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

[dotr]

March 27, 2020
Apple trees planted at Somerset schools in memory of inspirational former resident
''Apple trees have been planted at schools across Somerset in memory of one its most inspirational former residents.

Our photos were taken earlier this month before social distancing came into force with the spread of Coronavirus.

The trees are being planted in memory of TV personality Jill Dando, who lived and studied locally before becoming Britain’s best TV journalist.''

''Jill was murdered in 1999 but in 2017 her former school, Worle Community School Academy set up a Jill Dando News Centre to get out good news, which has expanded to eight schools including The King Alfred School Academy.

Now the Jill Dando trees, supplied generously by Sanders Garden Centre in Brent Knoll, are going out across the area.''

 

[asyousay]

So i just watched a Doc on this and surely the big clue is who knew she was going home that day as she had not visited her home in weeks?

A professional hit man isn't going to stalk out a place every day for 3 weeks on the off chance she just pops home again. I don't understand why more isn't made out of the fact she didn't live there anymore so it had to be somebody who knew her plans that day.

MOO

 

[crazychris]

So i just watched a Doc on this and surely the big clue is who knew she was going home that day as she had not visited her home in weeks?

A professional hit man isn't going to stalk out a place every day for 3 weeks on the off chance she just pops home again. I don't understand why more isn't made out of the fact she didn't live there anymore so it had to be somebody who knew her plans that day.

MOO

Very good point. I've often wondered this. Either someone was very very lucky or knew her movements that day. Farthing knew but he's been cleared completely. Who else knew? Did she tell someone? Did he? Apparently, from what I've read, she was just going to check the house and pick up several weeks' mail as she hadn't been there for a while.

 

[asyousay]

Very good point. I've often wondered this. Either someone was very very lucky or knew her movements that day. Farthing knew but he's been cleared completely. Who else knew? Did she tell someone? Did he? Apparently, from what I've read, she was just going to check the house and pick up several weeks' mail as she hadn't been there for a while.

The whole case is super strange like the person seen leaving on foot which makes no sense. Why wouldn't they have a car to make a quick escape?

The fact a man in a suit seen lottering around for a hour before she came home points to somebody knowing she was going home that day.

I think a stalker did this and not some hit man as she was a tv personality and yes she did Crime Watch but she was a presenter nothing more.

 

[crazychris]

The whole case is super strange like the person seen leaving on foot which makes no sense. Why wouldn't they have a car to make a quick escape?

The fact a man in a suit seen lottering around for a hour before she came home points to somebody knowing she was going home that day.

I think a stalker did this and not some hit man as she was a tv personality and yes she did Crime Watch but she was a presenter nothing more.

I think an obsessed stalker too but not Barry George. I know there are people, including the police and Nick Ross, who still believe he did it. I think there's no doubt the killer knew she was going home that day.

 

[asyousay]

I think an obsessed stalker too but not Barry George. I know there are people, including the police and Nick Ross, who still believe he did it. I think there's no doubt the killer knew she was going home that day.

I am in two minds to Barry George as he seems way to simple but then it wasn't a difficult crime to pull off. She didn't have a chance to struggle and due to the crime scene being destroyed the person got lucky. So you actually didn't have to be that intelligent to pull it off.

IMO

 

[Tommy Turtle]

This is the case, of all the cases I follow, which frustrates me the most.

Judith Dando (Jill's cousin) said in the BBC film a couple of years ago that for Barry George to have done it, all the stars would have to be aligned. But what if they were? All the stars were aligned for the killers of Claudia Lawrence, Leah Croucher, Suzy Lamplugh, Madeline McCann, Luke Durbin, the list could go on - nobody would say for a second these murders were the work of a trained assassin, these people were killed (or I suppose in theory, abducted) by somebody who just got lucky on the day.

I don't buy into the professional hitman theory, or any of the theories like the paedophile ring, or the Kosovo connection - to me they are quite absurd.

In my mind, the only theory which makes sense is it was either somebody she knew in her past or the crazed fan / deranged stalker.

I think there were mistakes made during the investigation, but this can only be said with the benefit of hindsight, and worst of all, I think the crime scene being destroyed by the team attempting to save Jill's life made the investigation even harder, if not impossible.

In my opinion though, I think the police had a good suspect in Barry George - he ticked nearly all the boxes, and if by chance it wasn't him, it was somebody just like him.

 

[SaintGertrude]

This case remains unsolved.

I have always wondered if the perpetrator was someone who had it against Jill Dando because of her association with the Crimewatch TV programme.

There are quite a lot of Crimewatch episodes showing crime reconstructions on YT you can still watch like:-

Crimewatch U.K - February 1999 (23.02.99)
Crimewatch U.K - April 1999 (20.04.99) - Jill Dando's Last Show

This link has a picture of the e-fit of the suspect
BBC News | UK | Clues to the Dando murder

There was also this description in the Irish Times
The picture of the man - white, with dark hair and a mark on the bridge of his nose - was compiled with the help of a witness who saw him sweating heavily at a bus stop close to Ms Dando's Fulham home. He was wearing a dark suit and carrying a mobile telephone and police said he might have been working with an accomplice. As speculation continued that Ms Dando was the victim of a Serb activist, the detective leading the investigation, Det Chief Insp Hamish Campbell, said he had not ruled out any line of inquiry.
E-fit of Dando killer released

 

[dotr]

1999
BBC News | UK | Dando detectives pleased with fresh appeal

''Police have issued this e-fit of their prime suspect
The description, which was used to compile the E-fit of the suspect, matched a number of descriptions of a man seen running from the scene.
The suspect is reported to have stood at the bus stop for several minutes until the 220 bus arrived.''
The Crimewatch UK and former Holiday presenter was pictured shopping at Dixons in the Kings Mall shopping centre at Hammersmith, west London, at 1055 BST.

She went to the mall after leaving her fiancé Dr Alan Farthing's home in nearby Chiswick.
The BBC's John Brain: Images may jog people's memories
The footage shows the 37-year-old wearing a beige raincoat, red button-up jacket, black trousers and boots, and carrying a white carrier bag in her left hand, with a black handbag over her right shoulder.
She first went to buy white A4 fax paper from Ryman's in King Street and then walked to Dixons.
Ms Dando was looking for blue ink cartridge for her fax machine.
Driving her blue BMW
Police say she left without finding what she wanted, and may have gone to look for it at another shop.
She then left the mall and drove to her home in her dark blue BMW convertible.''

''Pictures were taken 40 minutes before the murder
She is known to have called someone on her mobile phone at about 11am, although the nature of her call is not considered to be relevant.
A witness believes he spotted her driving her BMW towards Fulham along Distillery Road, Hammersmith, which runs parallel to Fulham Palace Road and is known as a short cut.

But following that, there is a gap in police knowledge of Ms Dando's movements, until she drove into Gowan Avenue from the Munster Road end at about 1130 BST.

It is thought that at some point around this time she stopped at another shop to buy two fillets of Dover sole.

Officers appealed for anyone with CCTV cameras pointing towards the road along the route she is thought to have taken to contact them immediately.

Officers want to examine footage covering her presumed route, and any taken in the area where the murder suspect and a mystery Range Rover were later seen.

The three stretches they are concerned with are those between Chiswick and Hammersmith, Hammersmith and Gowan Avenue, and Gowan Avenue and Putney Bridge.''

 

[lostboy182]

Hi,

New to this forum, but have followed this case a lot in recent years.

Does anyone know why this account has not received greater exposure since it came out in 2013? Someone who literally saw the attack take place and saw "the horror in her eyes" as she was being held at gunpoint.

Has this witness been discredited?

Jill Dando murder witness comes forward to claim detectives IGNORED his evidence

 

[dotr]

Hi,

New to this forum, but have followed this case a lot in recent years.

Does anyone know why this account has not received greater exposure since it came out in 2013? Someone who literally saw the attack take place and saw "the horror in her eyes" as she was being held at gunpoint.

Has this witness been discredited?

Jill Dando murder witness comes forward to claim detectives IGNORED his evidence

Welcome to Ws lostboy182!
From your link, thanks.. rbbm.
''2013
A vital witness believed to be the last person to see Jill Dando alive moments before her doorstep murder has come forward to claim that detectives IGNORED his evidence.

Barry Lindsey today reveals he was driving past the Crimewatch presenter’s home when he saw her looking terrified as her killer confronted her.''


Mr Lindsey, now a 61-year-old grandfather, says: “I told officers they needed to find a man with olive skin, dark hair and who looked like he was of Mediterranean origin.
“But straight off, they said, ‘We are looking at a local guy over this murder. He is called Barry George’. They asked if I knew him and described what he looked like. But I told them, ‘That’s not the man I saw – I am 100 per cent sure of it’.''

''He says: “As I was driving along I glanced to my left and saw a woman arguing with a man.

“I hit the brakes, stopped in the middle of the road and looked through the back window. I will never forget the look on her face. It was one of absolute terror – her face had gone as white as the coat she was wearing.''

 

[FOXINBOX]

I did not want to look at this crime. I usually stick to "Unexplained missing" and very cold cases where time lapse & more records can sometimes be of use, but I spent a HUGE amount of hours on the Lamplugh case and when I realised just how close these incidents were geographically, the old Foxy ears began to twitch.

I'll start by saying Barry George was an oddball and a sex-pest, but IMO not the murderer of Jill Dando. And this is all just first thoughts.

Everything about this seems to have been planned. The gun is a very particular piece, deliberately manufactured by the killer or his accomplices to be virtually untraceable, but that immediately tells us that they were likely professionals.

However, one thing strikes me about the shooting - the gun isn't pressed to the base of the skull, assassination fashion, but to the left temple, for a "through and through shot", left to right, presumably preserving Jill's face. This is surely very significant. It seems that it was important to save Jill's personality and appearance. Likely, the grievance wasn't with her directly, this was a murder considered not just necessary, but essential to somebody.

 

[asyousay]

Hi,

New to this forum, but have followed this case a lot in recent years.

Does anyone know why this account has not received greater exposure since it came out in 2013? Someone who literally saw the attack take place and saw "the horror in her eyes" as she was being held at gunpoint.

Has this witness been discredited?

Jill Dando murder witness comes forward to claim detectives IGNORED his evidence

Am I the only one who calls BS?

so he saw the killer , saw she was distressed and yet drove on even though he wanted to help and then heard a gun shut but again just went about his day like nothing had happened until the evening!


It sounds completely fictional and she was shot from behind so no time for a argument or struggle.

 

[Markybug]

Am I the only one who calls BS?

so he saw the killer , saw she was distressed and yet drove on even though he wanted to help and then heard a gun shut but again just went about his day like nothing had happened until the evening!


It sounds completely fictional and she was shot from behind so no time for a argument or struggle.

And firstly contacted a “friend” reporter, rather than the police ?

 

[asyousay]

And firstly contacted a “friend” reporter, rather than the police ?

Yep and also neighbours didn’t hear a gun shot but this guy in a car down the road did. I think it was a slow news day when they interviewed him.

 

[SaintGertrude]

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

There were other killers around at the time like KV who shot his victim 9 miles away in Croydon in 1998 although the MO was not the same.
Killer who decapitated and butchered mother-of-six is freed from jail | Daily Mail Online

 

[Mrs Marple]

Had a quick read through and 2013 witness was driving a green Toyota; range rover man was identified as an antique dealer and was eliminated.

What has stuck out for me was the neighbour who went to his window shortly after the shooting and saw a white man, 6ft leaving the scene. Not a man with olive skin. Olive skin man may well have been innocently waiting for something but it is odd they have not come forward to eliminate themselves.

Second thing is that Jill made a noise that sounded like surprise. She may well have made this at the sight of someone holding a gun. If the gun was not obvious immediately and Jill was scared it begs the question why didn't she call for help? In the scenario that 2013 witness describes, there was a conversation- she was scared. Not sure if l find this credible. Although it's hard to predict reactions under these circumstances.

I am shocked she was made to lie face down and l wonder if she thought they were going to burgle her house. Now tell me where is this technique typical? I see on the TV people are made to kneel and are shot in the back of the head. What significance is this, other than preserving her face? Does this even matter when she was made to lie face down - the perp would not see her face post injury anyway ?

I'm not sure l buy into the professional hit but it seems unlikely a crazed fan would shot her. The MO for stalkers/ people who feel jilted is generally stabbing with a sharp implement. It's more hateful, painful, frenzied.

Any chance this could have been mistaken identity?

 

[Mrs Marple]

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

This has a drawing of the crime scene from BGs trial. It suggests Jill was made to crouch down rather than lay down. There was a bullet hole in her front door. This sounds much less professional than previously suggested.

'Met police experts drew up an impression of the murder scene – showing the killer’s single bullet leaving a hole in Jill’s front door eight and a half inches off the ground.'

She must have been at a right angle to the door. She may never have even seen his face.

I wonder what her plans were for the rest of the day. She bought two pieces of fish - it sounds to me as though it was dinner at hers that night- unless she had plans to meet someone for lunch. To me, that indicates she was at that house more than has been suggested.

 

[asyousay]

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

This has a drawing of the crime scene from BGs trial. It suggests Jill was made to crouch down rather than lay down. There was a bullet hole in her front door. This sounds much less professional than previously suggested.

'Met police experts drew up an impression of the murder scene – showing the killer’s single bullet leaving a hole in Jill’s front door eight and a half inches off the ground.'

She must have been at a right angle to the door. She may never have even seen his face.

I wonder what her plans were for the rest of the day. She bought two pieces of fish - it sounds to me as though it was dinner at hers that night- unless she had plans to meet someone for lunch. To me, that indicates she was at that house more than has been suggested.

She had picked up food for that night one can assume. She was simply popping home after weeks of not being there to pick up mail.

she basically wasn’t living there and was living with her partner elsewhere.

 

[jslk]

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

This has a drawing of the crime scene from BGs trial. It suggests Jill was made to crouch down rather than lay down. There was a bullet hole in her front door. This sounds much less professional than previously suggested.

'Met police experts drew up an impression of the murder scene – showing the killer’s single bullet leaving a hole in Jill’s front door eight and a half inches off the ground.'

She must have been at a right angle to the door. She may never have even seen his face.

I wonder what her plans were for the rest of the day. She bought two pieces of fish - it sounds to me as though it was dinner at hers that night- unless she had plans to meet someone for lunch. To me, that indicates she was at that house more than has been suggested.

The witness account of a sound of surprise and conversation though implies she did see his face. It's a very odd set of circumstances to account for.