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.
Entertainment
Giles Martin on AI plans: ‘It’s like saying you can burgle my house unless I ask you not to’
Producer Giles Martin has said plans to allow AI firms to use artists’ work without permission, unless creators opt out, is like criminals being given free rein to burgle houses unless they are specifically told not to.
Martin, who is the son of Beatles producer George Martin and worked with Sir Paul McCartney on the Get Back documentary series and the 2023 Beatles track Now And Then, spoke to Sky News at a UK Music protest at Westminster coinciding with a parliamentary debate on the issue.
Under the plans, an exemption to copyright would be created for training artificial intelligence (AI), so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material – rather, creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.
Creatives say if anything it should be opt-in rather than out, and are calling on the government to scrap the proposals and stop AI developers “stealing” their work “without payment or permission”.
Giles Martin at the 2025 Grammy Awards. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
“If you create something unique it should be unique to you,” says Martin. “It shouldn’t be able to be harvested and then used by other people. Or if it is, it should be with your permission… it shouldn’t be up to governments or big tech.”
Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell are among the celebrities who have backed a campaign opposing the proposals, and Sir Paul has also spoken out against them.
“This is about young artists,” says Martin. “If a young Paul McCartney at the age of 20 or 22 wrote Yesterday, now… big tech would almost be able to harvest that song and use it for their own means. It doesn’t make any sense, this ruling of opting out – where essentially it’s like saying, ‘you can burgle my house unless I ask you not to’.”
‘I’m not anti-AI – it’s a question of permission’
The Beatles’ track Now And Then was written and recorded by John Lennon in New York in the late 1970s, and AI was used to extract his vocals for the 2023 release. The Get Back documentary also used audio restoration technology, allowing music and vocals to be isolated.
AI was used to release The Beatles’ track Now And Then in 2023. Pic: Apple Corps Ltd
“I’m not anti [AI], I’m not saying we should go back to writing on scribes,” Martin said. “But I do think that it’s a question of artist’s permission.”
Using AI to “excavate” Lennon’s voice was with the permission of the late singer’s estate, he said, and is “different from me getting a 3D printer to make a John Lennon”.
He added: “The idea of, for example, whoever your favourite artist is – the future is, you get home from work and they’ll sing you a song, especially designed for you, by that artist, by that voice. And it’ll make you feel better because AI will know how you’re feeling at that time. That’s maybe a reality. Whoever that artist is, they should probably have a say in that voice.”
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Crispin Hunt, of 1990s band The Longpigs, who also attended the protest, said “all technology needs some kind of oversight”.
“If you remove the ability for the world to make a living out of creativity, or if you devalue creativity to such an extent that that it becomes a hobby and worthless to do, then humanity in life will be far less rich because it’s art and culture that makes life richer,” he said. “And that’s why the companies want it for free.”
The Data (Use and Access) Bill primarily covers data-sharing agreements, but transparency safeguards were removed at committee stage.
Critics say changes need to be made to ensure that companies training generative AI models disclose whether work by a human creator has been used and protect creatives under existing copyright rules.
In February, more than 1,000 artists and musicians including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Sam Fender and Annie Lennox released a silent album in protest at the proposed changes.
At that time, a government spokesperson said the UK’s current rules were “holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from realising their full potential – and that cannot continue”.
The spokesperson said they were consulting on proposals that better protect the “interests of both AI developers and right holders” and to deliver a solution “which allows both to thrive”.
Entertainment
Radiohead star Jonny Greenwood hits out at ‘censorship’ and ‘intimidation’ after shows cancelled following ‘credible threats’
A member of rock band Radiohead has hit out at “censorship” and “intimidation” after shows he was due to play with an Israeli musician were cancelled following “credible threats”.
Guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood had been due to play two shows with Israel-born rock musician Dudu Tassa at Bristol Beacon’s Lantern Hall and London’s Hackney Church in June.
But on Tuesday, they confirmed the gigs would no longer go ahead after the venues decided it was “not safe to proceed”.
Greenwood has collaborated with Tassa for more than a decade and released the album Jarak Qaribak with him in 2023.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi), a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, welcomed the cancellations, claiming the performances would have “whitewashed” the war in Gaza.
A statement from Greenwood, Tassa and their musicians said: “The venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it’s not safe to proceed. Promoters of the shows can’t be expected to fund our, or our audience’s, protection.”
It said the “cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved”.
It went on: “Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing.
“We believe art exists above and beyond politics; that art that seeks to establish the common identity of musicians across borders in the Middle East should be encouraged, not decried; and that artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion – and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments.”
Pic: Lior Keter
It said the show also featured singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq, with “each of the members brought together by a shared love of Arabic song, regardless of where exactly they all happened to be born”.
The statement also said: “We find ourselves in the odd position of being condemned by both ends of the political spectrum.
“For some on the right, we’re playing the ‘wrong’ kind of music – too inclusive, too aware of the rich and beautiful diversity of Middle Eastern culture. For some on the left, we’re only playing it to absolve ourselves of our collective sins.
“We dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament its celebration by some progressives.”
Read more: Why are Kneecap so controversial?
The musicians also referenced Northern Irish rappers Kneecap, and recent calls to cancel their shows after one member appeared to call for the death of British MPs. Another video of the band appeared to show a member shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. Both claims are being investigated by counter-terrorism police.
The statement said: “We have no judgment to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.
“We agree completely with people who ask ‘How can this be more important than what’s happening in Gaza and Israel?’ They’re right – it isn’t. How could it be? What, in anyone’s upcoming cultural life, is?”
Greenwood also faced opposition from pro-Palestinian groups last year after performing in Tel Aviv amid the war in Gaza.
Radiohead performed at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv in 2017.
The Diocese of London, whic looks after the Hackney Church venue, told Sky News the promoter had contacted them on Friday to say the 25 June gig wouldn’t be going ahead. They said those who had bought tickets would receive a full refund.
Sky News has also contacted Bristol Beacon and the promoters for comment.
Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in court as high-profile trial begins with jury selection in New York
The trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has begun, with the process to pick the jurors who will determine his fate now under way.
Combs, wearing a white shirt with a black crew-neck sweater, grey trousers and glasses, his hair and goatee now grey, hugged and shook hands with all his lawyers as he arrived at the federal courtroom in Manhattan, New York, for the start of the proceedings.
The 55-year-old has been held in detention in Brooklyn since he was arrested and charged in September 2024, accused of engaging in sex trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy over two decades.
He has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, said all his sexual relationships and encounters were consensual, and strenuously denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The Metropolitan Detention Center, where Combs is incarcerated. Pic: AP/ Yuki Iwamura
Due to the high-profile nature of the case, the jury selection process is expected to last all this week, with opening statements by the lawyers set to begin next week.
Unlike some other high-profile trials in the US, this one won’t be broadcast live because federal courtrooms, unlike some state courtrooms, don’t allow electronic recordings inside.
Judge Arun Subramanian started proceedings shortly after 9am on Monday (2pm UK time), first making several rulings on what issues experts will be allowed to testify on when they take to the witness stand.
He then gave an overview of the case and began the questioning of prospective jurors one by one – a process known as “voir dire” – with the aim of finding a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates who can be fair and impartial despite heavy media coverage of the case.
There are no cameras in court. Sketch: Elizabeth Williams via AP
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Jurors are being asked if they have any views on the prosecution or the defence, if they or someone close to them has been a victim of crime, and their beliefs on hiring sex workers, the use of illegal drugs, hip-hop artists and law enforcement.
They are also being questioned on whether they have heard of names included on a list of individuals, including celebrities, who may be mentioned during the trial. The list is long, the court heard, with the judge saying it reminded him of Lord Of The Rings.
What have potential jurors been asked?
Combs embraced his attorneys in court. Sketch: REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
One prospective juror said they had heard of actors Michael B Jordan and Mike Myers, but this would not prevent them being fair and impartial should they be selected. Another said they had heard of Kanye West.
The context in which Jordan, Myers, West and other people may be mentioned is not yet known.
Other names that came up included Aubrey O’Day and Dawn Richard – former members of girl group Danity Kane, who were signed to Bad Boy – and singer Michelle Williams.
Several prospective jurors indicated they had seen news reports about Combs, and one prospective juror described a still image she had seen as “damning evidence”. She was rejected from consideration.
Another potential juror was excluded because she said a family member had experienced something that made them feel uncomfortable about hearing the case.
At one point during proceedings, Combs asked for a bathroom break, telling the judge: “I’m sorry your honour, I’m a little nervous today.”
One potential juror said they had seen a joke on social media about baby oil authorities say they found in Combs’ residences during searches in March 2024. They said they could remain impartial.
Throughout the day, as potential jurors were questioned, Combs appeared to express his approval or disapproval, either with a nod or by shaking his head no, to his attorneys.
Brian Steel, one of Combs’ attorneys, pictured outside the court. Pic: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
What is Combs accused of?
In the indictment listing the formal charges against the rapper, he is accused of a pattern of abusive behavior over two decades, allegedly with the help of people in his entourage.
Prosecutors say he manipulated women into participating in drug-fuelled sexual performances with male sex workers, which he called “Freak Offs”.
Combs and his associates resorted to violent acts, including beatings, kidnapping and arson, when he didn’t get his way, they allege.
Lawyers for Combs say any group sex was consensual, that there was no coercion involved, and nothing that happened amounted to a criminal racket.
If convicted, he faces the possibility of decades in prison.
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What is Sean Combs on trial for?
The Cassie video
One issue likely to be featured in the trial is an incident in 2016, when a security camera recorded Combs allegedly kicking and hitting his then girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway.
Cassie filed a lawsuit in November 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape, but the case was settled the following day.
The hotel footage emerged in May 2024. Shortly afterwards, Combs released a video apology, saying his behaviour in the video was at a time when he had “hit rock bottom” but nonetheless was “inexcusable” and that he was “disgusted” with himself.
One of his lawyers, Marc Agnifilo, has said Combs was “not a perfect person” and that there had been drug use and toxic relationships, but that all sexual activity between Combs, Cassie and other people was consensual.
Jury selection continues today and throughout this week, with the trial expected to last about eight weeks.
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