IN 1999, TV PRESENTER JILL DANDO WAS SHOT ON HER DOORSTEP. NOW, THE 24-YEAR COLD CASE HAS BEEN GIVEN FRESH HOPE
When people switched on their TVs in the 1990s, there was one woman they’d be very likely to see – Jill Dando.
During her career, the journalist, TV presenter and newsreader hosted a variety of shows, including the BBC news, Holiday and Crimewatch. She was renowned for her warmth, and had a look reminiscent of Princess Diana.
By the beginning of 1999, Jill, then 37, was at the height of her career and engaged to doctor Alan Farthing, who she hoped to start a family with. The couple’s wedding was set to take place on 25 September that year. However, Jill’s future was brutally cut short. On the morning of 26 April, Jill left Alan’s home in Chiswick, London, and travelled alone in her car back to the house she owned in Fulham. At around 11.32am, Jill reached her front door where she was fatally shot once in the head at point-blank range. About 14 minutes later, her body was found by a passer-by, who called 999, but paramedics couldn’t save her. At 1.03pm, Jill was declared dead at Charing Cross Hospital.
As news of her death sent shockwaves through the nation, a hunt for her killer got underway. But the crime scene contained little forensic evidence, as it been heavily contaminated due to resuscitation attempts on Jill. A bullet and its cartridge casing were found on the doorstep of her home on Gowan Avenue, but no weapon was ever found. While one neighbour reported hearing a woman scream, no one heard a gunshot or saw what had happened.
A few key witnesses described an olive-skinned man with dark hair and a dark three-quarter-length coat leaving the scene, and several people saw a sweating man running across the street from the murder scene to a bus stop. A traffic warden reported she’d noticed a blue Range Rover parked illegally on Gowan Avenue, but as she started to write the ticket, it drove away. Shortly after the murder, a blue Range Rover was caught on camera speeding down Fulham Palace Road. Four days later, police released a computer-generated picture of a tall, dark-haired man in his early 40s, who they were treating as their number-one suspect.
TARGET
The case hinged on what the motive could be and why anyone would want to murder the “golden girl” of TV. Those close to Jill were quickly eliminated as potential suspects, so detectives delved into her professional life. Jill’s work as a presenter on Crimewatch, helping to jail criminals, was thought to have made her a possible target. The fact that no one had heard the gunshot fuelled speculation that the weapon used may have had a silencer fitted and that the murder was a professional hit. Could it have been an execution-style killing orchestrated by avengeful mobster? Or possibly even a politica
