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

[Inspector Evans]

I find it very difficult to form an opinion on BG. I'm very much on the fence with him. I'm not convinced he's innocent but I'm not convinced there's the evidence to convict him either.

We know the sort of person he is and what he did in the past. However that's not evidence of involvement in this case. It makes him a person of interest. There seems little hard evidence. He was in the area 4 hours earlier but how many dozens or hundreds of other people were in tbe area during that period?

It's interesting that Nick Ross thinks he did it but JDs agent finds the idea ridiculous. Shows how differently you can look at the same information.

Seems to me there are two scenarios. Either someone with a gun just happened to be passing at the precise moment JD pulled up or someone was waiting there. I find the first scenario highly unlikely albeit not impossible. If someone was waiting was it because they KNEW JD was visiting or were they waiting on the off chance perhaps based on watching JDs movements over a period of time. I wonder how easy it would be to hang around the property for an extended period or over a matter of weeks without being noticed. I don't think anyone noticed BG or anyone else hanging around regularly did they?

Very tough as we know 100% from the reconstruction there was a postman, a traffic warden and window cleaner who all reported seeing a smartly dressed man loitering around that corner in the hour or so before Jill arrived back. Perhaps it was different people but you'd think once BG was arrested and his image shared they'd still have a vague idea of who they saw around that morning and whether he resembled any of them.

The parking one was actually someone inside a vehicle so the more dubious sighting as that could easily be unconnected unless they were parked right by Jill's house, not really clear.

Then you add in some of the vehicles passing up and down the road around the time of the shooting and one of them will have seen the shooter but of course it is trickier to pinpoint them as they're on the move then around parked cars and other people might be walking on pavements to other roads on the corner points.

 

[forensicswannabe]

You can see why BG was arrested though and why some of us still think he did it not only based on his own past but also the fact he had gun residue in his coat pocket, he has a picture of himself posing with a gun which he repeatedly lies about saying it isn't him when clearly it is he has a very unique face so it's obvious it's him and why is he lying about it? maybe because that places a gun in his hand then there is the fact he was seen by witnesses that day and even tried to make sure someone would give him an Alibi that day? His past history of stalking women including celebrities like Diana, grabbing some of the women he did stalk (Jill was grabbed before the gun went off right close to her head) which again fits his MO I believe he did it but did not intend to kill her I think what we have here is BG trying to sexually assault Jill which he had done before with other women and the gun was there to force her to do the act but I think Jills scream and a struggle is why the gun went off weather that was an accident or him in a panic quickly choosing to shoot her we will never know but that's my opinion on it ultimately I do believe this will be a forever mystery though in terms of no one will ever confess and every decade there will be new big interest in it to celebrate so many years and the person Jill was but I don't think anyone else (or BG again) will ever be tried for it which is a real shame even more so when you think about the work Jill did on Crimewatch to bring Justice to victims and never getting any herself.

 

[davidt]

What response did BG give in court to the witness accounts of him apparently in Gowan Avenue that morning? I assume no comment but if was four hours then half 7 is early to be randomly wandering the streets unless he regularly did it?

I guess he could've offered the defence of he was walking the disability help centre but doubt that would be open at 8am.

In any case Jill Dando's car would not be there at that point so I don't really see a scenario where you just hang around for hours on end as otherwise you go away for an hour or two and she could just arrive back and go inside and be relatively safe.

Completely different if BG was seen loitering outside from 10 ish as then you do feel with lunchtime approaching then JD could turn up at any point if that was her favourite deal to deal with admin (and contracts for the house sale would still be sent to that address).

I do actually wonder what the thought process was for the shooter that morning. Just wait for her to arrive and kill on doorstep as happened. What would've been the outcome if she'd been in that morning, knock on the door and do it when she opens the door or attempt to come inside the house and attack her?

One thing we don't know is if killing JD was the main idea or if it was an attempted robbery/assault gone wrong. What strikes me is that whoever did it had a tiny window of opportunity to do so. If JD had to park down the street a distance away then there would have been some time to decide what to do. But that isn't the case. She pulled up outside here house and a few seconds later was dead.

I know my initial reaction if I knew mothing about this case and just saw the basic facts I'd feel it must have been carried out by someone expecting her. This was a house on a street not a single property in its own secluded grounds or anything. Hanging around for ages on the off chance without being noticed seems quite unlikely to me.

 

[Konstantin]

I know my initial reaction if I knew mothing about this case and just saw the basic facts I'd feel it must have been carried out by someone expecting her. This was a house on a street not a single property in its own secluded grounds or anything. Hanging around for ages on the off chance without being noticed seems quite unlikely to me.

That and she didn't go there very often any more. It does suggest possible research and stalking.

I would be surprised if a robbery gone wrong because rob her of what? Her purse? It looks like quite a professional assassination unless BG did it and just happened to make it look that way.

 

[Inspector Evans]

One thing we don't know is if killing JD was the main idea or if it was an attempted robbery/assault gone wrong. What strikes me is that whoever did it had a tiny window of opportunity to do so. If JD had to park down the street a distance away then there would have been some time to decide what to do. But that isn't the case. She pulled up outside here house and a few seconds later was dead.

I know my initial reaction if I knew mothing about this case and just saw the basic facts I'd feel it must have been carried out by someone expecting her. This was a house on a street not a single property in its own secluded grounds or anything. Hanging around for ages on the off chance without being noticed seems quite unlikely to me.

I'd agree with that POV. On the Crimewatch reconstruction a month later the Postman said he delivered a letter to Jill Dando's house and and as he was coming out a man across the road was looking directly through him and at the door. This was at 10.05am.

That would support the idea of two people in the area from 9am onwards and they clearly didn't know what car Jill drove or whether she was in so watching if the door opened. It didn't so clearly message was communicated and perhaps one of them then disappeared into the London area to meet up later and the other with the weapon hung around that area without making it obvious by waiting in one spot.

Her house was right by the junction of another road so pretty sure you could get a good view of her property from not even standing on Gowan Avenue, will have to pop down again if I have a few spare hours in London in the coming months.

It seems from whoever did it the expectation was she would turn up at some point that Monday. This was local knowledge and said under oath in court two years later.

I think from reports at the time she was due to co-host the 6pm news that night with Martyn Lewis. I presume that information was listed in TV guides over that weekend so if you were planning something and had reasonable knowledge that Mondays were a day to return to her house you'd plan it for morning/lunchtime rather than evening.

That's the way I see it from relatively organised shooting. Dosen't exclude the possibility it was just someone in possession of a gun walking down Gowan Avenue at exact moment she was getting out of her car and they decided to attack her e.g. BG type suspect.

 

[Inspector Evans]

This is an interesting YT on all the sightings and their locations in regards to 29 Gowan Avenue:

"Trilby hat man"

Some of those locations are a little bit out of where she lived. In the area yes but if you were stalking out her location I'm not sure you'd be standing there.

Postman sighting is the most intriguing for me as that is the only time someone is seen lingering directly opposite her house and 90 minutes before the shooting.

Also one I'd forgotten about is 11.29am and a driver saying they saw someone agitated on the corner of Gowan Avenue. If that is true then I reckon that person had identified Jill turning into Gowan Avenue in her car (as you could get a good ID from that distance) and the enormity of what they were about to do a minute later had hit them. Could certainly walk down at a steady pace to her house in 30 seconds from that position aswell.

Basically the narrator on that video describes a BG type and also mentions the man was first seen that day around 7am which was said about BG in court. Did BG regularly wear hats out and about is the obvious next question especially as he was placed under surveillance for a period.

 

[TheRockingRev]

You can see why BG was arrested though and why some of us still think he did it not only based on his own past but also the fact he had gun residue in his coat pocket, he has a picture of himself posing with a gun which he repeatedly lies about saying it isn't him when clearly it is he has a very unique face so it's obvious it's him and why is he lying about it? maybe because that places a gun in his hand

Well yes, it does place a gun in his hand but IMO that shouldn't be enough to convict someone. Even his terrible past shouldn't be enough, unless there was precise evidence of him and the killing.

then there is the fact he was seen by witnesses that day and even tried to make sure someone would give him an Alibi that day?

Which witnesses have said this? There have been plenty who have come forward, but none have specifically said it was BG they saw. Not even her neighbour who supposedly saw the killer.

His past history of stalking women including celebrities like Diana, grabbing some of the women he did stalk (Jill was grabbed before the gun went off right close to her head) which again fits his MO I believe he did it but did not intend to kill her I think what we have here is BG trying to sexually assault Jill which he had done before with other women and the gun was there to force her to do the act but I think Jills scream and a struggle is why the gun went off weather that was an accident or him in a panic quickly choosing to shoot her we will never know

Was there a struggle? Would she have struggled with a gun pointing at her? If she did see the gun, and rightfully been scared, then surely BG would have been able to get her inside the house. If she didn't see the gun and there was a struggle then there would've been more signs of this. The person who killed her calmly walked up to her, quickly grabbed her to force her head down and shot her. This has all the hallmarks of an assassination. If BG was trying to assault her, then he wouldn't have carried out such a text book shooting in a very, very short amount of time.

but that's my opinion on it ultimately I do believe this will be a forever mystery though in terms of no one will ever confess and every decade there will be new big interest in it to celebrate so many years and the person Jill was but I don't think anyone else (or BG again) will ever be tried for it which is a real shame even more so when you think about the work Jill did on Crimewatch to bring Justice to victims and never getting any herself.

 

[TheRockingRev]

That and she didn't go there very often any more. It does suggest possible research and stalking.

I would be surprised if a robbery gone wrong because rob her of what? Her purse? It looks like quite a professional assassination unless BG did it and just happened to make it look that way.

Fully agree. There was nothing to rob. I really don't think BG had the intellect to make it look so professional in the time between her arriving home and being shot.

 

[dotr]

Any chance BG was paid/set up to perform 'an '' assassination'' (which might well appeal to him)? speculation.

 

[forensicswannabe]

Well yes, it does place a gun in his hand but IMO that shouldn't be enough to convict someone. Even his terrible past shouldn't be enough, unless there was precise evidence of him and the killing.

Which witnesses have said this? There have been plenty who have come forward, but none have specifically said it was BG they saw. Not even her neighbour who supposedly saw the killer.

Was there a struggle? Would she have struggled with a gun pointing at her? If she did see the gun, and rightfully been scared, then surely BG would have been able to get her inside the house. If she didn't see the gun and there was a struggle then there would've been more signs of this. The person who killed her calmly walked up to her, quickly grabbed her to force her head down and shot her. This has all the hallmarks of an assassination. If BG was trying to assault her, then he wouldn't have carried out such a text book shooting in a very, very short amount of time.

A scream was heard by the neighbour so she was alerted that someone was there and from what I've heard the gun was shot pointed directly at her head and there was only one single shot which of course did kill her but there was the chance she could have survived so I'm surprised they didn't shoot again to be sure if there main intension was to just kill her and there are reports of a person running away directly after you would think that a Hitman/Assassin would have a car near by for a quick getaway and shooting someone in broad daylight on a busy London street is risky as it is more so when the victim had time to scream and attract attention the perpetrator got lucky in that no one directly got a good look at him but to me this points more to an armature and unplanned than a professional planned hit but again that's just my opinion.

 

[TheRockingRev]

Any chance BG was paid/set up to perform 'an '' assassination'' (which might well appeal to him)? speculation.

If he was paid then I think he would've spilled the beans within minutes - I don't think anyone would've trusted him to keep his mouth shut. He knew the seriousness of the situation and even if he had been threatened that he would get protection.
The set-up, IMO, is that he was seen as the local odd-ball and after the police were given his name (and remember not for sightings on the day - but because of his behaviour and reputation) they must have thought they were onto a winner.
It was easy fitting him to the crime rather than the crime to him. JMO.

 

[forensicswannabe]

You keep making it seem like BG is some innocent victim who was wrongly pointed at and was just picked out because he was odd when in fact he was a dangerous individual and low IQ's do not mean a person can't get away with murder there is a good amount of serial killers with low IQ's as there are with high IQ's who sure got away with it for so many years.

 

[TheRockingRev]

You keep making it seem like BG is some innocent victim who was wrongly pointed at and was just picked out because he was odd when in fact he was a dangerous individual and low IQ's do not mean a person can't get away with murder there is a good amount of serial killers with low IQ's as there are with high IQ's who sure got away with it for so many years.

I'm not denying that he was a dangerous individual, who had a very nasty criminal past. But at the same time regardless of all that, it doesn't mean that that makes him Jill's murderer. It wasn't his past that possibly killed her. JMO.
It's pretty standard that the police would look at locals who have got previous form - and I can see why he would stand out. But people harping on about his past, doesn't prove that he did this particular crime.

The issue I have with his low IQ and this crime was that it was in broad daylight, in London on a fairly busy street, and the victim being one of the top TV stars of the time. You would need a lot of IQ to pull this off.

And the facts remain - he wasn't hanging around and the witnesses have never pointed him out. So how he could have come out of thin air at that exact moment?

 

[dotr]

Good, lengthy article.
Bob Woffinden 6 Jul 2002

Shadow of doubt?

Last summer, when Barry George was convicted of killing Jill Dando, all other possible theories were discounted. But is one of them more credible than was originally thought? On the eve of George's appeal hearing, Bob Woffinden re-examines the evidence.

www.theguardian.com

''Two neighbours, Hughes and Geoffrey Upfill-Brown, saw the gunman making a hasty departure from the scene, although he slowed down when he realised that Upfill-Brown had noticed him. Hughes described a white, well-dressed man with dark hair and a solid build, wearing a dark, Barbour-type jacket. He thought that the man had a mobile phone. Upfill-Brown gave a similar description.''

''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.

Elaine Hutton and Susan Bicknell at Hammersmith & Fulham Action for Disability alerted police to George because of his strange demeanour and mental health problems when he arrived at the centre soon after the murder. Yet, unbeknown to them, the timing they gave for his arrival (around 11.50am, 20 minutes after the shooting) gave him an alibi. George would have needed at least 30 minutes to go home, change clothes and then walk to the centre.''

 

[forensicswannabe]

Good, lengthy article.
Bob Woffinden 6 Jul 2002

Shadow of doubt?

Last summer, when Barry George was convicted of killing Jill Dando, all other possible theories were discounted. But is one of them more credible than was originally thought? On the eve of George's appeal hearing, Bob Woffinden re-examines the evidence.

www.theguardian.com

''Two neighbours, Hughes and Geoffrey Upfill-Brown, saw the gunman making a hasty departure from the scene, although he slowed down when he realised that Upfill-Brown had noticed him. Hughes described a white, well-dressed man with dark hair and a solid build, wearing a dark, Barbour-type jacket. He thought that the man had a mobile phone. Upfill-Brown gave a similar description.''

''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.

Elaine Hutton and Susan Bicknell at Hammersmith & Fulham Action for Disability alerted police to George because of his strange demeanour and mental health problems when he arrived at the centre soon after the murder. Yet, unbeknown to them, the timing they gave for his arrival (around 11.50am, 20 minutes after the shooting) gave him an alibi. George would have needed at least 30 minutes to go home, change clothes and then walk to the centre.''

Tbf if BG did do it he was likely wearing a long coat at the time so all he needed to do was take that off and stash it somewhere he didn't need to actually go home right away but lets say it wasn't BG what motives do you all think someone else would have for killing Jill? Obviously there is a fair few that many could say because of her work on Crimewatch and so on but I am curious what Motives others here think?

 

[TheRockingRev]

there are reports of a person running away directly after you would think that a Hitman/Assassin would have a car near by for a quick getaway and shooting someone in broad daylight on a busy London street is risky as it is more so when the victim had time to scream and attract attention

They may have had a car parked in a side street. This London so carparking isn't always easy. It would indicate to me that they were running to a car to get out of the area. If they were just running to get away, when would they stop running? Someone would've noticed a runner in a long coat.

 

[TheRockingRev]

Tbf if BG did do it he was likely wearing a long coat at the time so all he needed to do was take that off and stash it somewhere he didn't need to actually go home right away but lets say it wasn't BG what motives do you all think someone else would have for killing Jill? Obviously there is a fair few that many could say because of her work on Crimewatch and so on but I am curious what Motives others here think?

My theory, JMO, is that she was aware of something happening with CSA at the BBC. As has been proven in the past, allegations go against some very powerful and high-up people (see Peter Haymon, Cyril Smith and the P.I.E scandal, just some of a whole heap of horrendous crimes) when Geoffrey Dickens tried to blow the whistle on the whole thing, he found that he was threatened, burgled and his name was put on a hit list of a professional killer.
These were people who had power and influence - they would, and could, stop at nothing to make sure they were not caught. As we know the BBC was rife with it, and although Savile and co. were doing it, who was allowing them to do it? People who also had dirty secrets, but had the power and clout to get away with it (lets remember it took decades for Savile and Harris to feel the force of the law).

Jill Dando was someone who had a lot of freedom at the BBC, she was liked and trusted. If she had been whispered some information, it would worrying for those involved. She wasn't just anyone, she was one of the biggest names on TV, she would've been believed and she had links on Crimewatch too.

Some months later a convicted CSA was shot on his doorstep in London. There were two men involved with the shooting. What's interesting is that although people have stated that it was just because of his criminal past and was a revenge killing, the person who was shot had made it very clear that he was just about to name high up and powerful people who were involved in CSA.

I get that the police may not have cared too much as it was just a off the street, but they would've cared if they thought vigilante killings were going to take place and there were illegal arms on the street...but this case barely warranted column inches, and the investigation was stopped not long after. There's no reports of the type of gun it was either. Did they not care because they knew there would be no more killings?

 

[Kasparthecat1]

Good, lengthy article.
Bob Woffinden 6 Jul 2002

Shadow of doubt?

Last summer, when Barry George was convicted of killing Jill Dando, all other possible theories were discounted. But is one of them more credible than was originally thought? On the eve of George's appeal hearing, Bob Woffinden re-examines the evidence.

www.theguardian.com

''Two neighbours, Hughes and Geoffrey Upfill-Brown, saw the gunman making a hasty departure from the scene, although he slowed down when he realised that Upfill-Brown had noticed him. Hughes described a white, well-dressed man with dark hair and a solid build, wearing a dark, Barbour-type jacket. He thought that the man had a mobile phone. Upfill-Brown gave a similar description.''

''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.

Elaine Hutton and Susan Bicknell at Hammersmith & Fulham Action for Disability alerted police to George because of his strange demeanour and mental health problems when he arrived at the centre soon after the murder. Yet, unbeknown to them, the timing they gave for his arrival (around 11.50am, 20 minutes after the shooting) gave him an alibi. George would have needed at least 30 minutes to go home, change clothes and then walk to the centre.''

 

[davidt]

I know this must be covered somewhere but was any DNA evidence recovered from the scene?

 

[Inspector Evans]

Tbf if BG did do it he was likely wearing a long coat at the time so all he needed to do was take that off and stash it somewhere he didn't need to actually go home right away but lets say it wasn't BG what motives do you all think someone else would have for killing Jill? Obviously there is a fair few that many could say because of her work on Crimewatch and so on but I am curious what Motives others here think?

If not loner or retribution from Serbia for the television bombing (which I don't discount either and that's a very good analysis above of the situation with them in April 1999) a former spurned lover is the other possibility.

She was in a long term relationship with Bob Wheaton up to early 1997, indeed he is there with her when she was featured on "This is your life" which aired in November 1996 although watching that you can see it is awkward between them so they were on the verge of splitting up:

Simon Basil was a guy she met in South Africa? Not sure how often he came to London but had a brief thing with him and a few others before she met Alan Farthing in late 1997.

Engagement was announced in January 1999 with wedding scheduled for September 1999 so that timeline suggests it is possible someone could not cope with her getting married and so paid to end her life.