The murder of Jill Dando

[ASauvignonADay]

Just watching the bbc doc. I remember watching the news when it was announced like it was yesterday.

I had heard she was poised to investigate rumours of a sex scandal involving some VERY high profile individuals (not the ones mentioned) but who knows?

Did the police have no other leads? Any ex boyfriends? It seemed a bit 'up close and personal' for a professional hit. Surely one or two shots to the head from a distance of a few metres would have been the preferred method if it had been a pro?

@Ohtheroses

Probably because men are in fact responsible for the vast vast bulk of violent crime.

Hi all,

Feel free to discuss the case and the programme but we are going to take down all of the speculation about living people now.

Thanks.

So sorry MNHQ, I hadn't meant to speculate, was just repeating.

@littlebird88 Jill was a journalist. Yes also a presenter but in no means just an auto cue reader.

It very much seems as if the police still think that Barry George did it. Obviously he was acquitted but I can see how he came under suspicion in the first place even if the conviction turned out not to be safe. He had a track-record and a conviction for attempted rape, and while these things in themselves do not a murderer make as a person he wasn’t a paragon of virtue either

There was nothing new whatsoever - fiancé not even mentioned so presumably he refused to take part or have anything to do with it. Must say I thought the idea that you could get gun shot residue in the inside pocket of your coat by travelling on the tube was a bit hard to believe.

I'd just had my first dc so remember this like it was yesterday, can't believe it's been 20 years already?! Was very shocking at the time.

"a bit hard to believe"

I caught that bit of the programme. The expert pointed out that gunshot residue is not that rare a substance, and that contamination on places like the Tube are such that they estimate 1:100 tube users pick up very low levels. (it can get there from off duty armed police and the military as well criminals).

One particle found a full year after the offence, the expert said, does not make for reliable evidence.

I can still remember the utter disbelief I felt when someone told me that Jill had been murdered. In fact I didn't believe it and was convinced it was a sick prank until I saw it on the news with my own eyes that evening. Even now it's utterly astonishing. Why her?

The documentary itself didn't really tell us anything new though.

I think they know who did it seems like another cover uk because they are too scared to say

I just think it may end up being a very sad unsolved case.
It seems like the murderer was used to guns and you would expect anyone subsequently arrested to have been covered in evidence.
Perhaps there may be a future forensic breakthrough or someone somewhere eventually talks?

I work in BBC television. If a story involving high profile people was being worked on for Crimewatch and investigated, the producers, researchers, journalists etc would have to have been killed too in order to silence things. Jill Dando was not an investigative journalist working alone.

Haven’t watched the documentary yet but I read a very interesting book about the case once. It pointed towards Barry George- and perhaps that’s not who killed her- but it’s well written and research. It’s seemingly only available second hand but I really rate the author. He wrote a fascinating book about the James Bulger murder and one about Dr. Crippen. Both fascinating, as is this one on Jill Dando.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0751532819/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8&qid&sr

It had all the hallmarks of a professional hit. But once again, why? She was so inoffensive. People have mentioned her knowing too much about certain people, but would she really have been privy to such information?

I think she knew something. I think it was a hitman.

But like one of the policemen said, it was an incredibly risky killing. A well-known celebrity, stabbed multiple times on a busy London street in broad daylight. Surely a pro would have approached on a motorcycle, fired a few shots at close range and sped off?

Jill Dando was shot, not stabbed.

She wasn't stabbed though.(or have I missed huge amounts on thus?)

Accounts I read said she was forced to the ground in her doorstep ad shit once in the head.

Also Wiki says she was in the process of selling that house and did not go there in often. So there must have been a lot of lying in wait.

She wasn’t stabbed multiple times.

It was one shot at close range. In the side of her head. It had the hallmarks of a pro killer.

Thanks for the link HeyCarrie - I've read DJ Smith's book about the Bulger case and it's intelligent, subtle and well researched.

Professional hit sounds a bit too conspiracy theoryish to me. She would not have been the only or even primary one who knew critical information if there was any, so, what, the entire BBC then keeps quiet out of fear, as opposed to being flaming mad and becoming even more determined to expose? I don't see it. Life isn't TV and when crimes go unsolved it's usually for boring, messy, unsatisfying reasons like investigation or evidence collecting fuck-ups, or truly being random. And a lot of cases end up substantially solved, ie the police are confident they know who did it, but without a conviction because of flaws in the evidence.

Why does everything turn into a conspiracy theory. Just because no culprit or motive has been found. Same with Princess Diana. It was a tragic accident.

Sorry, my mistake. Don't know why I thought she was both shot and stabbed. Does sound like a professional hit job in that case.

I don’t think you accidentally shoot someone in the head at close range. I think whoever it was intended to kill her.