."

"But there was another possibility: that a custom-made, smooth-bore, short-range weapon had been used. If the killer planned to put the weapon against his victim's head, and was practised in doing so, there was no need for the long-distance accuracy provided by rifling in the barrel"

"It is conceivable that an armourer had prepared a weapon, bullet and cartridge for the specific task. Ash suggests that a smooth-bore, one-shot assassination weapon could have been fitted inside a mobile phone; in autumn 2000, just such a weapon, concealed in a mobile phone, was removed by German police from a Yugoslav gun dealer near the Swiss border. Dando's neighbour, Richard Hughes, had thought the killer carried a mobile phone; yet all mobile phone records for that area, painstakingly trawled through by police, yielded no relevant information"

"There were two reasons given by the prosecution for discounting the "Serb" theory. First, that too little time had elapsed between the Radio-Television Serbia bombing and Dando's death; three days was insufficient time in which to plan and execute an assassination. But if, as is more likely, the murder was conceived following Dando's television appeal on behalf of Kosovan Albanians, the murderers would have had three weeks, ample time for preparation. Second, Orlando Pownall QC, for the Crown, told the jury that it could not have been a Serbian assassin because Serbia had not claimed responsibility for the killing: had Milosevic wanted Dando's death to serve as a protest against Nato military action, he or his operatives would have publicised the fact. The most charitable thing to say about this assertion is that it demonstrates an ignorance of Balkan politics and, indeed, the history of the cold war. "Claims of responsibility" are made by groups such as the IRA or Eta. In 60 years, there has not once been a "claim of responsibility" for an assassination carried out by east European secret services."

"Ever the fantasist, Barry George may now be adapting to his notoriety (two tabloid newspapers have advertised tapes of prison "confessions"), but he should be a footnote in this story. Apart from that invisible speck of explosives residue found on his coat, the police found no evidence that he had possessed guns or ammunition in the past 15 years. He had neither expertise in weapons, nor the resources to modify them. He had no car, no money. There was no forensic evidence found in his flat: remarkably, police found no explosives residue there, even though it was assumed that he'd gone home to change straight after the shooting. The two squads of officers, 50 in all, who surveilled his movements for more than three weeks before his arrest gleaned no evidence to assist their case. Dando's neighbours, the only two eyewitnesses, failed to pick out George in an identity parade."

"The conviction hangs on that speck of explosives residue that might, as Mansfield argued in court, have come from almost anywhere. It might have been fireworks, or the coat could have become contaminated while in police custody (it was photographed before forensic analysis, so the possibilities for contamination were considerable)"