The Jill Dando Murder Mystery E-Book

Thomas McKenzie

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 141

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

The murder of the BBC television presenter Jill Dando shocked Britain in 1999. But who really killed her by shooting her on the doorstep of her home? Was it a professional hitman or a disturbed stalker? Was it a Serb hit squad? Was it an establishment conspiracy? There are certainly no shortage of theories. In this book we shall attempt to solve this mystery once and for all.

Leseprobe

The Jill Dando Murder Mystery    

Thomas McKenzie© Copyright 2023 Thomas McKenzie

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ContentsChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightCHAPTER ONEIn the late 1990s, the broadcaster Jill Dando was one of the most recognisable and famous faces in Britain thanks mainly to her duties as a newsreader for the BBC. Dando was born on November 9, 1961, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. She began her career at the BBC as a radio researcher before moving on to television presenting. Dando's breakthrough came in 1988 when she joined the popular morning TV show "BBC Breakfast News." Her professionalism and warm personality made her a hit with audiences, and she quickly became a household name. A lot more people watched 'traditional' television back then than they do today (in our modern streaming and YouTube obsessed age) and so Jill Dando was very famous indeed. If you lived in Britain in 1999 and owned a television then you would certainly have known who Jill Dando was.It wasn't just reading the news that had made Jill Dando so famous. Dando also hosted Crimewatch (a show which highlighted unsolved crimes and appeals for fresh information to catch criminals) and the travel show Holiday. Dando had also been on Masterchef, The Royal Variety Performance, Blankety Blank, Countdown, The Antiques Roadshow, children's television, (as we noted) breakfast television, Noel's House Party, and Points of View. As if that wasn't enough she had also been part of the BBC's election night coverage in both 1992 and 1997. There was seemingly no escape from Jill Dando. She was literally all over the place. Dando was one of the most high profile television presenters in the country and everyone knew who she was. Dando was the BBC's Golden Girl and the face of the corporation. She was broadcasting royalty.Jill Dando was destined to be one of those people who is on television forever. She was never going to be short of work. Status as a national treasure and royal gongs surely awaited. She was professional, attractive, experienced, and good at her job. Dando was one of those presenters who elicited trust from her audience. She seemed friendly and likeable and projected warmth. Well, fate has a funny way sometimes of ruining all the plans that someone might have. Jill Dando might have been one of the most famous people in the country in 1999 but unknown to her she didn't have much longer to live. Her death was swift and perplexing. It was so perplexing that nearly 25 years later no one has actually worked out who killed her.On the morning of the 26th of April 1999, Jill Dando was shot dead outside of her old home in Fulham, London. She was 37 years-old. To say this was an unexpected and strange news story would be an understatement indeed. Celebrities, sadly, do get murdered from time to time (usually by nutty fans *) but Jill Dando was just about the last person you'd expect to join the list. Dando was a fairly 'neutral' sort of celebrity. She wasn't controversial or opinionated. She wasn't even a sex symbol really. She was the girl next door. The friendly neighbour. Dando led a perfectly ordinary life away from television. She did her own shopping and didn't act like a celebrity at all. The tabloids never had anything juicy about her private life to report. Jill Dando was literally the last person you'd expect to be killed by a deranged fan. You could understand why female pop stars or actors might attract nutty stalkers but Jill Dando? Right from the very start there was something about the 'nutty fan' theory in relation to her murder which didn't quite ring true.Fulham, where Dando was murdered, is a suburban area located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in southwest London. It is situated by the River Thames and is known for its affluent residential streets, beautiful parks, and close proximity to central London. Fulham has a rich history, with settlements dating back to the Neolithic era. It was an important trading port during the Middle Ages and has been a sought-after residential area since the 18th century. The area is known for its Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses, as well as more modern apartments. In terms of amenities, Fulham offers a range of shops, restaurants, cafes, and pubs, particularly along Fulham Road and New Kings Road. It is also home to Craven Cottage, the stadium of Fulham Football Club.The regular daytime television schedule on the BBC was interrupted with a surreal newsflash about Jill Dando's murder which informed viewers of this rather startling and bizarre piece of news. Anyone watching at the time must have had the same thought which was soon to occupy the police. Why on earth would anyone want to kill Jill Dando? That was to prove a question which rather perplexed the police - not to mention more than one court. It was a shocking and baffling murder. Theories relating to the murder were soon abounding. As we shall discuss later, some of these were outlandish and speculative and some were plausible. Others were ludicrous conspiracy theories which had the establishment (who were shapeshifting reptiles no doubt) putting a contract on Jill Dando's head because she had uncovered some huge conspiracy. These theories were truly a waste of everyone's time and inspired some crackpot YouTube videos.A lot of people immediately zeroed in on Jill Dando's role as a presenter on Crimewatch as a possible motive. Crimewatch is a television show that aired on BBC One from 1984 until 2017. The show focused on helping the police solve and prevent crime by appealing to the public for information and assistance. It featured reconstructions of unsolved crimes, appeals for information, and crime prevention advice. Crimewatch often involved interviews with detectives and victims' families, aiming to generate leads and gather new evidence. The show became known for its distinctive theme music and the iconic slogan, "Don't have nightmares, do sleep well." Over the years, Crimewatch helped solve numerous high-profile cases and played a significant role in raising public awareness about crime and the importance of community help in solving them.Jill Dando had hosted a BBC show which was designed to catch criminals. Perhaps someone in the criminal fraternity had developed a grudge against Dando in relation to specific investigations activated by Crimewatch? One obvious potential problem with this theory though is that Nick Ross had been hosting Crimewatch for a lot longer than Jill Dando. If some embittered criminal was angered by Crimewatch why not kill Nick Ross? Nick Ross actually said this himself. He didn't believe Crimewatch was a factor in Dando's death. Well, later in the book we shall look at the Crimewatch angle and examine the arguments for and against this theory.The murder of Jill Dando could not have come at a worse time for Scotland Yard. That same month had seen a series of nail bombings targeted at London's minority communities. Scotland Yard had allocated extensive resources into finding the lunatic responsible for these attacks but now they were suddenly under intense pressure too to find Jill Dando's killer. The London nail bombings of 1999 were a series of three bombing attacks. The attacks were carried out by a far-right extremist named David Copeland. The first attack occurred on April 17, 1999, in Brixton, a predominantly Afro-Caribbean community. Copeland placed a homemade nail bomb in a bag and left it outside the Iceland supermarket located on Electric Avenue. The bomb exploded, injuring 48 people, causing one death and significant damage to nearby buildings.The second attack took place on April 24, 1999, in Brick Lane, which has a large South Asian population. Copeland again used a homemade nail bomb, placing it in an unattended sports bag and leaving it on the street. The bomb detonated near the entrance of the Admiral Duncan pub, injuring 13 people and killing three individuals, including a pregnant woman. The third and final attack occurred on April 30, 1999, in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, an area known for its LGBTQ+ community. Copeland detonated a homemade nail bomb inside the pub, causing significant damage and killing three people, including a pregnant woman.These attacks sparked fear and panic within the targeted communities and raised concerns about far-right extremism in the United Kingdom. Copeland's bombing campaign was motivated by his hatred towards minority communities, as he believed that immigrants and minorities threatened the white British population. David Copeland was arrested on May 30, 1999, following a manhunt by the police. In 2000, he was convicted of murder and causing explosions with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to six concurrent life sentences in prison, with a recommendation that he should never be released. Despite the terror and mayhem created by the disturbed and delusional David Copeland, considerable resources were also allocated to the murder investigation into Jill Dando's murder. It was the biggest investigation by a British police force since The Yorkshire Ripper case a few decades back.The killer had shot Jill Dando in side of the head (as she put the key in her door to go inside - Dando actually had three locks on her door, presumably for security reasons) and then quickly fled the scene. Helen Doble, a neighbour, found Jill Dando's body about fourteen minutes later. Jill Dando was taken to Charing Cross Hospital and pronounced dead just after one in the afternoon. The murder scene, in terms of forensic evidence, had been unavoidably contaminated by the paramedics who tried to save Jill Dando. There was nothing that could be done about this. They obviously had to try and save Dando. This wasn't the time to think about forensic evidence.A single ejected 9mm cartridge case was found at the scene. This has created endless debate over whether or not the murder was committed by a professional killer or an opportunistic amateur who was stalking Dando. Some believe a professional would not have left a cartridge at the scene but one can counter this argument by pointing out that the gun was never traced. The bullet came out at the right side of Dando's head. There was a lot of blood on the front garden (not that there was much of a garden) path when she was found. The gun, despite an extensive police search for the murder weapon, was never found. The presumption is that the killer threw it in the river. A rather interesting if far-fetched theory is that the killer might have posted the gun out of the country after the murder. This though would suggest a foreign connection and would a gun in a parcel really have got through the mail delivery system?One slightly puzzling detail right away was that Dando was rarely at this Fulham house and preparing to sell it. How did the murderer know she would be there that specific day? Jill Dando now lived with her doctor fiancée Alan Farthing in his property at Bedford Close, Chiswick - about three miles away. Dr Alan Farthing is a prominent gynaecologist and obstetrician. He is best known for his work as the gynaecologist to the British royal family. Dr Farthing served as the surgeon-gynaecologist to Queen Elizabeth II from 2008 to 2013 and continued to work for the royal family until 2018. He is also a consultant gynaecologist at King Edward VII's Hospital in London and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Dr. Farthing has additional expertise in urogynecology and has published research in this field.Bedford Close was a more private sort of residence and would actually have made a better place to murder someone. This suggested that the killer had Dando under surveillance and was closely following her movements. However, CCTV of Dando in her last minutes dredged up no evidence that anyone was following her by foot or by car. Jill Dando was murdered at 29 Gowan Avenue. This was a long street and the killer had to walk for a hundred metres in either direction after the shooting before there was any possibility of exiting the street. Not a great place to kill someone in broad daylight. The timing of the murder was - whether by design or accident - quite shrewd though because there were few people on the street that morning.A possibility was that the killer lived in Fulham and so kept a close watch on Dando's comings and goings. If you lived in Fulham in the late 1990s you probably would have been aware that Jill Dando had a house in the area. You might even have seen her driving down the street or in a shop. There were reports of a smartly dressed man with a mobile phone 'stalking' Dando in the half-hour before her death. The police though could find no mobile phone records relating to this man in that location at this specific time. There is actually a theory that the mobile phone might have been ruse and that it was actually hollow and a place to hide the murder weapon.A perspiring man was also reported to have jumped on a bus shortly after the murder but this man was never identified. It could have just been an innocent member of the public who had to run to catch his morning bus. The problem with the eyewitness statements in the Jill Dando case is that they were not consistent. They were all over the place. Some of these were unavoidably red herrings. The reliability of eyewitness statements can vary greatly depending on several factors. While eyewitness testimony has historically been considered strong evidence in legal proceedings, researchers have found that it is not always accurate or reliable. Memory decay and interference can also contribute to inaccuracies in eyewitness statements. Memories can fade over time or be altered by subsequent events. Similarly, if an eyewitness is exposed to other information or witnesses' statements, it can influence their memory and affect the accuracy of their statement.The police had to sift through the eyewitness statements to see if they could find a pattern or anything which seemed especially pertinent and helpful. As we shall though it seems that the police essentially ignored what appeared to be the most salient eyewitness statement of all. Some reported seeing a Range Rover near Dando's home around the time the murder took place but - alas - this car could not be traced. The Range Rover was potentially highly suspicious because it was seen going through a red light. An eyewitness named Barry Lindsay, who we shall discuss later, had driven a Range Rover past Dando's home around the time of the murder but this was a different Range Rover. Was this Range Rover a getaway driver? That was certainly never proven.The police came to believe the killer was a lone wolf who had no accomplices and was a complete amateur (as opposed to a professional hitman or hardened criminal). That is basically the core division in the theories on this case. Jill Dando was either killed by a disturbed fan/stalker or she was killed in a professional hit. A popular theory was that Dando had been killed in revenge for a NATO attack on a TV station in Belgrade in which journalists were killed and injured. At the time of her death Jill Dando had recently fronted an appeal for Kosovan refugees. We shall discuss this theory later - though the police never appeared to show much interest in any of the Crimewatch/Belgrade theories. They certainly claim to have investigated these various competing theories but felt there was no evidence to take any of them seriously. The police 'experts' always seemed to believe the killer was a loner, a disturbed stalker who probably had some fixation with Jill Dando.DCI Hamish Campbell was put in charge of the investigation to find Jill Dando's killer. The investigation to find Dando's killer was named Operation Oxborough. A veteran of the Metropolitan Police's criminal intelligence and anti-terrorist branches, Campbell joined the force in 1974. He was seen as a rising star in the Met but the Jill Dando case didn't do much for his reputation. Campbell must have felt like he'd got a poison chalice with the Dando case as there was intense pressure on the Met to find the killer.The problem for the police was that were no obvious leads. You'd think that a shooting in west London in broad daylight would be fairly easy to solve but this obviously didn't turn out to be the case.Campbell ultimately decided to put all of his eggs in the 'lone stalker' basket. All of the police profile experts said that the person who did this was most likely a member of the public with mental health issues. Campbell did not believe that this murder was carried out by professional criminals who were experienced in crimes like this. A man named Martyn Gilbert was an early police suspect. He was found to have discussed Jill Dando in rather grim sexually explicit terms in emails and also lived near to her in Fulham. He also moved to Australia two weeks after the murder - which could certainly be seen as suspicious. Detectives from the Met went to Australia to question Gilbert but then ruled him out as a suspect after these interviews so we must presume he had a cast iron alibi. Another suspect was a London mechanic named Steve Savva. Savva was actually put under police surveillance for six months before he was ruled out. The police had to investigate numerous men to whittle down the suspect list but at this point they were still whistling in the dark. They had no idea who had killed Jill Dando.Jill Dando had visited a stationers and fishmongers before she made her way home to Fulham. She had purchased an ink cartridge for her fax machine and some Dover Sole for her dinner. CCTV in a Hammersmith shopping mall captured these last mundane fragments of her life. Dando then had a conversation with a traffic warden because she'd parked her BMW in the wrong place. The killer clearly seemed to anticipate that Dando was going to visit her Fulham home and moved in for the kill ruthlessly and efficiently - though the police might disagree because they didn't think the killer showed much professionalism at all in the murder.The thing about hitmen or contract killers is that we've been conditioned to think of them through the prism of fiction. You tend to think that someone hired to murder someone for money must be some Jason Bourne type character. The reality is different though. Contract killers are human. They make mistakes. They shoot the wrong people. They sometimes give the impression of being not very professional. To this day there is no consensus on whether the person who shot Jill Dando was a professional criminal or a lone nutcase.