Jill Dando- A Murder never forgotten

Jill Dando- A Murder Never Forgotten

The 26th of April is a date rooted in a lot of peoples mind. It may be your birthday or wedding anniversary. Or it may be a date when you lost a loved one. Well, this date in 1999 became a date etched into the own fabric of the BBC. It was the date where they lost one of their 'Golden Girls' Jill Dando. Not through Cancer or another illness. Not through a car crash or a tragic accident. No. She was murdered on her doorstep in Fulham at about 11.30am.

You may ask why I am doing a blog about this subject. Well, my reasoning is clear. 18 months previous to Jill's murder, the Death of Princess Diana occurred. The whole country was swamped with grief. Elton John sang a nice song and the accusations went flying about from Prince Phillip and MI5 to the whole Shacked up with Elvis in South America. ( I personally love that idea. But my viewpoint was that a very fast car went into a tunnel at a dangerous speed which the former was known for crashes). However, the point of this was for me as a Six-year-old at the time I have no memory of any of this. The only memory I have is watching the tv and seeing news coverage of Diana's body being brought back.

However, by 1999 I was now Eight. Okay, I might not have seen the initial news coverage but I remember the impact of it. I remember the Nice lady from the Holiday programme no longer presenting the show (okay a moot point since Jill had quit the show anyway but still...). Her Murder (Note the word Murder here. I will not use the word death.) stunned the UK. I remember seeing the newspapers with her all over them. I remember the trial in 2001. Okay, I was old enough to see Barry George released in 2007 (after he was WRONGFULLY convicted of her murder) but still, this case has fascinated me since. 

Jill Dando may not be a Familiar name to you though. You might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well at the time she was the Fiona Bruce of her day. She was the BBC's golden girl who presented Crimewatch, The Six O Clock news and the Holiday programme to add Three feathers to her cap. She was due to co-host the TV Baftas in may 1999 and front the BBC's millennium coverage. The woman was everywhere. What's more, she was bright, Bubbly and very easy to warm too. I have no doubt that has she lived she would be the presenter of Antiques Roadshow now. She was due to be Married in September to Alan Farthing a gynaecologist.

So her Murder. This came completely out of the Blue. Jill was confronted by a man on her doorstep in quiet Fulham in London (so there were no witnesses at all) at about 11.30am on the 26th Of April 1999. He simply put a gun to her head and shot her killing her Probably instantly. Her body was discovered by a neighbour Ten minutes later and by 12.30 despite all efforts by hospital staff, there was nothing anyone could do.

The police started an instant murder investigation but there were Four major issues. Firstly and this is the biggest issue they had. They did not have a single witness who saw the event take place. Some neighbours saw a man briskly walking or running away. However there were conflicting stories about different men seen, land Rovers see in the areas which the different men were seen getting into and another man seen sweating at a bus stop. Secondly, they had no Murder weapon. Obviously, this was a gun but no gun no fingerprints, therefore, no evidence. Thirdly and this was a major obstacle was the public interest in this case. Jill's murder was the first real high profile murder of a British celebrity to happen in the UK for as long as people could remember. Even Diana's death took place in France. So the public interest in the case was extremely high and the police were put under pressure to find the Killers. Probably too much pressure which lead to Barry George being convicted (after the evidence of a fragment of a bullet was found in his pocket.that was it.  no just no) 

The Fourth and Final issue was Motive. I have a list of motives that the police had at the time and will give my verdict on each of them

• A jealous ex-boyfriend or an unknown lover had killed Dando.  The Police after questioning all of her Boyfriends ruled it out.
• That somebody had hired an assassin to murder Dando as revenge for their being convicted as a result of evidence garnered by Crimewatch viewers. Very Unlikely. Personally, Nick Ross (Her co-presenter) would have been more at Risk than Jill
• The possibility that a deranged fan may have killed Dando after she had rejected his approaches. Dando’s brother, Nigel, informed detectives that she had become concerned by “some guy pestering her” in the few days before her death, but this was ruled out by detectives. I actually agree with that seeing that her Murder was very professional.
• A case of mistaken identity. No. they knew that was Jill Dando.
• A theory that Dando had investigated a paedophile ring at the BBC during the mid-1990s and had handed a dossier containing her findings to BBC management, purportedly prompting a revenge attack. Again very Unlikely.

So quite a few theories there. However, the one I now favour is this one

• Various theories relating to Bosnian-Serb or Yugoslav groups in retaliation for NATO actions against media outlets and her appeals for aid during the Yugoslav Wars.

This seems now highly likely for three reasons. One- Jill did a Kosovo appeal that Raised nearly £6 million pounds. That may have angered a Yugoslav group. Two. A few days before her death the main tv Studios in Serbia were bombed by Nato Forces. This killed 16 people and may have prompted retaliation like this. Thirdly and this is the most damming evidence. A well-known Journalist was murdered outside his home in Belgrade in exactly the same way Jill was. This was a professional killing. No question about it.

Barry George a man with mental illness was tried and convicted for Jill's Murder but after an appeal was freed. To this day Jill's Murder has still not been solved and I doubt twenty years on it ever will. her Murder was the first High profile death I remember and it is a crying shame that she never got to fulfill her life.