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Who killed Jill Dando? Timeline of events since BBC presenter was shot dead

Yahoo News UK looks at the timeline of events since Jill Dando was killed outside her London home in April 1999.

Ross McGuinness and Ellen Manning
·6-min read
Jill Dando TV Presenter standing behind a bush
A new documentary about the killing of Jill Dando is being released. (Alamy) (Mirrorpix, Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix)

It is 25 years since BBC presenter Jill Dando was murdered outside her home in a case that shocked Britain and remains unsolved to this day.

Ahead of the latest anniversary, lawyers urged investigators to re-open the case after a fresh line of inquiry found ties to a twice-convicted Serbian hitman. A facial comparison expert found similarities between Milorad Ulemek, a twice-convicted killer serving 40 years in Serbia, and a man seen near the crime scene.

The Mirror newspaper reported that a set of fingerprints taken from a traffic light post grabbed by a man seen fleeing from the scene have never been identified.

Michael Mansfield KC, the barrister who defended George at his first trial, said: “The Metropolitan Police has a duty to Jill’s family and loved ones, to Barry George and the public to fully investigate this new line of inquiry uncovered by the Daily Mirror. This should include a full forensic examination of the original CCTV of the man, all recovered finger and palm prints and to ascertain the movements of Ulemek at the time.”

Last year a three-part Netflix documentary series on the case, Who Killed Jill Dando?, explored the unanswered questions about her murder. Dando's brother Nigel, who appeared on the show, said at the time that he wanted to give the case a "push" but accepted it may never be solved, adding: "It is what it is. But you can never say never."

Yahoo News UK looks at the timeline of events since Dando was killed...

Jill Dando, 37, is shot once in the head at point blank range on her doorstep outside her home on Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south west London, at 11.32am.

She had returned there after leaving the home of her fiancé, gynaecologist Alan Farthing, in nearby Chiswick.

Her body was discovered 14 minutes later by a neighbour. She was taken to Charing Cross Hospital but was declared dead on arrival at 1.03pm.

Her neighbour, Richard Hughes, said he heard Dando scream outside her front door but heard no gunshot. He looked out his front window and saw a white man, about 6ft tall and aged about 40, walking away from Dando's house.

BBC presenter Jennie Bond, a friend and colleague of Dando's, announces her death on air.

Police search Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south west London, where the body of BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was found outside her home after being attacked. (Photo by Peter Jordan - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Police search Gowan Avenue, Fulham, south west London, where TV presenter Jill Dando was found dead outside her home. (PA) (Peter Jordan - PA Images via Getty Images)

A reconstruction of Dando's last movements is broadcast as part of an appeal on BBC Crimewatch, one of the programmes she used to present.

An E-fit of a suspect is also shown on the programme.

The show receives 500 calls from the public.

CCTV film showing former BBC presenter, Jill Dando, shopping at a branch of the Dixons chain in the Kings Mall shopping centre in Hammersmith, London. Jill left the mall and headed toward her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, where she was shot on her doorstep. * Pic taken at 10.55am on Monday, 26th April 1999. 40 minutes before murder *02/07/2001...The Old Bailey jury in the Jill Dando murder trial announced its verdict of guilty in the trial of suspect suspect Barry George, 41, unemployed from south west London. George had denied murdering Miss Dando on April 26 1999. The TV presenter was
CCTV showing Jill Dando shopping at a branch of Dixons in Hammersmith, London, 40 minutes before she was killed. (PA) (PA, PA Images)
Broadcasting of TV programme Crimewatch with presenter Jill Dando - Tuesday 23rd February 1999
Jill Dando presenting Crimewatch on BBC two months before her murder. (PA) (Nick Scott Archive)

Barry George, then 40, who lived about half a mile from Dando's house in Fulham, is arrested on suspicion of Dando's murder.

He had been put under police surveillance after being identified as a suspect.

The investigation by the Metropolitan Police, named Operation Oxborough, interviewed 2,500 people and took more than 1,000 statements.

George is charged with Dando's murder.

He had a history of sexual offences - in June 1981, George was convicted of indecent assault against a woman and was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

In March 1983, George was convicted of the attempted rape of a woman in Acton, west London, and served 18 months in prison of a 33-month sentence.

NOTE ALTERNATE CROP Barry George leaves the Old Bailey in London after he was cleared of murdering Jill Dando. (Photo by Anthony Devlin - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Barry George, pictured, was cleared of murdering Jill Dando after spending eight years in prison. (PA) (Anthony Devlin - PA Images via Getty Images)

George's trial begins at the Old Bailey.

The court hears he is obsessed with fame and guns, while his defence team suggest that a Serbian hitman may have murdered Dando in revenge after she fronted an appeal for Kosovan refugees.

His defence barrister suggests that Serbian warlord Željko Ražnatović, known as Arkan, ordered the killing.

George is convicted of Dando's murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The court heard that a single particle of gunpowder residue on his coat linked him to the killing.

George loses an appeal against his conviction, with judges rejecting his claims that the evidence used to convict him was "flimsy".

English television presenter Jill Dando (1961 - 1999), UK, 30th October 1996. (Photo by Colin Davey/Getty Images)
It is almost a quarter of a century since Jill Dando was killed. (Getty Images) (Colin Davey via Getty Images)

George is refused permission by the House of Lords to take his appeal to a higher court.

A solicitor for George says he has new evidence which undermines the safety of his conviction.

George wins the right to a new appeal after the Criminal Cases Review Commission says too much weight was given to a small amount of forensic evidence - the particle of firearms residue - at the trial.

George's conviction is quashed after the Court of Appeal rules the original conviction was unsafe.

The court heard the residue was just as likely to have come from an extraneous source as a gun fired by George.

A retrial begins. George pleads not guilty to Dando's murder.

Barry George, who spent eight years in prison after being wrongly convicted of the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando, outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, where he lost his legal battle for compensation as a victim of a 'miscarriage of justice in the Court of Appeal. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
Barry George was wrongly convicted of the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando. (PA) (Yui Mok - PA Images via Getty Images)

After the retrial, George is found not guilty of Dando's murder. He had spent eight years in prison.

In the trailer for the new Netflix docu-series, George says: “It makes me angry that they’ve taken eight years of my life."

George is paid an undisclosed amount in a libel case over articles about him published in The Sun and News Of The World newspapers.

The Mirror Group Newspapers settles a libel claim with George over articles it published about him.

The High Court rules that George is not entitled to compensation over his wrongful conviction.

Two judges say that in the original trial there was "a case upon which a reasonable jury properly directed could have convicted the claimant of murder".

George loses another legal bid for compensation, as the Court of Appeal backs the decision made by the High Court six months previously.