Jill Dando: TV presenter’s brother Nigel Dando gives his theory on star’s unsolved murder 24 years on
The brother of murdered TV presenter Jill Dando says despite the case remaining unsolved 24 years, he has a theory about who could be behind her death.
The execution style killing of one of Britain’s best-loved broadcasters in broad daylight on her own doorstep in April 1999 shocked the nation, leaving the press, public and police united in disbelief.
One of the biggest homicide investigations in British history – finally resulting in a conviction one year after her murder, only to be overturned seven years on – remains unsolved to this day.
Her brother, Nigel Dando, has told Sky News he believes it was “a random killing” carried out by a stranger, and that the presenter “was just in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Speaking ahead of a new Netflix documentary, looking into the murder and resulting police investigation, Mr Dando said that even all these years after his sister’s death, he is hopeful “the killer is out there watching” and could “come forward… to confess what they’ve done and get it off their chest”.
(R-L): Jill Dando, with her father Jack and brother Nigel
‘It’s a heck of a story’
Receiving news of the death of a loved one is hard – and all the more so when that death is sudden and violent.
Mr Dando says he hadn’t seen Jill for around three weeks before her death, but then received a phone call telling him his sister had been killed.
He says: “Within a couple of minutes, really, of hearing that Jill had died, half of my brain wanted to grieve for her loss and be close to my dad… He was in his eighties and not in the best of health. So, you had the family side of things.”
However, as a fellow journalist, Mr Dando also had a second part of his mind clicking into gear.
He goes on: “But, you know, one of the leading TV celebrities in this country gunned down on her own doorstep. It’s going to… It’s a heck of a story. And you kind of knew what was going to come down the line.
“I was trying to prepare myself to deal with that, knowing that you had to deal with the media. But trying to protect my dad from any excesses of it.”
It is of course that same power of the story that attracted true crime producer Emma Cooper to the case, and she would go on to spend over a year heading up the three-part documentary.
She explains: “An act that violent with a gun happening in an area of London, that would be outlandish now in 2023. So, to look back at that happening at that time is extraordinary.”
But she says it was also key to remember the person at the heart of the story: “It was very important to all of us that Jill was very present in the series and that we reminded people who knew her and remember her. And also [it was important] we brought it to a new audience of young people who don’t necessarily know about Jill and don’t necessarily know what happened to her and what a huge part she was in all of our lives.”
Pic: South Coast Press/Shutterstock
Who was Jill Dando?
Born in the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, Dando’s first job was as a trainee with her local weekly newspaper, the Weston Mercury, where her father and brother also worked.
Quickly progressing from print journalism to television, her talent paired with a girl-next-door persona saw her rise through the ranks of regional shows to national TV, going on to present Holiday, the Six O’ Clock News and Crimewatch.
Just two years before her death, she was voted BBC personality of the year.
On 26 April 1999 she was shot dead outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, southwest London. She had been due to present the Six O’ Clock News the following evening.
Pic: Nick Scott Archive/Alamy
The many theories about Jill’s killer
One of the theories of a possible motive behind her killing, was that her presenting role on Crimewatch had made her vulnerable to criminals who might bear a grudge against her for her part in bringing them down.
Another was that a Serbian assassin could have killed her, in revenge for NATO bombing, after seeing her front an appeal for aid for Kosovar Albanian refugees.
However, Mr Dando doesn’t believe such theories stand up to robust investigation, calling them “interesting lines of inquiry” but which “never went anywhere”.
Of the Crimewatch connection he says “there was no evidence, it was just someone jumping on the bandwagon”.
And of the theory of links to Serbian mafia – Mr Dando says there was “no real evidence of a Serbian hitman”.
But he does have his own thoughts about who could have been behind his sister’s death.
“My theory before this happened and that’s been reinforced since by watching this documentary, is that Jill was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that somebody walking down the street, holding a gun for whatever reason, spotted her, either knowing her or not knowing who she was, and shot her dead.”
Mr Dando adds that some of the “theories would make great stories in fiction, but… There’s no line that really holds a huge amount of water apart from you know, a random killing, which I think it was.”
Barry George. Pic: Undated police handout
Who is Barry George, and how does he fit into the case?
Local man, Barry George, who had previous convictions and a history of stalking women, was arrested for Jill’s murder almost a year after her death, and later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mr George spent seven years in jail, but was later acquitted due to unreliable forensic evidence, leaving the case again unsolved.
Speaking about Mr George’s original conviction, Mr Dando says: “At the time I thought that the police had got the right person, and a jury agreed with that sentiment because he was obviously found guilty and jailed for life. But the legal system moves on.”
But Mr Dando does have one concern – that Mr George chose not to give evidence, at either his trial or re-trial.
Mr Dando says: “I would just liked to have seen him tell a jury exactly what he was doing on that day, because he’s never actually explained where he was. It’s all a bit jumbled up. It would have been interesting to have heard him explain where he was, and for him to have been cross-examined about his movements on that day.”
While the conviction against Mr George was quashed, he has been unsuccessful in his attempts to gain compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
Mr George is also a contributor to the Netflix documentary.
Executive producer Emma Cooper says she felt it was vital to have Mr George’s side of the story in the film, to present “as clear of a rounded picture of all the events as possible from as many different perspectives as possible”.
In the documentary, she asks Mr George outright, “Did you kill Jill Dando,” to which Mr George answers, “No”.
She says: “I thought it was important to ask, I thought that the audience would expect that of us to ask him a straight question. And so, we did.”
Pic: Michael Fresco/Evening Standard/Shutterstock
One of the biggest homicide investigations in British history
Mr Dando says he bears no anger towards the police over the lack of a conviction, calling the investigation “a difficult job” and adding: “I don’t have any negative feelings towards the police at all with their inquiries. I didn’t at the time, and as the years have gone on, I don’t.”
As the documentary shows, while Dando’s fame ensured that news of her murder travelled far and wide, it also played a part in hindering the investigation.
Mr Dando says officers were inundated with people trying to “do the right thing” by offering up information, and the result was an avalanche of tips “overwhelming all the potential lines of inquiry that came in”.
While the investigation was moved into “an inactive phase” nine years ago, Met Police told Sky News detectives “would consider any new information provided” in a bid “to determine whether it represented a new and realistic line of enquiry”.
Offering further information around the combined reward of £250,000 which was initially offered for information leading to an arrest, the Met told Sky News, “Any discussion about any reward would have to take place in the event that new information came to light.”
Jill’s legacy
Mr Dando says he is still approached in public – in the supermarket, at the carpet shop – by people “wanting to talk about Jill” and “how they remembered her”.
Jill was just 37 when she died, and five months away from getting married to her fiance, Alan Farthing.
Mr Dando says: “She was on an upward trajectory… Whether family life would have taken over from her broadcasting career or whether she could have juggled the two. Who knows what would have happened, where she would have been today.”
Jill with fellow Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock
Will we ever get an answer?
Ms Cooper says: “It’s really important for a shared audience to look back at that and for new people to discover what happened. And for older people to be reminded about it and to be reminded of the fact that it is still unsolved.”
The film documents aspects of the investigation that most – including some of Jill’s family – have never heard about before.
Other contributors to the film include Dando’s ex-partner, television producer Bob Wheaton, her agent Jon Roseman, and former detective chief inspector Hamish Campbell who headed up the murder case.
Ms Cooper says: “If somebody could see something that could jog a memory that has been unclaimed for 20 years, that would be an amazing outcome for all of us.”
Mr Dando too, has hopes – even if they are vanishingly slim – that the documentary could lead to some sort of answer for himself, and all those who loved and knew Jill.
He says: “We’ve lived for 24 years not knowing who did it, but maybe more importantly, why they did it. Why would you go up to a stranger and do what you did? I just don’t know. So, it would be nice to have some closure from that point of view to know why that person pulled the trigger.”
He goes on: “Maybe even the killer is out there watching this documentary and their conscience, even after all these years may be pricked and it may just encourage them to come forward to confess what they’ve done and get it off their chest.”
Who Killed Jill Dando? is released on Netflix on Tuesday 26 September.
UK
Detective who helped catch ‘sadistic’ serial killer Peter Tobin believes there are more victims out there
What started as a missing person case led to the capture of an “evil” serial killer who “got sadistic sexual pleasure” from murdering women.
Peter Tobin died in October 2022 at the age of 76 while serving three life sentences for the murders of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.
Former detective superintendent David Swindle helped to unmask the murderer and has always believed there are more victims out there.
Peter Tobin. Pic: PA
Mr Swindle told Sky News: “Peter Tobin was evil. And, you know, there’s a lot of speculation – nature, nurture or born evil. He’s evil. This is someone that got sadistic sexual pleasure from killing people.
“And when we look back at his life, we see that he cut the head off a dog. He tortured animals – a trait that featured with Ian Brady killing a cat.
“This kind of stuff – he was progressing, he had all the traits early on. And then we traced various partners that he had, and they describe horrific, violent domestic abuse.
“This is someone progressing towards it. And Tobin is evil. He’s killed other people, but we don’t know how many else he’s killed.
“And the reason we don’t know it, is because he targeted vulnerable people and he was forensically aware. So, there could be others, there will be other cases.”
Former detective superintendent David Swindle
Tobin’s secret reign of terror was unveiled following the disappearance of Polish student Angelika Kluk in September 2006.
The 23-year-old had been enjoying her second summer at St Patrick’s Church in Glasgow, where she was living and working as a cleaner to help finance her Scandinavian studies course at the University of Gdansk.
She was reported missing after failing to turn up to work and was last seen alive in the company of the church’s handyman, “Patrick McLaughlin”.
Angelika Kluk. Pic: PA
The caretaker initially spoke to police before sparking suspicion by disappearing himself.
Following a public appeal, the force discovered “McLaughlin” was instead registered sex offender Tobin.
In 1993, Tobin attacked two 14-year-old girls while living in Havant, Hampshire.
He attempted to evade justice for the horrific sex assaults but was jailed the following year and spent a decade behind bars before returning to his home county of Renfrewshire in 2004.
In 2005, he fled Paisley after being accused of attacking a woman and managed to avoid detection until Angelika’s case.
St Patrick’s Church in Glasgow. Pic: PA
Mr Swindle said he can still remember the day he was brought onto the case after Tobin’s true identity was discovered.
Angelika instantly became a high-risk missing person as she was last seen in the company of a registered sex offender.
Officers were sent back to search the church, where Angelika’s body was thereafter discovered under the floorboards.
A picture of a hatch at St Patrick’s Church, which led to the underfloor passage where Angelika’s body was hidden. Pic: PA
Forensic scientist Carol Rogers ordered for the body not to be moved and crawled under the floorboards to collect vital DNA evidence from the bloody crime scene.
Angelika suffered a violent death in the sexually motivated murder. A post-mortem examination revealed she had been bound and gagged, raped, beaten with a piece of wood, and stabbed 16 times in the chest.
The underfloor passage where Angelika’s body was found. Pic: PA
Mr Swindle said the “ferocity” of what had happened to Angelika was “absolutely horrendous”.
He said: “I’ve worked on hundreds of murder investigations in my long time in the police, mostly in the CID. This was horrendous, absolutely horrendous, and it was organised.
“The way he had put poor Angelika under the floor and concealed her remains and stayed at the scene – this is someone that’s cool, calculating, someone that knew what he was about.”
A manhunt was launched for Tobin, who had absconded to London.
He was eventually captured after admitting himself to a hospital under the name “James Kelly”. His deception was foiled after a staff member recognised Tobin from the media coverage.
Tobin was initially brought back to Scotland for failing to comply with his sex offender requirements.
Mr Swindle said: “So, you’ve got the person, you’ve got the individual, but you need to work round it all.
“Meanwhile, it’s very fast moving. There was huge media interest, rightly so, and you’re always thinking, ‘okay, it’s him, we’ve got to prove this’.
“And you have to prove it beyond reasonable doubt, and that was the issue. And then later on that week, we got the DNA. It was Tobin’s DNA. That is a significant development.”
Tobin denied any wrongdoing and went to trial despite the DNA evidence stacked against him.
Dorothy Bain KC, Scotland’s now lord advocate, was the prosecutor in the case.
Jurors heard how semen recovered from Angelika’s body linked back to Tobin, as did fingerprints on tarpaulin left at the scene of the crime. The victim’s blood was also found on a wooden table leg and on Tobin’s watch.
The defence, led by Donald Findlay KC, claimed any sex was consensual.
Suspicions were instead cast on to the parish priest at the time, who claimed he’d had a sexual relationship with Angelika, as well as a married man the victim was having an affair with.
Aneta and Wladyslaw Kluk, Angelika’s sister and father, at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2007. Pic: PA
Mr Swindle said: “What happened very early on with the murder of Angelika Kluk was what you see so many times in cases – victim blaming and victim shaming.”
Jurors saw through Tobin’s lies and found him guilty.
Judge Lord Menzies described the rapist and murderer as an “evil man” as he handed down a life sentence with at least 21 years behind bars in May 2007.
The killer kicked a press photographer to the ground as he was led from the High Court in Edinburgh.
Tobin at the High Court in Edinburgh in May 2007. Pic: PA
Following Tobin’s conviction, what was then Strathclyde Police launched Operation Anagram to investigate his life.
Mr Swindle said: “As soon as I saw what Peter Tobin had done to poor Angelika – how organised he was, how methodical he was, the fact that he was using a false name, the fact that he gave a statement to the police in a false name before the heat was on him.
“He was 60 years of age. He’s done this before.”
Mr Swindle said “fortunately” there aren’t many serial killers in the UK.
He added: “Serial killers – they’re cunning, they’re controlling, they’re conniving, they can be charming, and that’s what we actually found out about Tobin, and they can be clever.”
Mr Swindle likened Tobin’s traits to that of Moors murderer Ian Brady and fellow Scot Dennis Nilsen, who admitted murdering at least 15 young men between 1978 and 1983.
Mr Swindle said: “And that’s when I thought we have to look at his whole life.”
As officers mapped the thrice-married Tobin’s movements over the years, it was discovered he was living in Bathgate at the time of Vicky Hamilton’s disappearance in February 1991.
Vicky Hamilton. Pic: PA
Vicky was just 15 when she went missing from a bus stop in the West Lothian town.
The teenager had been staying with her older sister in Livingston and vanished during a cold weather snap while making her way home to Redding, near Falkirk.
She was last seen alive eating from a bag of chips while waiting for her connecting bus.
The case was one of Scotland’s most high-profile missing person enquiries.
Sadly, Vicky’s heartbroken mother, Janette, died in 1993 without knowing what happened to her daughter.
Police searching Tobin’s former home in Bathgate in June 2007. Pic: PA
Furniture was removed from the property. Pic: PA
In June 2007, police searched Tobin’s old Bathgate home and recovered a dagger hidden in the loft space. A piece of Vicky’s skin was recovered from the weapon.
Vicky’s purse, which had been discarded in Edinburgh following her disappearance in an attempt to fool police she had run away, was submitted for testing and found to contain traces of saliva linking back to Tobin’s then young son.
It is believed the toddler may have put the purse in his mouth while playing with it.
Police conducting a search in June 2007 near to Tobin’s former Bathgate home. Pic: PA
There was no sign of Vicky, but the mystery would soon unravel nearly 500 miles away.
In October 2007, a search was conducted at Tobin’s old home in Margate, Kent, where he had moved to a few months after Vicky went missing.
Aerial view of Tobin’s old home in Margate, third from left. Pic: PA
A major search was conducted at Tobin’s former Margate home. Pic: PA
Officers believed he may have been involved in the disappearance of 18-year-old Dinah McNicol.
The Essex teenager vanished in August 1991 after accepting a ride while hitchhiking home from a music festival in Hampshire.
Dinah McNicol. Pic: PA
Her male friend was dropped off by the man, but she was never seen again.
Following Dinah’s disappearance, large sums of money were withdrawn from her bank account along the south coast. The location of the ATMs linked back to places Tobin had lived.
Police searching Tobin’s former Margate home. Pic: PA
Police recovered Vicky and Dinah’s remains from the back garden of Tobin’s former Margate home. Pic: PA
After 16 years, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of both Vicky and Dinah came to a close with the discovery of their bodies in the back garden of Tobin’s old Margate home.
Vicky had been dismembered.
Flowers placed on the ground where Vicky and Dinah’s remains were found in the garden of Tobin’s former Margate home. Pic: PA
Ian McNicol, Dinah’s father, visiting the Margate home after his daughter’s remains were recovered. Pic: PA
Prosecutors argued Tobin drugged the teenagers with amitriptyline, which he was prescribed at the time, before raping and murdering them.
Tobin once again denied any wrongdoing – despite his fingerprints being found on the refuse bags used to wrap the bodies – but was found guilty of both murders.
In December 2008, he was sentenced to at least 30 years in jail for killing Vicky. The following year he received a whole life order for the death of Dinah.
Lindsay and Sharon Brown, Vicky’s sisters, making a statement outside the High Court in Dundee following Tobin’s conviction in 2008. Pic: PA
Michael Hamilton and Ian McNicol, the fathers of Vicky and Dinah, outside the High Court in Edinburgh in 2010. Tobin failed to appear and would later drop an appeal case. Pic: PA
Tobin died on 8 October 2022.
The HMP Edinburgh inmate had been receiving palliative care at the city’s royal infirmary following a fall in his cell the previous month.
A fatal accident inquiry was held last year, which revealed Tobin was suffering from bronchial pneumonia, vascular disease and prostate cancer at the time of his death.
The serial killer’s ashes were later scattered at sea as no one came forward to claim them.
Tobin has long been suspected by police of murdering other women due to the sheer amount of aliases, cars, and homes he held over his lifetime.
Mr Swindle said: “Tobin’s killed other people – there’s no doubt about it.”
However, Tobin took his secrets to the grave.
Mr Swindle said: “Police Scotland were at his bedside when he was dying and asked him to do the right thing. He didn’t.
“It’s the ultimate control. It’s like Ian Brady – a narcissist. They lack empathy, it’s all about them.”
In 2010, Sussex Police searched an old home of Tobin’s in Portslade. Pic: PA
Tobin’s name was linked to the disappearance of Louise Kay, 18, from Beachy Head in Eastbourne in 1988.
The murder of Jessie Earl, 22, in 1980 was also reinvestigated as part of Operation Anagram.
Her remains were recovered in 1989 in thick undergrowth on Beachy Head, a place she would often take walks and the same area Louise disappeared.
Mr Swindle, left, at the police search in Portslade in 2010. Pic: PA
Mystery continues to surround dozens of pieces of jewellery recovered from Tobin’s possessions in Glasgow after he fled the church following Angelika’s murder.
Mr Swindle believes Tobin’s plan was to move Angelika’s body away from the crime scene – as what he did with Vicky – but police arrived before he could dispose of the evidence.
Mr Swindle said: “That phrase that’s used quite a lot – trophies. I don’t like that phrase. I think the word trophy sounds like a victory. I call it souvenirs from a horrible act.
“And Tobin, I thought, ‘he’s kept them, they’re souvenirs from a terrible act’.
“And to take it further, the jewellery is examined and there’s DNA profiles on that jewellery. Profiles of women, which we’ve never identified. Trophies is a horrible word.”
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Tobin at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2007. Pic: PA
Tobin has also been mentioned in connection with the Bible John killings, a series of murders that brought terror to Glasgow in the late 1960s.
The deaths of the three young women – who met their killer at the city’s renowned Barrowland Ballroom – remain unsolved.
Mr Swindle said: “I’m not convinced the same person was involved in these three murders.
“And there’s no evidence, I don’t think professionally and evidentially, that Peter Tobin killed these women either.”
Police outside Linlithgow Sheriff Court in 2007. Tobin was unable to attend the hearing linked to Vicky’s case due to an attack by a fellow inmate
Police Scotland has since scaled back Operation Anagram.
Mr Swindle retired from the force in 2011 but went on to set up David Swindle Crime Solutions.
As well as offering expert crime advice and spearheading independent case reviews, he can also be found on tour with his latest stage show, Murder: A Search For The Truth.
Mr Swindle additionally established Victims Abroad to help support families who lose a loved one in a foreign country due to homicide or suspicious death and are faced with confusing updates and legal processes in different languages.
Speaking of Operation Anagram, Mr Swindle said: “Throughout my long police career, I’ve worked in some big, big investigations.
“This, for me, is a career defining moment and also a personal and professional defining moment in my life.
“I’ve never worked on anything like it, and I hope never ever to experience it again. And I hope no other serving officers have to experience such horrendous things.”
UK
‘I think it’s appalling’: Man who had leg amputated after hit-and-run criticises sentence given to driver
A man who had his leg amputated after a hit-and-run has criticised the “appalling” sentence given to the motorist – as he backed a campaign to increase the “shoddy” penalties for uninsured drivers.
Ieuan Parry also suffered a fractured skull when he was struck by the driver of a white Mitsubishi fleeing police at high speed near Ebbw Vale, South Wales.
The uninsured motorist fled the scene and Mr Parry – who had been working on the roadside of a closed lane – was left with devastating injuries and the “agony” of “phantom pain” following his amputation.
The driver – who had reached speeds of more than 130mph during the police chase – later tried to blame the incident on his ex-partner by calling 999 and falsely claiming she had stolen his vehicle, according to reports.
He was jailed for three years and four months in February 2024 after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice. It is understood he has since been released from prison.
The car involved in the collision. Pic: Motor Insurers’ Bureau
Mr Parry – who asked Sky News not to name the motorist – said he felt “extremely frustrated” and “angry” about the driver’s actions and believes he should have received a longer prison term.
“I think it’s appalling to be honest with you,” the 27-year-old told Sky News.
“(The sentence was) not harsh enough for the seriousness of his crime.”
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), which has been supporting Mr Parry, is now calling for fines for uninsured drivers to increase from £300 to £1,200, saying the current penalty “simply isn’t enough of a deterrent”.
Mr Parry was 24 when he was struck by the car while working by the A465 Heads of the Valleys road near Ebbw Vale in November 2021.
Describing the incident, he said he was using a leaf blower on the roadside shortly after noon when he heard a “droning noise” and looked up to see the vehicle coming towards him at speed.
“Before I had chance to do anything or move, I was struck – hit off my feet,” he said.
“That’s where the nightmare started.”
Mr Parry underwent five surgeries following the collision. Pic: Ieuan Parry
‘Excruciating pain’
Mr Parry suffered a fractured skull and a badly broken left leg that later had to be amputated below the knee.
“(I was in) excruciating pain on the side of the road,” he said.
“I remember asking: ‘Is my leg okay? Will I lose my leg?'”
Despite the severity of his injuries, Mr Parry tried to reach for his phone to contact work colleagues while lying in the road.
“I was more concerned about how it had happened – because I was in a coned-off lane,” he said.
“I wondered, ‘would there be more cars coming behind this car?'”
Some of the damage to the car following the hit-and-run. Pic: MIB
Describing his feelings towards the driver, Mr Parry said: “Obviously extremely frustrated… angry.
“God forbid it never happens, but if I ever found myself in a situation where I’d injured someone, the last thing I’d be doing is thinking about fleeing from the accident.”
Leg amputated
Mr Parry spent 17 days at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he underwent surgery on five occasions.
Recalling the moment he was told his leg would have to be amputated, he said: “A lot of things went through my mind in terms of work, the relationship with my girlfriend… how everything in my life that I’ve worked towards thus far was going to be flipped round on its head.
“I did find that very difficult to deal with… losing your independence, not being able to go to the toilet on your own, not being able to wash yourself, not being able to do even the simplest of tasks.”
Mr Parry said his life ‘flipped’ following the hit-and-run. Pic: Ieuan Parry
Since the amputation, Mr Parry said he has dealt with the “weird sensation” of “phantom pain”, which he continues to face to this day.
“It’s basically the nerves that still reside in my amputated leg sending signals to the brain,” he said.
“It’s almost like you feel as if your amputated limb is still there and you can get various sensations, from pins and needles and numbness…. through to quite severe pain.
“It almost feels like someone’s got a set of pliers on your toe and is squeezing it.
“Those sorts of pains, although they are getting better now, are still fairly frequent and they can immobilise you with agony.”
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‘My life is never going to go back to normal’
Mr Parry has also faced feelings of anxiety over the “massive change” in his appearance and his inability to do tasks he once found “very straightforward”.
He said he was “eternally grateful” for the support of his close family – particularly his partner Sophie who he married in June last year.
“There’s no way on this I’d have been able to cope with it on my own,” he added.
Since the collision, Mr Parry has started his own fencing and groundwork company but said: “I’ve come to the realisation that my life is never going to go back to normal as it was before.”
Mr Parry said he was ‘eternally grateful’ for the support of his wife Sophie. Pic: Ieuan Parry
He added: “I’m always going to have disadvantages and issues with mobility and completing tasks, where I would not even have thought twice about it before.”
Campaign to increase uninsured driving penalties
The MIB is calling on the government to increase the current £300 fine for driving uninsured to £1,200 as part of its new five-year strategy, called Accelerating To Zero, which aims to end uninsured driving for good.
A YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people found 78% did not think a £300 fine was enough of a deterrent and three-quarters supported increasing the fine to £1,200, according to the MIB.
The MIB’s chief executive Angus Eaton said uninsured drivers “wreck lives”, adding: “We believe that the current penalty of £300, which hasn’t changed in over 10 years, simply isn’t enough of a deterrent.
“We’re calling for the penalty to be raised so that it is double the average premium, to help eradicate the issue.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Mr Parry has backed the campaign, saying a fine for uninsured driving “definitely needs to be a lot more than £300”.
“For the fine to be less than an average insurance premium for the year, I think it’s a bit shoddy,” he added.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We take uninsured driving very seriously – it is dangerous and unacceptable.
“That is why the department is considering policy options on the motoring offences as part of the Road Safety Strategy.”
The child who died in a school coach crash in Somerset on Thursday was a 10-year-old boy, Avon and Somerset Police have said.
A specially trained officer is supporting the child’s family, the force said, adding that two children taken to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children by air ambulance remain there as of Friday.
Four children and three adults also remain in hospital in Somerset.
There were between 60 to 70 people on board when the incident happened near Minehead, just before 3pm on Thursday.
The coach was heading to Minehead Middle School when it crashed on the A396 between Wheddon Cross and Timbercombe.
Pic: PA
Police said that 21 people were taken to hospital, including two children who were taken via air ambulance.
Gavin Ellis, chief fire officer for Devon and Somerset, said the coach “overturned onto its roof and slid approximately 20ft down an embankment”.
Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, said the road where it happened is “very difficult to manoeuvre”.
“You have a very difficult crossing at Wheddon Cross, and as you come out to dip down into Timbercombe, the road is really windy and there are very steep dips on either side,” she told Sky’s Anna Botting.
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Tearful MP reacts to coach crash
It comes after a teacher at Minehead Middle School praised the “incredibly brave” pupils for supporting each other after the coach crash.
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“You have looked after each [other] in what was a life-changing event, we will get through this together,” they wrote on Facebook.
“I feel so lucky to be your teacher. I am so grateful to my wonderful colleagues during this time who were also fighting to help as many people as we could.”
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