Latest news with #JillDando
BBC News
03-05-2025
- BBC News
'Inspiring' Jill Dando good news initiative aims to go global
A good news initiative set up in memory of murdered TV journalist Jill Dando is aiming to "go global". Journalist, presenter and newsreader Jill Dando was murdered outside her London home 26 years ago, but her legacy continues to live on among younger generations of budding journalists. Jill Dando News is a positive news stories platform, founded in Jill's home town of Weston-super-Mare, that now wants to have a global presence after spreading to Malawi. Shane Dean, 52, founder of Jill Dando News said: "Everybody's got a huge determination to take this global." Timeline of Jill Dando's murderJill Dando: The golden girl of TV Jill Dando was one of the highest profile members of on-screen BBC staff and was named the corporation's Personality of the Year in murder remains one of the country's most high-profile unsolved murder cases, with more than 2,000 people having been named as potential is remembered for being the "nations sweetheart" by many. In 2017 two student journalists and Mr Dean, a former journalist, came up with the idea to start Jill Dando News to honour her memory. It grew from a good news initiatives at Priory Community School in Weston-super-Mare and Worle Community School - where Jill had been a Dando News Centres are now in place across 11 schools in Somerset but have now also expanded to include a school in Malawi. Mr Dean, 52, from Weston-super-Mare said: "Everybody's got a huge determination to take this global. "The children want to take this global. We're in Malawi now and I've been talking to schools in America."It is a watch-this-space situation."Mr Dean added that Jill's love of positive stories is inspiring the students, improving their self-confidence as well as working to tackle the "epidemic" of poor mental health among young people. "Instead of young people sat doom scrolling all day long, if we get the help of the government and business leaders I think we could have a day in a few years where the children are sat there scrolling good news stories, or even better, that they're writing them."Jill's legacy has been one of positive journalism," he said. He added that her "courage and determination" to reach the heights of journalism gives hope to all students that they can achieve anything. "She has inspired students with her unbelievable story while at the same time remaining humble."She never changed from being Jill." Nigel Dando, Jill's brother and former BBC journalist, said his sister would be "incredibly proud" of the movement carried out in her O'Gorman, 39, an English teacher at Priory Community School in Weston-super-Mare helped set up a Jill Dando News Centre in Malawi and says the model "can work in any setting, any country"."The legacy and passion of Jill Dando has the power to become international and the model can work in any setting, any country so we want to spread the good news revolution as far as it will go. "We have a strong, dynamic model of how to set up Jill Dando News centres in school or youth club settings which is easy to replicate," she added Mayor John Crockford-Hawley, 78, is a patron of Jill Dando News and said it helped build up students' self confidence. "It is giving confidence to young people not to fear to go and ask and integrate with those who are not just their own age group."He added it was "amazing" how much the student journalists had been able to achieve, including interviewing prime ministers, speaker of the house of commons as well as celebrities like Sir Richard Branson.
Daily Mirror
27-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
'My TV star friend was shot in head by cold-blooded killer - now's our chance for justice'
John Simpson has called on the police to open up a new investigation into the tragic murder of BBC star Jill Dando, after The Mirror found new evidence into who could have murdered Jill It's been 26 years since the BBC 's Jill Dando was shot dead in broad daylight. At the time her colleague and friend John Simpson was reporting from Serbia as Nato bombed the country. Today - with the killer still at large - John is calling on police to open a new investigation that could finally get justice for Jill. It comes after we found new evidence that suggests that Jill was murdered by the Serbian security services because she had made an appeal for Kosovan refugees. Two key witnesses have put Serbian assassin Milorad Ulemek in the frame. Ulemek, now 57 and serving 40 years in a Serbian jail, led a unit of hitmen and plotted assassinations for late Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. A facial comparison expert has found he was identical to a CCTV image of a man filmed near the scene. Mystery 18 minutes of Jill Dando murder – betting slip, sweating man and key mark We have now revealed that Ulemek's spyboss has admitted one of his commandos carried out an attack in Europe. At the time Jill was shot, UK planes were bombing Serbia and she was one of the most famous faces on TV, presenting BBC shows such as Crimewatch and Holiday. Within hours of her murder, the BBC took a call claiming it was in response to a Nato attack on a Belgrade TV station. As the Met considers its next move, BBC veteran John explains why it's the duty of police to investigate the new information... Firstly, many congratulations on the remarkable facts you've discovered about Jill's murder, and congratulations too on keeping the investigation going. It was one of the most shocking and mysterious murders of modern times, and shouldn't simply be forgotten because it's so difficult to solve. If the Met has lost interest — which is what it sounds like — then an outside force with no prejudices should definitely be called in to investigate it. There should, I think, be a full review of the case. There was a full-scale media battle over the coverage of the war. I was in Belgrade for the BBC, and came under attack from the Blair government for reporting what was self-evidently true: instead of turning the Serbs against their dictatorial leader Slobodan Milosevic, the daily and nightly bombing by British and other air forces made them angrier and more inclined to support Milosevic, even if they didn't like him. Blair and his spokesman Alastair Campbell were badly rattled by my report, and accused me of operating under the instructions of the Serbian government. Given all the anger and threats I was getting from the Serbian government, the police and the security organisations, this was an outrageous lie. The BBC from the chairman down gave me its full support, and when I threatened to sue Campbell he backed down. I honestly don't know whether Jill was targeted because of something she said on air — particularly about Kosovo. I was in Belgrade when the news of her murder came through, and at that stage the journalists there felt certain she had been killed by Serb agents, perhaps because of the appeal she had recorded on behalf of Kosovo. Almost all the main Western news organisations pulled out of Belgrade at that time because the Serbian warlord Arkan (later murdered himself) had threatened to cut the throats of every British and American journalist who stayed on in Belgrade. He even revealed the room numbers of some of us in the main press hotel in Belgrade. The rest of the BBC team left, but I decided to stay on and was there for the entire course of the war. That experience made me question whether Jill had been murdered by a Serbian agent, because it would have been so easy to come and kill me if they had wanted to make a statement of that kind. I also felt that if they had murdered Jill and got away with it, they would have crowed about it — something their propagandists were inclined to do. But I nowadays think it is entirely possible that a Serbian agent who found himself in London at the time decided to stage an attack like this in order to make a political point — whether authorised by Belgrade or simply off his own bat. Maybe he knew where Jill lived and killed her as a result. Either Belgrade didn't know beforehand, or else they approved it but then decided to say nothing when they saw what an outcry Jill's murder had created. As a person, Jill was very gentle and quite insecure — not at all the tough operator with sharp elbows most people think news presenters must be. I don't think anyone who worked with her disliked her: she had a real charm, and never as far as I know used her good looks to get on. Her work really mattered to her — she wasn't one of those people, of whom there've been plenty, who used the fame her job gave her to promote her own career. I thought she was a brilliant news presenter, because she genuinely wanted to tell people what was happening — not how great she was. For the twenty-six years since her death I have puzzled over it and longed to find out who was responsible, and why. To this day, I often go over the facts in my mind. She was such a professional, I feel it's hugely in the public interest to know whether or not she died because of her work. I certainly don't feel it's good enough to give up trying to find out why she died, simply because so much time has elapsed since that terrible day. If you've uncovered her murderer, I'd feel a huge burden had been lifted from me.
Daily Mirror
26-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
Bombshell tip on Jill Dando murder sent to Mirror just hours after 'contract killing'
A caller said Jill's killer was helped by an accomplice in a blue Range Rover who was moving around the area before the murder and waited close to a nearby park Jill Dando was the victim of a contract killing carried out by a gunman with an accomplice driving a blue Range Rover, the Daily Mirror was told just 26 hours after the murder. An anonymous caller contacted our newsdesk to say the killer was helped by a getaway driver who was waiting near Bishops Park, close to Jill 's home in Fulham, South West London. It was not until later that a van driver witness told police that a smartly dressed man he almost ran over disappeared from his view at the same spot. The key witness was driving nearby soon after the Crimewatch host, 37, was shot dead at her home on April 26, 1999. He has now said that the man he saw looked like ruthless assassin Milorad Ulemek. Two days after the murder, he told police that a man in a dark suit sprinted in front of his Ford Transit without looking on the Fulham Palace Road. The witness said he braked hard and watched as the man ran into Bishops Avenue, near Bishops Park. In a police statement, then Daily Mirror Deputy News Editor, Anthony Harwood, said he was told the day after the murder that a getaway driver was waiting at the same spot. Mr Harwood said he took a call at approximately 1.15pm on April 27. He said two days later: "There was a male on the phone. He said 'I've got some information about the shooting on Fulham Palace Road'. I immediately knew what he was referring to. That is the murder of Jill Dando. "He then said what we needed to look for was a dark blue Range Rover with a 'C' prefix." Mr Harwood said the caller told him it was a "contract killing" and that two men were involved, the gunman and the driver. READ MORE: Vital clues from Jill Dando's final moments – custom bullet and 'unsurvivable' injury "He said that at the time of the getaway the Range Rover was parked in Bishops Avenue. The man said that the car had been moving around before that." The tipster then said the murder had nothing to do with Jill fronting Crimewatch. He denied being an eye witness, saying he was from Canada and that he "just knew about it", Mr Harwood said. The caller sounded British and Mr Harwood said he "got the impression" his accent was "East End/Essex". Giving evidence at Barry George's trial, Det Chief Insp Hamish Campbell dismissed the call, saying he believed it was a "malicious claim". But the trial heard that there were at least five separate sightings of blue Ranger Rovers close to the crime scene that were never traced. READ MORE: Jill Dando murder bombshell as SECOND witness claims notorious assassin is mysterious Man X A traffic warden told Crimewatch how she saw a blue Range Rover illegally parked on Gowan Avenue, the road where the television presenter lived, around an hour and twenty minutes before the murder. "I started to type the registration number in. Suddenly I noticed this man that was sitting in the driver's seat," the traffic warden said. The man tapped on the windscreen and motioned her to go away. "I was quite startled and a bit embarrassed so I walked off," she said.
Daily Mirror
26-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
'I know I saw Jill Dando's killer after witnessing a crazy man's mad actions'
Ken Williams says he was walking his dog having just placed a bet when he saw an athletic man run from Jill Dando's road into traffic before launching himself off the bonnet of a moving car and spinning onto the pavement A "crazy man" who ran from Jill Dando 's road into traffic at around the time she was murdered was definitely her killer, a witness has said. Ken Williams had just placed a bet when he saw the athletic suspect spin off the bonnet of a moving car in Fulham, South West London. Ken was waiting at a pelican crossing with his black labrador Angie when the man appeared approximately 300 meters from where Jill lay dead outside her Gowan Avenue home. He said: "I thought that was the man that killed her because he came from Gowan Avenue. Why would he run across that road like that when the traffic was moving? I thought it was mad." Asked if he was sure the man was the killer, Ken, now 83, said: "Yes, definitely." It comes as the Met Police are being urged to launch a review after we found new evidence linking a Serbian assassin to the unsolved 26-year-old case. A van driver told us he was '80% sure' that Milorad Ulemek was the man he nearly hit close to where Ken was. And a woman motorist told us last year that she was certain she had seen Ulemek in the same stretch of the Fulham Palace Road on the morning of April 26, 1999. Jill, 37, was ambushed from behind as she was about to open her front door, forced to the ground and killed with one bullet to the left temple fired at close range. Ulemek, now 57 and serving 40 years in a Serbian jail, led a unit of hitmen and plotted assassinations for late Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Last year we named him for the first time in connection with Jill's murder after a facial comparison expert said he was identical to a CCTV image of a man filmed near the scene. In the light of our investigation, MPs have called for the case to be reopened and the top barrister who prosecuted Milosevic for war crimes says Ulemek should be investigated. At the time Jill was shot, UK planes were bombing Serbia and she was one of the most famous faces on TV, presenting BBC shows such as Crimewatch and Holiday. Within hours of her murder, the BBC took a call claiming it was in response to a Nato attack on a Belgrade TV station. It was feared Jill may have been targeted for fronting a BBC charity appeal for Kosovan refugees. The three witnesses we spoke to are among eight who described seeing a suspicious man near the murder scene at the time. Each one spoke of a white man with dark hair of a roughly similar age, height and build in dark, smart clothing. READ MORE: Bombshell tip on Jill Dando murder sent to Mirror just 26 hours after 'contract killing' Five said he stood out because he was running in a suit, while two said he was sweating heavily. These sightings were the main focus of the police investigation in the weeks after the murder and they released an e-fit of a "sweating man" they were hunting. Despite raising actions to "trace, interview and eliminate" the man or men from their enquiries, he or they, are still wanted 26 years on. Detectives homed in on Barry George, a local man with severe learning difficulties, nearly a year after the murder. Crucially, none of the eight witnesses said George was the man they had seen. Ulemek, who speaks good English, is of a similar build, height and hair colour to the descriptions given by the eight. Ken said it "could have been" him that he saw but he did not get a good view of his face as the man was running away from him. Speaking publicly for the first time since he gave evidence for the defence at George's Old Bailey trial, Ken, a retired labourer and lifelong Mirror reader, said the suspect was very athletic. He added: "He was agile, fit, you know. No ordinary person could have done what he did. The car wasn't stopping, he crouched and bounced off it. The car was still moving and he pushed his hands off the bonnet and spun off it and grabbed a pole. He knew what he was doing." Asked if it could have been George he said: 'No, definitely not. I'd seen him around before this happened. I didn't know his name or anything but I had seen him around. He couldn't do what that man did, run across the road like that. I knew they got the wrong man straight away [when George was charged]." In a statement Ken gave police five days after the murder, he said: "I was thinking, 'What's he running for?' I could see no bus coming." While waiting to cross with a woman, one of them said "he must be crazy", the statement revealed. Ken told police the man was wearing a dark suit and "some form of jacket" that looked like a bodywarmer. He estimated that he was in his late 30s, 5ft10 or 11, of medium build with black, collar length hair. Ken said recently that the suspect appeared to be wearing a coat that had been turned inside out. Finger and palm marks later found on the pole he grabbed, four-and-a-half feet from the ground and facing the road, remain unidentified, police files show. Asked if officers should compare them to Ulemek, Ken said: "Yes, definitely." Hamish Campbell, the retired detective who led the investigation into Jill's murder, said last year that by November 1999 he had established that the "sweating man" in the e-fit was not the killer. He added that he was sure the "running man", if he was another person, was also not the killer. Mr Campbell said this was achieved by drawing up detailed analysis charts of sightings showing timings and the differences in clothing and descriptions given by the witnesses. The Met said: "No unsolved murder is ever closed and detectives would consider any new information."
Daily Mirror
25-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
Jill Dando's killer theories from new witness bombshell to 'amateur loner'
It's been 26 years since TV presenter Jill Dando was brutally murdered but we examine the clues since crucial information from a new witness, as part of a Mirror investigation, came forward As one of the most beloved faces on television, the murder of Jill Dando left the nation shocked and appalled, and 26 years on, her killer has yet to be brought to justice. As the star of shows such as Crimewatch and Holiday, warm and likeable Jill was a household name, and it appeared she had a bright future to look forward to. Then, on the morning of April 26, 1999, it was all snatched away. The day began happily enough. Jill had made breakfast in bed for her fiancé, the gynaecologist Alan Farthing, at his Chiswick home before he headed out to work. The couple had been excitedly making plans for their September wedding and had spent the previous evening writing a letter to the Claridge's Hotel, where their reception would have been held. At around 10am, Jill made the journey back to her own home in Fulham, West London, stopping en route to run a few errands. This included purchasing fish for her and Alan's evening meal. Jill's diary also included attending a charity lunch at a luxury Mayfair hotel that day. Sadly, she was never to attend. At 11.32 am, Jill reached her front door at 29 Gowan Avenue, when her seemingly ordinary day descended into a nightmare. Just as she was about to place her key in the lock, an unknown individual shot the newsreader in the head, instantly killing her. She was only 37 years old. As a key witness opens up to the Mirror about what they saw that terrible day, we look at the clues detectives have been puzzling over for more than a quarter of a century. Neighbour Richard Hughes heard a scream shortly after Jill pulled up to her house, but didn't think it was significant at the time. Later, he told the jury that he 'thought it was someone surprising somebody'. Richard, who lived at number 31, did, however, look out of the window and saw a white, dark-haired man between the ages of 30 and 40 walking toward Fulham Palace Road. He remembered the man as average height, with a thick-set build. Just under 15 minutes later, another neighbour, Helen Doble, found Jill's lifeless body slumped in her doorway. Giving evidence at the subsequent trial, as per The Guardian, a traumatised Helen recalled: "To suddenly encounter such a violent scene was completely horrific. It took me a few seconds to realise it was Jill, because of the way she looked." The police were called, sparking the country's biggest murder investigation since the hunt for the murderous Yorkshire Ripper. The finger was quickly pointed at Barry George, who successfully appealed against his wrongful conviction. 26 years on, the Mirror looks at some current theories as to who the true killer actually is... 'Serbian secret services assassin' A man wanted for questioning in Jill's murder bears a striking resemblance to a ruthless Serbian secret services assassin, a Mirror investigation revealed back in April 2024. The unidentified person was caught on CCTV following the gunman's likely escape route after the Crimewatch presenter had been shot dead in 1999. It bore the hallmarks of a professional hit. Facial comparison expert Emi Polito has now found several similarities between 'Man X' in the CCTV and twice-convicted murderer Milorad Ulemek, who is serving 40 years in a Serbian prison. At the time Jill was killed, the 56-year-old led a feared squad of hitmen responsible for targeting opponents of brutal dictator Slobodan Milosevic. When Jill died, the Yugoslav war was raging, and British planes were bombing Serbia as part of a NATO campaign. She had appealed on behalf of Kosovan refugees who were being massacred by Milosevic's forces. Within hours of her death, a call was made claiming the murder was in response to the bombings. The assassin bears a striking resemblance to the 'sweating man' e-fit of a suspect who got on a bus in Fulham, South-West London, minutes after Jill was shot outside her nearby home. Mr Polito, who gives expert evidence for the police, said Man X and the Serb killer have a similar shaped mouth, chin, hairline and right sideburn, while the general shape and sizes of their noses and right ear were the same. His report concluded: 'Within the imagery limitations, no differences were found between Man X and Mr [Ulemek].' However, he could only give limited support to them, being the same person, because of a lack of detail in the blurry still of the CCTV image. He concluded: 'There are a number of similarities between the two men… in particular the appearance of the mouth and of the hairline that add some light weight to the contention that they are the same person.' Mr Polito said it may be possible to make a more definitive finding if better quality CCTV images were obtained. In addition, the expert highlighted a dent on the bridge of Ulemek's nose which is not visible in the CCTV image but is evident in an e-fit created by an eye witness at the time, which was released by the police. Mr Polito has not given the e-fit image. Ulemek's lawyer, Aleksander Kovacevic, said his client did not wish to 'participate' when asked if he murdered Jill. He wrote: 'I inform you that my client has been made aware of this and that he is not interested in participating.' In a Mirror report published just this week, a van driver who saw a man running near the murder scene has told us that he looked like Ulemek. Two days after the killing, this key witness, who does not wish to be named, told police that a man in a dark suit had sprinted in front of his Ford Transit without looking on the Fulham Palace Road, South West London. After looking at the Mirror pictures of the Serbian assassin, he stated: "He does look like the man I saw." The witness, who is now in his 60s, recalled: "Anyone else would have said f*** off or sorry, but he didn't say anything, he just wanted to get away and that's what made me suspicious. It looked like he was running from something. If I had known, I would have got hold of him." This comes after a female witness told us last year that she was certain she had seen Ulemek running along the same stretch of road at approximately the same time. In light of the Mirror's investigation, the lead barrister prosecuting Milosevic has asserted that Ulemek should be investigated over Jill's murder. Sir Geoffrey Nice KC stated: "I would encourage the police to be open minded given there are new pieces of evidence that may not have been considered and it would be helpful if they are considered." 'Amateur loner' For years, the assassin-style single shot in the head has led many to believe that Jill's murder was the work of a professional. However, Detective Chief Inspector Hamish Campbell recently spoke with the Mail Online about his theory that the man responsible had all 'the hallmarks of the loner', rather than someone hired by a criminal gang or corrupt politician. Detective Campbell, who led the inquiry into Jill's death, revealed: "I wrote in my personal notes, in the earliest weeks, that I considered the killing to be the work of the loner or the obsessive. Many months later, I recorded that I still feared the loner or an ill man was responsible. "Twenty-five years later, there's still nothing from the vast criminal networks. No one emerging. So it must have been a loner, or at least someone acting on their own initiative. That I feel sure of." Describing the shooting as amateurish, Detective Campbell added: "The approach in broad daylight, unmasked, ungloved — and walking away? A single bullet, leaving evidence of casing, and, remarkably and importantly, the location. That was always significant. Jill was visiting 29 Gowan Avenue, just by chance; her visit was random. It had not been pre-planned."
