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.
Culture lovers have long believed in the healing power art. Now, science has caught up, with new research showing it has measurable benefits on the body.
A study from King’s College London has found that looking at original artworks, in a gallery, doesn’t just lift us emotionally – it also has a positive impact on our physical health.
Fifty people aged between 18 and 40 were shown art by a selection of leading 19th-century artists: Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, van Gogh and Gauguin.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901), Jane Avril in the Entrance to the Moulin Rouge (c. 1892)
Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883), Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil (1874)
Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883), A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882)
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)
Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903), Te Rerioa (The Dream) (1897)
Participants viewed five paintings for three minutes each, in a 20-minute session.
But while half viewed the original paintings in the Courtauld Gallery in London, the others looked at reproductions in a neutral setting.
Their heart rates and skin temperature were measured with research-grade digital watches to indicate levels of interest and arousal, and saliva samples were taken with swabs before and after the session to measure stress hormones.
The results in those looking at the results in the gallery were significant, and immediate: The stress hormone cortisol fell by 22% and inflammatory markers linked to health problems including heart disease, diabetes and depression were reduced by as much as 30%.
No change was observed in the reproduction group.
Dr Tony Woods, researcher at King’s College London
Dr Tony Woods of King’s College London, who was the study’s lead researcher, told Sky News: “The magnitude of the difference between being in here and looking at the real art, looking at the copies in the laboratory, the difference between the two participant groups was quite enormous.”
It’s good news for the NHS, which is increasing its use of social prescribing, which can include visits to galleries.
Dr Woods went on: “The government’s health strategy is all about prevention. And this is a gift to [Health Secretary] Wes Streeting. Art is very well worth investing in because of the return on investment – it will keep people out of hospitals.”
Over one and a half million people in the UK accessed social prescribing between September and August this year across the UK, and NHS England told Sky News their ambition is to make it available to every person in England.
Dr Woods says the next steps of the study will be to find out how long the positive effects last, and research further into the effects of art on older participants.
Russell Tovey, actor, art lover and co-host of Talk Art, chatted to Sky News about his favourite piece at the gallery – van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889).
Talk Art podcast hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament
Tovey jokes: “Look at this painting here. It’s quite a troublesome picture, especially for me with my ears…
“But you can look at the surface and the way that he makes brushstrokes and the scale of the things and the colour he used. And you think about his life at the time and where he was living, and all those questions and answers will reveal the painting.”
Tovey adds: “Art is intrinsic to humanity,” and “shows us who we are”.
And now with the new findings, the hope is that gallery visits will be considered just as good as your ‘five-a-day’.
Tovey goes on: “It’s good for your health, it’s beneficial to your mental health and to your wellbeing to be in a museum and to be around art…
“If you eat well, go to the gym and go to a regular art gallery visit, then your health will be through the roof.”
Tovey’s podcast co-host, gallery owner Robert Diament, agrees: “I think it’s really important just to slow down a bit. Going to a museum or gallery can be part of your self-care routine… It will improve your life.”
Amid rising costs, reduced funding and dwindling visitor numbers, the findings could also provide a boost to galleries.
Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director, told Sky News: “These museums and galleries were set up in all cities and towns by people, you know, hundreds of years ago, who felt that it was good for people. So, this is the evidence, finally, that they were right.”
Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director
The national charity for museums and galleries, Art Fund champions art around the country, with initiatives including the National Art Pass which offers free or discounted entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic places around the UK.
So, what do gallery visitors think of the news that their time looking at art will positively impact their wellbeing?
Charlie, 10, from London said: “It makes me feel quite calm, and it draws me in.”
His dad Patrick, who had brought Charlie with his two young brothers to see the exhibition, added: “Looking at them on screens, or even in books, you just don’t get the full impression.”
Taeseok, an arts student from Amsterdam visiting the UK for the first time, said it felt good to stand and focus on just one thing, with no distractions. He summed it up: “Things around you start to not matter at all… It’s just you and the artwork.”
Re-framed as a course of treatment instead of an indulgent pastime, could the hard edge of science change the role galleries play in society?
If so, it could be a fitting reminder to the government of the true power of art, at a time when so many institutions are struggling to survive.
Thieves have stolen more than 1,000 items from a museum’s collection in California, including jewellery, carvings and Native American artefacts.
The burglary took place at an off-site storage facility holding items for the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) on 15 October.
A neckpiece by Florence Resnikoff was also taken. Pic: Leopold Macaya/Oakland Museum of California/AP
The museum’s director said on Thursday details about the incident were being made public because the items might show up at flea markets, pawn shops and antique stores.
“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said Lori Fogarty.
“They’re not just a loss to the museum. They’re a loss to the public, to our community and we’re hoping our community can help us bring them home.”
She also said she believed it was an opportunistic crime, rather than a targeted raid.
“We think the thieves found a way to enter the building, and they grabbed what they could easily find and snatch and get out of the building with,” she said.
Oakland Museum of California. Pic: Leopold Macaya/Oakland Museum of California/AP
A metal neckpiece by the late artist Florence Resnikoff, scrimshaw walrus tusks and Native American baskets were taken, with the thieves also making off with historic memorabilia like pins and sporting items.
Experts believe some items may have already been sold.
John Romero, a retired police captain, told the Los Angeles Times he expects detectives are looking at resale platforms such as Craigslist and Ebay, as well as networks specialising in historic or collectable goods.
“These people are interested in fast cash, not the full appraisal value,” he said. “They need to get rid of it quickly.”
Oakland Police Department is working with a specialist art crime unit of the FBI to track down the items.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump accused of ‘new low point’ with refugee order
Holiday hotspot airport close to cancelling all landings
The OMCA’s mission is to document the art, history and natural environment of the Golden State.
Its collection carries works by famous Californian artists from the 18th century to present day.
The theft at the OMCA took place four days before the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre museum in France.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Suspects in Louvre robbery ‘partially confessed’
Thieves broke into the world-famous Paris museum while it was open to visitors on 19 October and made off with several Napoleonic crown jewels.
Authorities have made five arrests but the stolen items have not yet been recovered.
Entertainment
‘We’re having the time of our lives’: Westlife on 25 years of touring, family fame and fans
They were one of the main staples of noughties music in the UK and Ireland and to celebrate 25 years of touring, Westlife have returned to the spotlight again.
The boy band has released a new song called Chariot, with an album following suit in February and a tour that will take them around the world next year.
“The Westlife story is fairy tale stuff and we’re very lucky and proud to be part of it”, Shane Filan tells Sky News at the Royal Albert Hall, where they have just performed for two nights.
“It took our breath away. We came out to the Royal Albert Hall thinking it might be a little bit more intimate than a big arena and just the sheer noise, the sheer screams from the women and everyone just having good fun.
“The support and love, we never felt it like we did in the room. It was amazing.”
Westlife started their 25th anniversary celebrations with two sold-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London
Formed by their manager Louis Walsh in the late 1990s, the group originally consisted of Filan, Mark Feehily, Brian McFadden, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan.
McFadden left the group in 2004 to pursue a solo career, but the other four have remained together.
Due to health issues, Feehily can’t join the celebrations, but representatives say he is still very much part of the band and features on their new music and upcoming album.
Westlife were blown away by the ‘sheer noise’ of screaming fans at the Royal Albert Hall. Pic: Sony Music
Pic: Sony Music
History-making chart successes
Westlife are joint third with Sir Cliff Richard and Ed Sheeran for the most UK number one singles in history, just behind Elvis and The Beatles.
In their first 18 months, they secured seven of those top spots thanks to songs like Flying Without Wings, I Have A Dream and If I Let You Go.
Reflecting on the years gone by, Byrne says the nostalgia hits harder than ever.
“You see the generations coming to the shows, people letting their hair down, people remembering the songs from their first kiss, the first dance, all those special things that music does,” he says.
“Not even just for the fans – we’re having the time of our lives.
“We’re singing these songs up there… I remember breaking the wardrobe door when we were promoting Swear It Again, and now we’re singing it in front of the Royal Albert Hall and look, I mean, just look at this place.”
(L-R) Kian Egan, Nicky Bryne and Shane Filan say they are having ‘the time of their lives’ performing together again
Famous fans and furniture
For Byrne, finding out about fans of their music never gets old, and their song Flying Without Wings seems to be a key component of their stature in music.
“I did Soccer Aid with Tom Grennan recently, and he was talking all about how he grew up listening to Westlife – his dad is Irish. Big Zuu, who scored the winning goal, he was like, ‘Flying Without Wings, man, is the best song I’ve ever heard’.”
It’s the same song Sheeran first learned to play guitar on, and years later, he began writing songs for the group, including their latest single Chariot.
Oddly, it’s their choice in furniture that receives just as much attention as their music over the years, with four stools becoming synonymous with the group.
Stemming from their lack of dancing skills, according to Simon Cowell at least, they chose to change it up and simply rise from their chair on the key change of the song.
“We are stool connoisseurs. It’s become a very strange thing and it’s nearly as big as our music. It’s genuinely as big as You Raise Me Up,” Filan laughs.
Filan (R) jokes that the band have become ‘stool connoisseurs’
Keeping their kids grounded
As the band continued to release music, each member settled down and had families of their own. Now their children are around the same age they were when they first started as a group.
Egan says they all made a conscious decision to raise the next generation away from the spotlight.
“We don’t want our kids growing up in this world and at the end of the day they are privileged, so it’s really important for us to keep them grounded and to try and give them as much of a natural kind of upbringing as they possibly can, and I think that’s why we choose to bring them up in the same places that we grew up,” he adds.
Byrne chimes in jokingly: “Slightly bigger houses, though!”
It was this tour that caused Byrne’s children to realise the extent of their father’s fame.
“I have twin boys who are 18 and a half, and the middle girl is 12. So last week, when the tour went on sale in Ireland, and we went from five nights in the 3Arena to 13, and from Belfast it went from three right up to seven, and the boys are looking at me, going, ‘You’re doing 13 nights in the 3Arena’.
“And it is even me looking at them going, ‘Yeah, right’. It hits you, it hits you there in a way, to be honest with you. I got a little bit cooler then.”
Read more from Sky News:
Five new arrests in Louvre heist investigation
John Cleese leads tributes to Fawlty Towers star
Running from September 2026, Westlife 25 – The Anniversary World Tour, will kick off in Dublin for 13 shows before heading to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, London, Brighton, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and then Belfast for seven nights.
Gigs in Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne and Zurich will follow.
Tickets for Westlife’s UK tour dates go on sale this Friday.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024