Who murdered Jill Dando? Five theories on the killing

Police remain unable to solve the mystery
of the Crimewatch presenter’s death

In Depth

The former Crimewatch reporter was killed by a single
bullet fired at her head as she reached the front door of her house
in west London, on 26 April 1999.

Barry George, a convicted sex offender, was found guilty of
killing the 37-year-old presenter in July 2001, but was acquitted
six years later after gun residue found on him during the forensic
evidence was discredited.

The case is still open, but a 2013 review of the police
case by private forensic science firm LGC apparently
concluded: “We have conducted a lengthy and highly detailed
scientific investigation of this case… At the end of all this,
our efforts have not directly assisted with the identification of
Dando’s killer.”

Here are five theories about Dando’s death.

Gangland hit

The nature of the shooting “appeared to have all the hallmarks
of a professional gangland hit”, says the Daily Mirror. “An intelligence report
named two men from one of London’s most prominent crime
families.”

In a 2017 ITV programme, an anonymous hitman told Mark
Williams-Thomas, an ex-Surrey Police officer who is now an
investigative journalist, that he knows the criminal behind the
killing but wouldn’t name him for fear of recriminations.

The hitman was shown a list of 100 names that
Williams-Thomas had been given by police investigating Dando’s
murder.

“There are names here that I recognise, and there’s one in
particular that stands out to me,” the hitman said. “But
I wouldn’t identify that person because it’s very dangerous. I’m
sure that they would come after me.”

In an interview on This Morning, Williams-Thomas added:
“I am very confident the killer or the person who organised the
killing is in that inquiry team database.”

Serbian hitman

In 2012, the widow of Slavko Curuvija, a prominent Serbian
journalist, said that Dando became a target for Serbian warlords
after presenting a BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan-Albanian
refugees driven from their homes by militias backing Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic.

Branka Prpa was with Curuvija when he was shot dead outside
their home in Belgrade just 15 days before Dando was killed.
According to the Daily Telegraph Prpa said: “I think there is a
link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both
executed.”

Detectives investigating Dando’s murder also received a tip-off
saying Serbian criminals based in the UK carried out the hit under
orders from Milosevic. According to the Mirror, a message filed to
detectives said: “Dando was murdered by a Serb hitman in revenge
for the attack that Nato mounted.”

IRA

Another theory is that senior paramilitaries from the IRA chose
Dando as a target “because of her links to police through her work
presenting Crimewatch”, says the Mirror.

A letter was found admitting to the killing among the 52,000
documents that were made available to Barry George’s legal team
during his second trial.

In it Wayne Aird, who was serving life for killing a man two
months after Dando’s death, confessed to being part of an
“establishment cover-up” and said that the IRA was being allowed to
get away with the murder to avoid harming the Northern Ireland
peace process.

Paedophile ring

In 2014, a former colleague of Dando’s came forward and said she
was trying to expose a VIP paedophile ring just months before her
death.

According to the Daily Express, the source said Dando raised
concerns to her BBC bosses about allegations of sexual abuse
happening at the corporation.

The source said: “I don’t recall the names of all the stars now
and don’t want to implicate anyone, but Jill said they were
surprisingly big names.”

But the BBC has said that it had seen nothing to substantiate
these claims.

Obsessed stalker

The theory first adopted by police was that of a crazed
opportunistic individual.

The only certain sighting of the killer – a six-foot-tall (183
cm) white man aged around 40 – came from Richard Hughes, Dando’s
neighbour, who said he heard a surprised cry from the presenter,
“like someone greeting a friend”, but heard no gunshot.

This statement has led some to suggest that Dando knew her
killer. The Guardian reports that “she had been
irritated by a number of obsessive fans”.