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

[rvlvr]

The last time she was captured on CCTV was 11.10am.

Thinking a bit more about this last night (too hot to sleep), it’s usually said that police concluded that JD ‘wasn’t being followed’. But this is what detective constable David Standley said at BG’s first trial:

“There is video footage available of Ms Dando alive between 10.18am and 11.10am. My conclusion is the victim was not being followed at any stage in that footage.”

So they ruled out her being followed *only up until 11.10am* - 20 minutes before the shooting. That final, 11.10am CCTV footage was on Manbre Road, which is a fair way from her home. So there’s ample time and distance here for her to have been spotted and followed, imo.

 

[Inspector Evans]

Thinking a bit more about this last night (too hot to sleep), it’s usually said that police concluded that JD ‘wasn’t being followed’. But this is what detective constable David Standley said at BG’s first trial:

“There is video footage available of Ms Dando alive between 10.18am and 11.10am. My conclusion is the victim was not being followed at any stage in that footage.”

So they ruled out her being followed *only up until 11.10am* - 20 minutes before the shooting. That final, 11.10am CCTV footage was on Manbre Road, which is a fair way from her home. So there’s ample time and distance here for her to have been spotted and followed, imo.

From all the endless timelines of her final hours wasn't there a rumour someone matching the description of person seen in Gowan Avenue that morning had been in the Fishmongers on Fulham Road.

That was her final place to visit before returning to her own home. I presume it wasn't that big and so it would be easy to recall who else was in around the time of her visit.

I think the report said someone was in the shop on a phone but didn't actually purchase any fish which would be unusual.

Maybe indicates her phone was hacked in some way for intelligence to be gained she was only half a mile from her house at that point. Or someone completely unconnected to the case of course.

She had to park her BMW a distance away from Copes Fishmongers so that would also give whoever was in Gowan Avenue ready to shoot time to compose themselves and get ready.

 

[rvlvr]

I think the report said someone was in the shop on a phone but didn't actually purchase any fish which would be unusual.

I’m certain I’ve read that too but couldn’t find a source for it last night. It’s a little unusual, sure, but there are obviously perfectly innocent explanations too.

I’ve not seen Dancer Road mentioned anywhere else other than in the Daily Mail article I linked to yesterday, so I’d say it’s worth taking with a pinch of salt, but it is worth noting that Dancer Road runs parallel to Crookham Road, where BG lived. Is it possible BG saw JD at this point? Could he have been the man in the fishmonger’s even? Perhaps. But if he’d been harbouring a desire to kill her - and knowing how unlikely it was that they’d have crossed paths in recent weeks - here was a huge opportunity. It’s a really busy area though, so maybe he doesn’t fancy it, and perhaps he doesn’t have his gun to hand either.

But then, he can’t be sure where JD’s going to go after this, so can he afford to bottle it? And following on foot as she drives away isn’t doable - a 3 minute drive to Gowan Avenue turns into an 8 minute walk, according to Google. He could run, I suppose, but still, with the call that was taken by JD occurring at 11.23, and the untaken next call occurring at 11.31, the timing is really tight, even more so if he has to retrieve his weapon first.

The man in glasses seen standing on the corner of Gowan Avenue and Munster Road at 11.29 was perfectly placed to intercept her though, if he’d had some kind of heads up. He was described as appearing ‘agitated’ - did he know JD was coming at this point?

 

[Inspector Evans]

The 11.29am sighting has to be the killer imo, far too close to the location of shooting not to have been the one who committed it as it would take about 20 seconds to walk down to the gate once he saw JD turn into the road and park up.

 

[dotr]

2019

Jill Dando's final moments revealed before being found dead by neighbour

The telly presenter was found murdered on her doorstep clutching her house keys 20 years ago this month

www.mirror.co.uk

The telly star was caught on CCTV picking up some bits at Dixons n in the Kings Mall shopping centre in Hammersmith(Image: Press Association)

''The CrimeWatch host left the house around 10am and drove her blue BMW convertible to a garage on the A4, where she picked up petrol and milk.''
''Dando drove on to Hammersmith in West London to park up and visit the Kings Mall shopping centre.
It was revealed that she visited three shops, Ryman's, Dixons and The Link to pick up fax paper and other stationary bits before leaving the mall at 11:01am.

Her car was then seen heading back towards Fulham and reports suggest that thorough analysis of the CCTV images of her vehicle showed no evidence to prove she was being followed.''
''Before heading to her house, the TV star went to pick up some Dover sole at Copes fishmongers on Fulham Road which she was planning to cook for her fiance for dinner that night.

Phone records showed she made four calls while she was out at the shops, dialling a friend, 192 directory inquiries and her agent's assistant''.
''The last call is said to have been placed at 11:23am, when she is believed to have been still in the fish shop and less than 10 minutes before her presumed time of death.''

 

[rvlvr]

Obviously we have to treat witness sightings with caution but two things have always stood out to me with that 11.29am sighting: firstly, the timing is *very* specific, compared to so many that take place ‘around about’ or ‘at approximately’ a certain time, and secondly the witness is adamant that this man was wearing glasses - she “couldn’t help but keep looking” at them.

A pretty large amount of time in the CW reconstruction is devoted to the sighting of ‘bus stop man’ too. Whoever this man was, he really piqued the interest of the witness, who describes their encounter in great detail: ‘gave the impression of being a policeman’, ‘collar wet from sweat’, ‘mark on the bridge’ of his ‘slightly foreign looking nose’ as if ‘he’d been wearing glasses’, he let two buses go by.

We know that bus stop man has never been traced. AFAWK, the man on the corner of GA has never been identified either. They may even have been the same individual. For me, it’s a pretty big gap in the investigation.

Her car was then seen heading back towards Fulham and reports suggest that thorough analysis of the CCTV images of her vehicle showed no evidence to prove she was being followed.

Yep, no evidence of her being followed could be gleaned from analysis of the CCTV footage - but that footage ends at 11.10am. Twenty minutes is a long time, her movements during this period are known but we just can’t be sure she wasn’t being followed while she made them.

 

[Kasparthecat1]

"We know that bus stop man has never been traced. AFAWK, the man on the corner of GA has never been identified either. They may even have been the same individual. For me, it’s a pretty big gap in the investigation."

See, I thought that Bus Stop Man had been identified as Running Man who had come forward (I think I saw this on the Netflix doc). Apologies if repeating stuff already posted. Iirc the E-Fit was generated from this sighting at the Bus stop?

I was also struck by the amount of detail Bus Stop witness gave. He did not, though, report that Bus Stop Man was unusually tall, which Running Man was. Interesting.

 

[rvlvr]

See, I thought that Bus Stop Man had been identified as Running Man who had come forward (I think I saw this on the Netflix doc).

It’s often assumed they’re the same person but it appears now that while JS came forward and was identified as ‘running man’ (I’d love to know how police verified his story - it must’ve checked out but even Hamish Campbell said the guy was a fantasist with a history of inserting himself into investigations) he’s not ‘bus stop man’. No need to apologise, I’m spending a lot of time on trains at the moment and should probably stop posting so much - I posted this on Saturday but probably buried it with follow ups:

And we also know a witness observed a man, sweating profusely and standing at a bus stop on Fulham Palace Road, with a mark on the bridge of his “slightly foreign looking” nose as if he’d been wearing glasses. (Interestingly, a witness sighting shown on the Crimewatch reconstruction placed a man wearing glasses only 200 yards from JD’s home just minutes before she was shot.)

‘Running man’ and ‘bus stop man’ are often said to be one and the same: JS. But an article in the Mirror from earlier this year stated that JS had “falsely claimed” to be bus stop man. Bus stop man is described as being around 5 feet 11 inches tall, while JS’s height was reported by the Mirror as being 6 feet 3 inches. Based on footage of an interview he gave to the media in 1999, JS isn’t a man that you’d mistake for a person shorter than 6 feet, imo. Indeed, the aforementioned Mirror article claims police “discounted the lanky liar” as being bus stop man. (Despite this, the judge when summing up at BG’s first trial wrongly discounted this man as potentially being JD’s killer, and the trial judge at BG’s 2002 appeal repeated the mistake.)

 

[dotr]

1999

Dando killer seen getting on a bus

THE PRIME suspect for the murder of Jill Dando was seen "running for his life" minutes after the television presenter was shot dead, police disclosed yesterday.

www.independent.co.uk

''He told Fulham Coroner's Court that the new information was an "important" development and confirmed that the man seen on the number 74 bus was the police's "prime suspect". Asked the value of the new descriptions, he replied: "It's tracking the man from the crime scene and it gives some indication of perhaps his background and how the escape was planned."

One possible explanation for the bus journey was that the suspect was a hitman who had been dropped off close to Miss Dando's house by an accomplice in a Range Rover seen near by, but after the killing missed his rendezvous with the getaway car. Panicking, he ran to the main road and jumped on a bus. He then telephoned the man in the Range Rover who picked him up at the Tube station.''

BBC News | UK | Dando suspect 'took bus'

''The bus lead came as police made contact with several people who were standing at a bus-stop minutes after the shooting and near where her suspected killer was spotted.
Speaking after the adjournment, Mr Campbell said the suspect was seen by a bus driver''

Police have issued this E-fit of their prime suspect

 

[TheRockingRev]

I don't know the exact geography of the area, but could her road be accessed from both ends easily. By this I mean I live in a road that is very easily accessible off the main road at one end, but I have to go through quite a few roads if I come in from the opposite way, which means it's easier to actually go a bit further and come in from the main road instead.
If this was the case was someone waiting for her, parked up, whilst someone was on foot ready to do the deed, both connected by mobile phones. Of course this would rely a lot on knowing her movements on the day, but that's not out of the question, and would point to a more professional hit with a multi-man team.

 

[rvlvr]

Gowan Avenue’s a typical urban ‘side street’, bookended by two busy roads - Munster Road to the northeast and Fulham Palace Road to the southwest. Knowing what we do about her movements that morning, it’s highly likely JD would’ve driven into GA from the Munster Road end. Her killer exited on foot towards Fulham Palace Road but he might not have made it that far - there are two roads, one heading roughly north and the other roughly south, that branch off GA that he could’ve turned down.

She was last seen on CCTV at 11.10am about a mile from GA but she took a longer route home in order to visit a fishmonger’s. Police seem very sure that she hadn’t been followed up until 11.10 but, in the 20 minutes it took her to pick up some fish then reach her front door, IMO it’s perfectly feasible that someone - whether that was BG, or another individual, or even a duo/team - sighted her, then made moves.

Police did explore the duo/team angle - Hamish Campbell mentions the possibility of a ‘lookout’ in the Crimewatch reconstruction, I think. Witnesses reported seeing a man/men talking on mobile phones that morning, which is obviously not a crime or particularly weird in and of itself, but also, were they actually mobile phones?

In September 1999 the Guardian reported that mobile phone companies were “helping detectives identify the 10,000 calls which were made in the area around Ms Dando's home in Fulham, west London, on the morning she died.” It’s definitely not my area of expertise - I wonder how easy would it have been to trace these calls when the technology of the day was more primitive? JMO - her voicemails were surely being intercepted by the papers at the time; was knowledge of this practice confined to the hacks and the private investigators they employed?

Secret of Dando murder 'lies in her last two years'

Detectives hunting Jill Dando's murderer still have 80 suspects to question and believe the secret to her killing lies in the last two years of her life.

www.theguardian.com

 

[dotr]

Wondering if dress fittings at the bridal shop usually coincided with JD dropping by her old residence for one reason or another?
If so, how often did JD visit the shop and did it happen on any particular schedule, one that a perp could watch out for, and to presume a home visit would follow? speculation.

 

[rvlvr]

It does seem like the wedding preparations were in full swing at this point, presumably her voicemail inbox would’ve been pretty full with people calling about appointments and the like on top of everything else.

But this Daily Mail article suggests that the bridal shop appt was “the first fitting”, and that she’d spent much of her recent time - “months” according to the Mail - “away filming Holiday and Antiques Inspectors.” So I don’t think there was really a pattern to her movements. She’d reportedly visited Gowan Avenue on the Saturday to pick up post and if her fax machine hadn’t been out of ink that day it’s highly likely she wouldn’t have needed to make a return to GA on the Monday. Someone’s patience paid off, or they got very lucky. Or maybe both.

 

[rvlvr]

Re BG being seen that morning, the sighting I’ve always thought was most likely to be BG is the one made by the postman. I can well imagine him wandering the streets of Fulham, walking by JD’s house (he clearly would’ve known where she lived, imo), and upon seeing the postman approach the door lingering to see if she opened it.

I’ve recently been reading Michelle Diskin’s book about the case. Obviously as Barry George’s sister there’s a particular slant but there are lots of interesting tidbits regarding the evidence, in particular the witness sightings and especially the sighting by the postman, so I thought it was worth expanding on my previous post.

Having worked at Royal Mail I’ve known a few posties and have generally found them to be very observant, with a good grasp of time and place during their rounds. Coupled with the timing and location of the postman’s sighting, directly outside Jill Dando’s house around 90 minutes before her murder, it’s always seemed very significant to me.

What I hadn’t considered is that as a regular roamer of the streets BG was familiar not only to lots of locals, but also to folk who worked in the area - including, it turns out, our postman.

According to Diskin, the postman was one of many witnesses who attended a video identity ‘parade’, and said “he recognised [BG] but not as the person he had seen in the street on the 26th April 1999.” If this man was the killer, then it wasn’t BG.

I think a lot of the other sightings are red herrings - trilby hat man, for instance. And I’m really not convinced by some of the supposed ‘partial sightings’ of BG, especially so after doing a bit more digging and finding out that a detective on the case had an affair with one of the witnesses, CdR!

Said detective features in Diskin’s book (though she mistakenly refers to him as a PC rather than a DC), this section that I’ve attached is utterly staggering. It’s absurd, imo, that any of these ‘partial sightings’ were allowed to be presented to the jury.

 

[Klclevi]

I’ve recently been reading Michelle Diskin’s book about the case. Obviously as Barry George’s sister there’s a particular slant but there are lots of interesting tidbits regarding the evidence, in particular the witness sightings and especially the sighting by the postman, so I thought it was worth expanding on my previous post.

Having worked at Royal Mail I’ve known a few posties and have generally found them to be very observant, with a good grasp of time and place during their rounds. Coupled with the timing and location of the postman’s sighting, directly outside Jill Dando’s house around 90 minutes before her murder, it’s always seemed very significant to me.

What I hadn’t considered is that as a regular roamer of the streets BG was familiar not only to lots of locals, but also to folk who worked in the area - including, it turns out, our postman.

According to Diskin, the postman was one of many witnesses who attended a video identity ‘parade’, and said “he recognised [BG] but not as the person he had seen in the street on the 26th April 1999.” If this man was the killer, then it wasn’t BG.



Said detective features in Diskin’s book (though she mistakenly refers to him as a PC rather than a DC), this section that I’ve attached is utterly staggering. It’s absurd, imo, that any of these ‘partial sightings’ were allowed to be presented to the jury.

Thanks rvlvr - I did not know his sister had written a book - have ordered it off Amazon tonight.

 

[rvlvr]

Thanks rvlvr - I did not know his sister had written a book - have ordered it off Amazon tonight.

There’s obviously a particular bias, I feel she doesn’t spend nearly enough time talking about BG’s criminal convictions, she doesn’t excuse his behaviour but for me there’s not enough condemnation of it either.

That said her perspective on how the justice system works and how the media behaves towards people who are thrust into situations they’re absolutely not equipped to deal with is incredibly interesting, and some of what she reveals regarding the evidence in this case is staggering.

 

[Kasparthecat1]

Newish documentary uploaded to YouTube in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.

 

[rvlvr]

I’ve also been reading Brian Cathcart’s book ‘Jill Dando: Her Life and Death’. I really like contemporaneous accounts of crimes, this one came out shortly after BG’s first trial and is well researched and written.

I’d long wondered when and where the photo of George with his ‘gun’ was taken, given how dated everything looks. I’d always assumed it was very likely to have been at Stanhope Gardens in Kensington, where George stayed in the mid-1980s after being released from prison, where it’s said he would “regularly dress in combat gear and carry [his] gun around the hotel.”

His behaviour around this time was definitely unsettling, but I’ve always found it curious that the prosecution couldn’t call upon anyone to attest that George had possessed a gun - imitation or otherwise - after this period, and certainly not at any point in the run up to Jill Dando’s murder. This passage in Cathcart’s book makes it clear as to why:

On guns, however, he was far less consistent. He began by categorically denying that he had ever owned any of the guns listed in the 'Steve Majors' notebook and when he was shown the two photographs - one with the Heckler & Koch and the other with the Bruni - he claimed at first that they were not of him. Only gradually and under pressure did he give ground. Yes, that was him in the photographs. Yes, he had bought both of the weapons that could be seen, although he stressed that neither was a real gun - the submachine gun was a plastic replica and the Bruni fired only blanks. Pressed about whether he still owned them he said no and suggested that somebody called David Dobbins would know their whereabouts. Hearing this, detectives leapt into action and even as George was still being questioned Dobbins was traced and interviewed. He told a simple and surprising story: as a teenager in the mid-1980s he had known Barry George and seen his two guns; in fact he had handled them when George was showing them off once, at a time when they were both living in the hostel in Stanhope Gardens. Then a couple of years later, after George moved to Fulham, Dobbins and some friends broke into the Crookham Road flat and stole both guns. Soon afterwards the Bruni broke and was given away, while the Heckler & Koch ended up in a children's toybox. George, in other words, had not seen either weapon since about 1987.

The weight that even today is placed on this photograph as ‘evidence’ really is remarkable.

 

[SteveH]

"We know that bus stop man has never been traced. AFAWK, the man on the corner of GA has never been identified either. They may even have been the same individual. For me, it’s a pretty big gap in the investigation."

See, I thought that Bus Stop Man had been identified as Running Man who had come forward (I think I saw this on the Netflix doc). Apologies if repeating stuff already posted. Iirc the E-Fit was generated from this sighting at the Bus stop?

I was also struck by the amount of detail Bus Stop witness gave. He did not, though, report that Bus Stop Man was unusually tall, which Running Man was. Interesting.

James Shackleton, who was the first person arrested after the murder, claimed he was the "sweating man", but was an obvious fantasist.

Back in 1999 Shackleton spoke to the Mirror on May 29:

"THE man arrested in the Jill Dando murder inquiry said last night that pals told him he looked like the police E-fit of the prime suspect.

But funeral director James Shackleton declared: “I did not kill her. I want it known that I have nothing to do with it.”

He was released without charge and police confirmed he was not a main suspect.

They had been tipped off that Shackleton, 43, might have been the man witnesses saw sweating heavily at a bus stop near the murder scene in Fulham, west London.

He accepted he was in the area at the time – collecting wood to use for coffins.

And he said he might have been sweating “because I was running away from a man who I thought wanted to have sex with me”

Shackleton, who lives alone in west London, was arrested on Thursday and held overnight for questioning.

He told The Mirror: “I have never met Jill Dando. I have only seen her on television, I definitely didn’t stalk her or anything like that.”

Shackleton, who specialises in low-cost funerals for the poor, described his activities on the day almost five weeks ago that the TV presenter was shot on her doorstep.

He said: “I could have been just streets away from her house. I may well have walked quickly down her road.

“And I might have been sweating because I was running away from a man who I thought wanted to have sex with me.

“My hearse was parked up nearby, because I was collecting wood to build coffins with.

“I needed to go to the toilet so I went to the nearby park, Bishop’s Park.

“A man in there acted very threateningly towards me so I ran away to escape from him.”

Shackleton, who uses a private ambulance as a hearse, added: “People have joked with me at work that I look like the guy in the E-fit.

“But I never thought anyone would take it so seriously.”

Shackleton, who has a pet mongrel Cato, said police had taken away a substantial amount of his possessions.

His fax machine, phone book, some clothes, his building society book,
private letters and tapes and bank statements had all been confiscated."

On 30 May the Sunday Mirror reported:

"THIS is the gay funeral director who was arrested in the Jill Dando murder inquiry.

James Shackleton, the self-styled Earl of Kensington, has been on a murder charge before and quizzed over the Wimbledon Common stabbing of Rachel Nickell and a series of gay killings. Last night he said: “I suppose I must have one of those guilty faces.

“I had nothing to do with any of them, especially Jill Dando’s. I suppose once you’ve been accused of murder the police look you up just to rule you out.

“They have a job to do, I don’t bear them any grudges. The people I feel sorry for is my parents.

“What must they think to keep seeing their son pulled in by the police for questioning about murders?”

Shackleton has also called himself the Duke of Salisbury and Lord James Shackleton. In fact he runs the family undertaking business, founded in 1703, from his home in Shepherds Bush, west London.

He said: “I’ve been to lots of society events at Hampton Court and Lambeth Palace.

“I’ve never actually met the Queen but she was at some of these functions. So was Princess Margaret and her son, Viscount Linley.

“I’ve dined out on the title at The Ivy restaurant in London several times.”

Shackleton, 43, spent two days with police this week. He was released without charge on Friday night on two weeks’ bail.

He says he was near the murder scene in Fulham, west London, collecting wood to make coffins on the day Jill Dando was shot dead on her doorstep five weeks ago.

Police were tipped off that he could have been the man seen sweating at a bus stop.

“I was really sweaty and dressed in a suit,” he said. “I was the police’s number one suspect, now that’s been ruled out they haven’t got anything.”

A former rent boy, Shackleton was accused of stabbing a gay man in the neck with a broken bottle in 1986. Last-minute DNA evidence cleared him. He once tried to con his way into a prison job so that he could talk to mass murderer Jeremy Bamber.

He has also had his flat raided by police because of alleged involvement with child .

A former colleague, Richard Gibbs who now lives in Lincoln, said: “James lives in a fantasy world. When I heard he’d been arrested for the Dando killing I thought he was trying to get attention.."

The original articles are no longer available at the Free Library but the below is:

"THE man arrested over the Jill Dando murder told The Mirror last night: "I didn't kill her."

Funeral director James Shackleton was held for questioning on Thursday morning and released without charge last night. Police confirmed he was not a key suspect.

Shackleton, 43, told police he was in the area of the murder at the time. They were tipped off that he might have been the man seen sweating heavily at a bus stop nearby.

But he said: "I am not the killer. I want it known that I have nothing to do with it."

Shackleton said he was stopped by two detectives outside his West London flat and taken to Kensington police station. He added: "I thought by the way they were treating me I was the main suspect.

"I could have been just streets away from her house. I may well have walked quickly down her road. And I might have been sweating because I was running away from a man I thought wanted sex with me.""

JILL: MAN ARRESTED; I didn't kill her, freed suspect tells Mirror. - Free Online Library

Free Online Library: JILL: MAN ARRESTED; I didn't kill her, freed suspect tells Mirror.(News) by "The Mirror (London, England)"; General interest

www.thefreelibrary.com

I found the other two quotes, after much searching, in the comments section of a blog, Aangirfan.

From a Mirror article 26 September 2023:

"A witness claimed he saw a man running across the road and he stopped at the bus stop. And he was sweating," DCI Campbell says. The witness later described him so officers could create an e-fit, which was shown to press and the general public. "A man phoned the enquiry room and stated that he looked like the e-fit," DCI Campbell explained. "He didn't say that he was responsible for killing Jill, but he placed himself at the crime scene, so he was a person of interest."

Undertaker James Shackleton said that "he had run out of the park because he was being chased by a man and he went to the bus stop". But DCI Campbell later discovered: "Mr Shackleton was identified as somebody who was a liar, had previously thought to involve himself in other murder investigations. He was bailed out of the police station and then eliminated from the inquiry."

3 unanswered questions from Jill Dando's murder including mystery sweating man

On the day of Jill Dando's death in 1999, when the BBC presenter was shot dead outside of her front door, key witness reports formed the beginning of the investigation

www.mirror.co.uk

Then, as rvlvr states on 12 July this year: "‘Running man’ and ‘bus stop man’ are often said to be one and the same: JS. But an article in the Mirror from earlier this year stated that JS had “falsely claimed” to be bus stop man. Bus stop man is described as being around 5 feet 11 inches tall, while JS’s height was reported by the Mirror as being 6 feet 3 inches. Based on footage of an interview he gave to the media in 1999, JS isn’t a man that you’d mistake for a person shorter than 6 feet, imo."

Let's not forget however that the Mirror is pulling out all the stops to push the silly Serb hitman theory and in that cause are joining those who have in consequence to indulge themselves in rubbishing the police investigation and the first trial. The idea that the van driver who saw "running man" on Fulham Palace Road after 20+ years can be "80% sure" that the man was Milorad Ulemek is preposterous. Of course the paper couldn't resist mentioning fellow witness labrador owner/bookie customer "Ken" is "a lifelong Mirror reader". If anyone thinks someone's memories of a person they saw fleetingly more than two decades ago are that good, well! Words fail me.

The "Earl of Kensington", James Shackleton. is supposedly Ernest Shackleton's grandson - ha ha!

Channel presenter oleary left joins earl kensington james shackleton hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy

Find the perfect channel presenter oleary left joins earl kensington james shackleton stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Available for both RF and RM licensing.

www.alamy.com

See also this video - I concur with the uploader that BG is very probably Dando's killer but others will disagree:

The artist's impression that was issued based on the sighting of the "sweating man" at the bus stop (see below) is so close to Alastair Campbell in appearance in my opinion that if I'd been asked by the cops at the time if I'd seen the man before I'd have said yes, it's patently Campbell. Don't think he killed Jill Dando though!

He WAS however quizzed by police about the murder after the Guardian claimed "he had joked about being a former lover of Dando". He did tell the Times though that he was a "friend" of hers.

. Blair man quizzed over murder | News24

Now he's pushing the ludicrous Serb gunman theory!

Alistair Campbell's plea to police over new evidence in Jill Dando case

Newsreader and journalist Jill Dando, described by Alastair Campbell as 'easily one of the nicest people on TV', was shot dead outside her home in Fulham, west London

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[SteveH]

BG was perfectly capable of pulling off a daring "stunt":

"Discredited as a compulsive liar, George travelled north to impress a new audience. In September 1981, he took part in his extraordinary roller-skating leap at Nottingham's Long Eaton Stadium in a desperate desire to win 15 minutes of fame. He called himself Steve Majors - after Lee Majors in TV's Six Million Dollar Man - and concocted a convincing fake CV of stuntman credits claiming he had starred in Rollerball and Who Dares Wins.

Sponsor Alan Warriner, of Tubitt Scaffolding, in Hucknall, Notts, remembered: "The lad had convinced me he could do it. He showed me photos supposedly of him doing stunts - and I honestly believed it was him. "On the day the conditions were so bad I begged him not to do the jump I thought he'd die up there.

But he insisted, saying he had his crowd to please. "When he finally got up on the ramp, he almost lost his nerve. We were all terrified. But he just pushed himself off knowing that there was no going back." Leaning forward, George rattled down the 40ft ramp and flew through the air yelling in panic and pure terror as he took off. It took just a second to clear the buses before he landed hard, falling on one knee at 60mph."

So he had the enterprise and initiative to propose an audacious performance in front of a large crowd, the social skills to sweet talk the organiser into staging it, the intelligence and cunning to concoct a fake CV and the courage to undertake a dangerous adventure.

Hardly the pathetic dimwit many make him out to be - including himself.

This was AFTER his first conviction!

"In 1980 George had his first brush with the law when he was convicted of impersonating a police officer after trying to con his way into a woman's Surrey home using a home-made warrant card.

Going under the name of Paul Gadd he asked for five similar offences to be considered. Outside Kingston Court he posed for the local press in an ill-fitting sequin jacket. He told bemused reporters after being remanded for psychiatric reports: "It's been suggested I'm Gary Glitter's cousin. In fact, I'm the cousin of Jeff Lynne of ELO."

Revelling in the new-found attention, he started dreaming up elaborate ways to get back in the news. Soon afterwards, still calling himself Paul Gadd, he walked into the offices of the West London Observer and announced he had won the British Karate Championship by chopping through 47 slate tiles.

WEARING a beard and moustache and with his hair cut in Japanese style, he posed proudly with a two-foot trophy. A month later, the paper exposed him as a fake. The trophy was stolen, the competition had not even taken place and his tile-chopping feat was physically impossible."

See the below Mirror article from 2001 for more - lots more - of the same:

Life for Jill killer: Killer Chameleon; Barry George; Paul Gadd; Steve Majors; Thomas Palmer; Barry Bulsara. - Free Online Library

Free Online Library: Life for Jill killer: Killer Chameleon; Barry George; Paul Gadd; Steve Majors; Thomas Palmer; Barry Bulsara.(News) by "The Mirror (London, England)"; General interest

www.thefreelibrary.com

Today the Mirror is pedalling a half-witted conspiracy theory. "You can't get the staff these days" is a cliché that springs to mind. Where are the seasoned crime reporters and proper investigative journalists? You can barely tell the current "journalists" from the medias influencers they seem so keen to ape. See the recent Mirror video on the case on YouTube for confirmation. Ugh!