25 years since Jill Dando's murder - Met Police 'open' to any new lines of enquiry

The murder of Jill Dando remains one of the UK's longest unsolved murders, and was a crime that shocked the nation.

At the height of her career, the 37 year old was shot in the head outside her home in Fulham, in broad daylight.

What followed was the largest criminal investigation the UK had seen since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.

Who was Jill Dando?

Born in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in 1961, Jill went on to train as a journalist at South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, known today as Cardiff Met University.

Her first job came as a trainee reporter for her local weekly newspaper the Weston Mercury, where both her brother and father worked.

She then moved into working for the BBC as a newsreader for BBC Radio Devon in the 1980s and presented regional television news across various newsrooms in the South West of England.

Jill moved from regional television to national news from the mid-80s through to the 1990s working on shows such as Breakfast Time, the BBC One O'Clock News and the Six O'Clock News.

She was arguably best known towards the end of her career for her work on Crimewatch as well as occasional appearances on Songs of Praise.

At the time of her death, she had been due to co-host the 1999 British Academy Television Awards alongside Sir Michael Parkinson.

The events of 26th April 1999

That morning, Jill had left her fiance Alan Farthing's home in Chiswick to the house she owned at 29 Gowan Avenue in Fulham.

She was known not to stay there very often and was in the process of selling the property, and had returned there to collect some documents from her agent.

At around 11.32am as she was standing on her front doorstep, Jill Dando was shot once in the head.

She was found by neighbours and police were called by 11.47am, after which she was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Another neighbour, Richard Hughes, spoke to the press at the time and said he'd heard Jill scream, but didn't hear a gunshot.

He also witnessed what's believed to be the only certain sighting of the killer - described as a 6 foot tall white man, aged around 40, walking away from the scene.

Forensic investigation indicated that Dando had been shot by a bullet from a 9mm Short calibre semi-automatic pistol, with the gun pressed against her head at the moment it was fired.

The investigation, conviction and aquittal

Due to Dando's fame, there was extensive media coverage of her shooting - within 6 months, the murder investigation team had spoken to more than 2,500 people and taken over 1,000 statements.

Her funeral took place back in her hometown of Weston-super-Mare, with thousands of people lining the streets to pay their respects as the funeral procession passed by.

There were many theories surrounding possible motives too that were included in the Met Police's investigations, including mistaken identity, a jealous ex-boyfriend or that someone had hired an assassin to murder Dando as revenge for their conviction due to the programme Crimewatch which she hosted.

After a year had passed and little progress had been made in the investigations, the Met Police turned their attention to a local man Barry George, who lives nearby.

He was put under surveillance and was arrested and charged with Jill Dando's murder in May 2000.

George was tried at the Old Bailey and in July 2001 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Following 2 unsuccessful appeals, he was granted an appeal in November 2007, and after a retrial lasting 8 weeks, Barry George was acquitted on 1st August 2008.

What have the Met Police said this week, 25 years on?

We approached the Met Police this week to find out their stance on the unsolved case, 25 years on.

In their response, a spokesperson said: "Ahead of the 25th anniversary of Jill Dando’s murder, our thoughts remain with her family and all those affected by her death.

"In the years since her murder, the investigation has been subject to numerous reviews, aiming to identify whether matters could be progressed with advances in technology and forensics.

"The investigation is now in an inactive phase, which means that it is not currently subject to routine reviews. However no unsolved murder is ever closed and detectives would consider any new information provided to assess whether it represented a new and realistic line of enquiry.

"Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC. Alternatively contact independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

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