[Unsolved] Jill Dando: Britain's Beloved Presenter

Britain's Golden Girl

Jill Dando was one of the most beloved television presenters in the United Kingdom. She co-hosted the BBC's flagship program Crimewatch UK, presented holiday shows, and was a familiar face in millions of British homes. She was beautiful, talented, and engaged to be married. At 37 years old, she had everything to live for.

On April 26, 1999, Jill Dando was murdered.

The Murder

On that spring morning, Jill drove to her home in Fulham, West London—a house she was preparing to sell after her engagement. As she approached her front door around 11:30 AM, someone grabbed her from behind, forced her to the ground, and shot her once in the head at point-blank range.

A neighbor heard a scream but didn't see the attacker. By the time help arrived, Jill was dead.

The murder of such a high-profile figure in broad daylight shocked the nation. Who would want to kill Jill Dando? And why?

The Investigation

The Metropolitan Police launched one of the largest murder investigations in British history. Theories emerged:

1.Professional Hit - The execution-style killing suggested a professional assassination, possibly connected to her work on Crimewatch UK exposing criminals

2.Stalker - Jill had received fan mail and may have had an obsessed stalker

3.Serbian Hit - Some theorized it was retaliation for NATO's bombing of a Serbian TV station (which the BBC had covered)

4.Random Attack - It could have been a random, opportunistic crime

Despite thousands of tips and extensive investigation, police struggled to find the killer.

Barry George: Convicted, Then Acquitted

In 2000, police arrested Barry George, a local man with mental health issues who lived near Jill's home. He had a history of stalking women and obsessive behavior. A single particle of firearms residue was found on his coat—the key piece of evidence against him.

In 2001, Barry George was convicted of Jill Dando's murder and sentenced to life in prison.

But there were problems with the case. The firearms residue evidence was questioned. There was no other physical evidence linking Barry to the crime. No motive was established. In 2008, his conviction was overturned on appeal, and he was acquitted at retrial.

Barry George had spent eight years in prison for a murder he may not have committed.

The Mystery Remains

Twenty-five years later, Jill Dando's murder remains unsolved. No one has been charged. No new suspects have emerged. The case is cold.

Who killed Jill Dando? Was it a professional hit? A stalker? A random attack? The truth may never be known.

Jill Dando's murder remains one of the most baffling and high-profile unsolved cases in British history.

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] On a quiet Monday morning in 19 99, 1 of Britain's most beloved television presenters was gunned down on her own doorstep. The killing shocked the nation, not just because of who she was, but because of how it happened in broad daylight with a single shot. What followed was one of the most high profile investigations in UK history.

It's a case filled with twists, questions, and a verdict that would later be overturned. This is the story of Jill Dando.

Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi, Mandy. How are you, Melissa? I'm exhausted to tell you the truth. I know. I even said that peppy and I was like, eh, it doesn't feel like that. Yeah. I feel like I'm calling that part in.

Yeah, we've, we've, we have recorded a lot, not just this week, but [00:01:00] really last week as well. I feel like we've just been recording. Queens, if you will. Absolutely. Um, just preparing, both of us are going out of town and it just ti the season. My kids were on spring break, it was my husband's birthday. There's just been a a lot going on and we've recorded a lot and I can say it's catching up to me now.

Yeah. Well, part of the reason we've been recording a lot is because we wanted to kind of explain this a little better, kind of. Lately have been doing things and then explaining them after, and I don't know how great that is to people that like change, including myself. I don't really love that kind of a change.

So I like to know when you know different things are happening. So if you're listening to this episode, it's a Tuesday or it came out on Tuesday. This is our regular episode, Melissa and Mandy, moms and Mysteries. Nothing is changing here for you. Yes, here for you. Um, Thursdays, we are now doing a bonus episode.

We're not sure how long we're gonna do it. We just thought we would add something to the mix that could be a little different, like mailbag or [00:02:00] maybe some update episodes, just to give you guys something more. Um, so that's Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you see Wednesdays pop up on your thing, if you see something about a documentary that says premium.

It's premium. You don't have to listen to it. Right? If it comes on your thing, ignore it. But don't think that we now have all premium. It's just the Wednesday stuff and it's nothing you have to do. If you want to, great. If not, that's okay too. So the TLDR of this is Tuesdays and Thursdays, episodes slash kind of episodes, Wednesdays premium.

That's it. That's it. Perfect. That's it. Yeah. So it does look like a lot. I feel like has been added to the feed and it has, um, because we were previously only releasing one episode per week on Tuesdays, and now three times a week you are seeing something maybe coming up from us. So, um, I know some people have been kind of com like just wondering like, what's going on, if we're gonna make everything behind a paywall, we're absolutely not.

We've actually added now more free content for you guys. Yeah, and like Melissa was saying, just to give people options for what they wanna [00:03:00] hear and what they wanna listen to. We always are reading emails and getting feedback, and there are listeners who appreciate being able to listen to a story and not have a lot of side chatter.

And then there are those of you listening who enjoy that side of the podcast and enjoy listening to a little bit of, you know, chat and talk. So. We're kind of trying to balance it out and find a, a happy place for everybody and, you know, make a, make all of our listeners happy. We, we love all of you, whether you listen for just you're stories, whether you like it or not.

Gonna listen for us. Yeah. Well we love all of you, whether you like it or not. Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Whether you're here just for the stories or if you're here because you like Melissa and I, um, we appreciate you either way. So hopefully you will now be able to find something that suits. You and what you're looking for.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Wouldn't have said it better myself. Manny, let's kick off this week's episode. What do you say? Let's do it. On the morning of April 26th, 1999, Jill Dando was at her fiance's house in Chiswick until 10:00 AM when she left and went shopping in Hammersmith. Then she returned to her own home in Fulham at 11:30 [00:04:00] AM.

While standing on the doorstep of her own home, someone approached Jill from behind, placed a gun to her head, and fired a single shot causing her to collapse to the ground. At the scene, investigators found a nine millimeter bullet cartridge, as well as the bullet that killed Jill. But there was something unusual about it.

The bullet had six carvings etched into it, and detectives had never seen anything like it before. They wondered if it might be some sort of signature or calling card of the killer. Forensic testing later showed traces of gunpowder residue in the cartridge and in Jill's hair. There was no silencer on the gun, but it was pressed so firmly against Jill's head that the sound of the shot would've been muffled.

It was later determined that the gun used was a Browning or Tang Folio pistol, which were both outlawed in the UK at the time, after a mass shooting that had occurred in 1996. Of course, people did still own guns and even sold them [00:05:00] illegally, so the police urged anyone who may have sold this type of gun to come forward and help.

The police locate the person that they sold it to. They believe this was the type of gun that a criminal or a professional hitman would use. Although nobody witnessed the shooting itself. There were several neighbors that saw the aftermath. One man named Richard Hughes looked out his window and saw a man running from the scene, and when he stepped outside, he saw Jill lying in a pool of blood.

Another neighbor who was close friends with Jill, saw her body on the porch, but said she didn't even recognize her at first when the realization set in that it was her friend, she ran for help and called emergency services. Jill was rushed to chairing cross hospital, but at 1 0 5 that afternoon, she was pronounced dead authorities cordoned off the scene and started looking over every detail, including items from the street, like gum and cigarette butts.

Jill's purse was found near her with all of her valuables still inside. [00:06:00] There was also a bag with shoes, makeup, and a handkerchief and some milk and fresh fish that Jill had picked up for dinner that night. When word of Jill's murder spread, the nation was shocked. Queen Elizabeth and the Prime Minister made statements and Jill's brother told the BBC that it was simply unimaginable why anyone would wanna end his sister's life this way.

Jill was remembered as someone who connected with the public through her warmth and humanity. Before we go any further into the story though, let's talk about who Jill Dando actually was and why her murder sent shockwaves across Britain. I'd also like to add that Mandy and I are not from Britain, and we are going to try our very best in all the pronunciations of the.

Towns and villages and areas. So please hang with us if we get it wrong. Yes, we are still Mandy and Melissa. Yeah, I know. So Jill was born on November 9th, 1961 in the seaside town of Weston Super Mayor Somerset. Her parents, James and Winifred raised her in a close-knit family, [00:07:00] and from a very early age, Jill had a natural warmth about her personality.

She was someone who instantly made people feel at ease. Her ability to genuinely charm people followed her into every chapter of her life, including her career in journalism. She started at the local paper, which was the Western Mercury, and she was a junior reporter, but it really didn't take very long before she moved from print.

To broadcast by the mid eighties, she was presenting the news for a radio Devon, and then she took on short stints with Westward TV and BBC Spotlight Southwest. By 1988, she was in London and she was being seen on a much broader scale. She became a co-host on BBC Breakfast News. She also anchored the six o'clock news and traveled the world as she hosted a show called Holiday, which was meant to showcase dreamy tourist destinations.

Jill quickly became a familiar and lovable personality on British television. One of Jill's [00:08:00] most memorable roles was on Crime Watch uk, where she co-hosted alongside Nick Ross in a program that aimed to help solve real crimes through public appeals. But despite her fame, Jill always stayed grounded and kept her personal life relatively private.

When she first moved to London, she stayed with her cousin, but in 1994, she bought a house on Goen Avenue. This was the same house where her life would come to a tragic end. Just five years later. B. B, C, news Director Tony Hall. Remember, Jill is someone who connected with the public through her warmth and humanity, both on and off screen.

Her fiance Allen said that Jill was adored, admired, and completely irreplaceable. She was laid to rest in her hometown on May 21st. Her funeral was private, but hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects. As the Hearst transporting her body made the three mile journey through the town.

Despite Jill's incredible success in her career, she had experienced her share of heartbreak. Over the years, Jill had been very devoted to her work, [00:09:00] which sometimes meant that relationships took a backseat and many of Jill's past relationships fell apart. But in 1997, all that changed when she met Alan Farthing, a well-respected gynecologist.

She hit it off with him right away, and by January of 1999, they were engaged in making plans for a wedding in September. A few months before her death, Jill told an interviewer that she was ready to slow down and start a family. She talked about how her relationship with Alan had really changed her view on life.

Jill was more than just a TV presenter, though she was someone the public felt like they really knew and someone they trusted. The idea that someone could walk up to her doorstep and kill her in broad daylight felt unthinkable, and people really wanted to know who did it. In the days following the shooting investigators faced a troubling reality.

All they really had were just fragments of evidence, but there were no eyewitnesses to the actual shooting, and all the descriptions they had gotten of the suspect were inconsistent. [00:10:00] Some people said they saw a man or maybe multiple men acting suspiciously in and around the area, starting with the night before.

A woman named Helen Scott was walking to a nearby pizza restaurant at around 8:00 PM on April 25th when she noticed a man just kind of standing loitering near an intersection of Goen Avenue and Fulham Palace Road. This man was just standing there watching, but he kept glancing down Goen Avenue as if he was waiting for something or someone.

Helen described this man to be about five 10 white with an olive complexion and somewhere between 35 to 40 years old, she said he had thick eyebrows, straight black collar length hair, and a clean shave. He wore a waxed barber style jacket, which wasn't exactly too suspicious in itself, but his demeanor certainly was.

Helen said she'd gone inside the restaurant for 15 minutes and when she returned, he was still there standing in the same spot, just watching and waiting. [00:11:00] But this wasn't the only suspicious man that was seen in the neighborhood on the morning of April 26th. Multiple others reported seeing something that felt just a little bit sketchy.

At 6:57 AM a woman named Susan left her home on Goen Avenue and noticed a maroon car parked outside house number 28, which was almost directly across the street from Jill's home. Susan saw a man on the sidewalk nearby intently staring at one of the houses, and she said she was able to get a really good look at him and described him as being white in his late thirties with olive complexion and said that he was stocky, maybe slightly overweight and wearing a black suit with an open collar white shirt.

This man had black hair that was collar length. Susan was able to look at him for nearly a minute, and when she was later shown a video lineup, she could positively identify the person that she saw. However, another witness, Ms. Waldock, said that she was also on Go Avenue at 7:15 AM so just a few minutes later [00:12:00] and said that there was no maroon car that was double parked there on the side of the road.

So they wondered maybe if Susan misremembered the timing or if the car in its driver had maybe left and come back later, you know, and just wasn't there when the second witness was around. Another resident named Stella was looking out her bedroom window at nine 30 when she said she saw a man walking up the street towards her house.

She didn't get as good of a look at him. She only saw him for about 10 to 12 seconds, but she thought that he was about five foot 10 to six feet tall, 35 to 40 years old, and solidly built with medium length brown hair and that he was wearing a gray suit. Stella's daughter-in-law said she might have seen the same man, but thought maybe it wasn't the same person at all.

And her description of the person she saw was slightly different. She said she saw somebody who was very pale skinned and slightly younger and stocky, and had long, wavy, dark brown hair and had a five o'clock shadow, so not a clean shave. And she said the man she saw was [00:13:00] wearing a navy suit and a light blue shirt and dark shoes.

Neither of these two women though, were able to positively identify anybody in a lineup. I mean, really, unless you've seen something that you know is traumatic or really outta the ordinary, I wouldn't, I don't know, I wouldn't put a lot of weight into it. 'cause I don't know, I wouldn't, but like these descriptions, I know the police said that they were all kind of inconsistent, but to me, I feel like they're kind of, they all have the same elements.

I feel like the long. Collar length or shoulder length. Dark hair is definitely a feature that stands out on a person and it's not something that you see on a man all the time. So like to me, you know, maybe the clothing descriptions were like a slightly different colors were off, but I feel like it's possible that they are describing the same person.

Yeah. Like to me it seems logical that they could be, think. Describing the same person. Yeah, but there were still even more witnesses who reported seeing something or someone that morning. At around 10. 10 Melman, Terry [00:14:00] Griffin was making his rounds. When he approached the area of Jill's house, he said he noticed a man standing in the road staring at Jill's home.

Terry said the man had a Mediterranean appearance with black straight collar length hair. He was about five 10 and in his late thirties he said the man wore a dark top. Possibly a jacket. Strangely, about six weeks later, a stranger walked up to Terry on the street and randomly said, I just saw the man who killed Jill Dando.

Terry then pointed the man towards the nearest phone booth and said, call the police. Terry described the man who made this claim as being about 40 with a thin mustache, dark black hair, and a briefcase wearing a white shirt and black trousers. Whether this man had actually seen anything or was just trying to insert himself into the story was something the police would have to figure out.

Another witness, Janet Bolton said that just a few minutes after the shooting at around 1135 or 1140, she was in her parked car. When [00:15:00] she saw a man walking quickly in the direction of Fullham Palace Road, the man she saw was tall. Mid to late thirties with dark hair and a long dark coat over a light shirt.

She didn't know it at the time, but she may have seen the killer fleeing the scene. Another resident. This is, this has to be some of the most witnesses we've ever seen in a case. I mean just like it's like another person and another person to have not actually seen it happen, but to see leading up to and after is wild.

Another resident named Jeffrey reported seeing a man running away from Goen Avenue At around the time of the shooting, he said something about him or his hair really didn't look quite right. He thought maybe he was wearing a wig. He described the man as having a round face, all of complexion, no facial hair, and he wore baggy dark clothing.

Jeffrey said the man ran for about 20 yards and then stopped and turned around and looked right at him before disappearing behind a semi-truck. Jill's [00:16:00] next door neighbor, Richard Hughes, was upstairs when he heard what he thought was his wife's car alarm going off, and then he heard footsteps and then a scream.

Then he heard the sound of a gate clicking shut. When Richard looked outside, he saw a man walking away toward Fulham Palace Road. His description was similar to other descriptions given, including the thick black hair that was collar length, but Richard also noted that the man wore a dark barber style jacket and that made him the second person to remember this very specific detail.

Richard didn't get a good look at the man's face as he walked away, and minutes later is when he found that Jill had been shot right there in front of her door. Belinda Normanton, another resident who lived on the street, said that she left her house at 9:59 AM as she walked down the street, she passed a man standing near a black car and noticed that he was talking on a cell phone.

She watched him for about two minutes from six to eight feet away. Belinda said the man was about 40 years [00:17:00] old and about five foot eight with a medium build. He had long-ish wavy black hair, a clean shave, and was wearing a black suit, but no tie. The problem with her input is that she waited a year to tell the police about this after.

Of course, other people have kind of given a similar description, so you always wonder if people are just like, did you hear that? You know, and now you wanna say You saw that or did you actually see that kind of thing? And why would you wait a year like, right, I guess unless you did not realize something happened.

That's but's. Then how do you remember it was that day? There's a whole lot to that. Right, exactly. So there were a few other odd scattered sightings, including a young boy who said he saw a man pacing up and down the sidewalk, ongoing avenue, wearing what he called an old fashioned suit in a checkered hat.

Two others also said they saw a man climbing over the railing and down onto the banks of the River Thames in Bishop's Park, which was nearby. And when police got this tip, they went and searched the area for anything that might link back to the shooting, but they didn't find anything. Around the same [00:18:00] time, a man was spotted at a bus stop on Fulham Palace Road, and he was sweating profusely.

And some witnesses say he got on the bus while others say he did not get on the bus. We have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. So before the break, we were talking about the murder of Jill Dando right in front of her house and kind of going through all the witnesses, what they've said, what they've told police.

And that's kind of all police have to go on at this point. And so even though there were numerous reports and different descriptions given, there were a few key points that remained consistent. And Mandy, you were kind of talking about this before. They believe that their suspect was a man in his late thirties or early forties.

He had Mediterranean or olive complexion, and he also had thick black collar length hair, possibly in dark clothing like a suit or another jacket. Police send, use this information that they had to create a computer generated image of the suspect, which they released to the [00:19:00] public on April 30th, which was just four days after Jill's murder.

From there, the manhunt was on. As the investigation gained momentum, the public tried to get more involved and help with leads, but there were really tons of questions and quite a bit of confusion. Soon police turned their attention to a Blue Range Rover that was spotted near the area around the time of the shooting, and then was seen speeding away.

Investigators asked the public to come forward with any information about this vehicle or the person who might drive it. Authorities also combed through CCTV footage from various spots along Jill's route that morning. They were specifically looking for a sign of the man witnesses had described, or the mysterious range rover footage from the shopping center where Jill had stopped earlier that morning, had already been released.

It showed her walking through the mall, calm and unsuspecting. Once they aired that tape tips poured in. Hundreds of calls came into the police. At the start, the police had over [00:20:00] 400 names of potential suspects, which is wield to me. But by September, they had cleared half of them, including all of Jill's former boyfriends, 400.

Crazy. That's insane. That's so many people. I mean, it might as well be a million at that point. That's just so many, my gosh. But there were 50 names that stood out, and these weren't romantic exes or acquaintances. They were actually fans. These were men who had written to Jill at BBC, some who had gone to extreme links to insert themselves more into Jill's life.

The idea that an obsessed fan could have shot Jill took off like wildfire and became a major focus. By late 1999, a disturbing pattern was revealed. Strangers have been trying to access Jill's personal information. One man even pretended to be a family member of Jill's to get her phone line changed while another tried to take control of her utility accounts.

There were even cases of people trying to reroute her mail. Oh my gosh, crazy. Police [00:21:00] believed that Jill had been quietly stalked from the shadows while she was totally unaware that it was happening. One story that came in that police couldn't shake was from a woman whose last name was also Dando. She said that she had gotten a call from a man who thought he was speaking to the Jill Dando, and he said that he was a fan.

When the woman explained that she wasn't. Jill Dando, the one he was looking for. The man became overly curious and started asking very specific questions about Jill. Not necessarily in a threatening way, just in a persistent way, especially if you're like, I'm not the person you're looking for, like. Come on.

And then I, I don't even, how did that even go? Like, how did he even get into that? Like, what do you know about her? Like, you know, like, I feel like what? I know you called the wrong number. That's all I got. I know. It's so weird. Yeah. But of course, as we know too, well, persistence can sometimes be one step away from danger.

Investigators also started looking into the recent sale of Jill's home to see if anyone that viewed the house might be linked to her death. In the meantime, they [00:22:00] continued to search every inch of the area, even searching in drains for the murder weapon, but they couldn't find anything. Between April 26th and May 12th, investigators received over 1100 tips, which they organized into four levels of priority and sorted the suspects into three categories.

But the theories were really just flying in every direction. Many thought that Jill's work on crime Watch UK may have something to do with her murder. The show was dedicated to solving violent crimes, and she had even told the police once that she felt uneasy about her own safety. Just a week before she was killed, Jill had hosted an episode covering the Brixton nail bomb attack, which was a horrific bombing that took place on April 17th.

So the timing of her murder raised questions, but the police found no evidence linking her coverage of the bombing to her death. The longer the investigation went on, the more twisted the theories became. Some thought Jill's murder had the hallmarks of a professional hit. There was a single [00:23:00] gunshot to the head at close range with no warning, no struggle, and no trace left behind.

Others lean toward a more personal motive, such as an obsessed stalker or a robbery gone wrong, the most outlandish, but was somehow still a very persistent theory involved foreign political retaliation, specifically Serbian extremists. Jill had been really, as we said, outspoken in support for Kosovar refugees during the conflict in the Balkans, and there was speculation that she became a target because of how outspoken she was.

Jill had actually received a rambling letter through her agent that was filled with talks about Kosovo, but it didn't include any threats. The police quickly dismissed any connection, you know, between this and her murder. In another strange twist, authorities also looked into the possibility that Jill's death was somehow linked to the unsolved murder of Karen Reed.

No, not that Karen Reed, although both Mandy and I thought maybe it was, [00:24:00] but this Karen had been gunned down on her doorstep in April of 19 94, 5 years before Jill was murdered in a similar fashion. It was thought that Karen was mistaken for her sister Allison, who was a former BBC world service producer and was married to a man who may have had ties to organized crime.

The similarities between the two cases were really impossible to ignore, but again, there was no link that was found. Investigators explored the possibility that a jealous ex-boyfriend could be behind the murder. Jill had just announced her engagement recently, and her personal life had changed dramatically.

So they wondered if it was possible that someone from her past was unable to accept it, but theories weren't answers, and the public's frustration grew. May 13th, 1999, the Daily Mail put up a reward of 100,000 pounds for information leading to an arrest and conviction, and the next day Crime Stoppers actually added another 50,000.

On August 3rd, which was 100 days after [00:25:00] Jill's murder, the son donated another a hundred thousand. Bringing the total reward to 250,000 pounds, but still, there were no arrest on May 18th. Crime Watch UK aired a special episode about Jill. After it aired over 500 new calls came in, but two of them in particular stood out.

Both calls were from passengers who were on the same bus that the suspect was thought to have taken after the shooting. One of the tipster said the man was on his cell phone talking during the ride. It wasn't much, but. It was something. Then in December, police sat. They got a major break when a man walking along the Bank of the River Thames, near Putney Bridge, which is the same area, a suspicious man was reported on the day of the murder, noticed a bundle of newspaper lying on the shore.

He went up to it, casually kicked it, and he felt something solid. Inside of it, and upon closer inspection, he realized it was a pistol. The gun was missing the plastic grips that go on the handle, and it was [00:26:00] wrapped with pages of the Daily Express dated November 24th. So police thought maybe they'd finally found the murder weapon, but unfortunately, the weapon was not a match to the type of gun used to kill Jill.

Nearly a year after Jill was killed, police circled back to a name that they had put on the low priority list at first. That name was Barry George, and it came in a tip two days after the shooting, but nothing about him seemed really urgent at the time. So he was placed at the bottom of a long list of names.

As we said, it was like over 400 names. Yeah, but now in April of 2000, the police were looking into him again. Barry lived just half a mile from Jill's house easily in walking distance. He was unemployed and described himself as a musician. At one time. He went by Barry BOLs, which was a nod to the front men of Queen Freddie Mercury.

He also said he did work as a stunt man and performed at outdoor shows and Faires. One of his signature acts [00:27:00] was jumping over four double decker buses on roller skates. It's actually quite impressive. That's a show. Yeah. But Barry had more than just strange jobs in his past. He had some downright disturbing skeletons in his closet as well.

He was convicted of attempted rape and had documented history of violence against women even once being arrested, while loitering outside Princess Diana's home wearing full combat gear. Ooh, that is creepy. Yes. Police searched his flat on April 17th, 2000, and what they found was very intense. His home was so cluttered, they could hardly even walk through the place.

Bags of trash were piled up and you couldn't even see the floor under all the stuff in there. Officers said the conditions were bordering on Unhygienic. Somewhere in the chaos, they saw something that caught their attention though, and that was a Cecil g overcoat. This coat was taken for testing and they ended up finding a single particle of residue [00:28:00] inside the right pocket that matched the residue found in Jill's hair.

And at the crime scene, this is gunshot residue, so the particle that they found in the pocket of this jacket was so tiny, like the tiniest, you can possibly. Even test or find. Yeah, it was one, 100th of a millimeter, and Barry admitted that this coat did belong to him and that he was the only person who wore it, but he said he couldn't remember if he had worn it on the day of Jill's murder or not.

As we said, it's been almost a year since then. So that's not really surprising, like you were saying. Yeah. How could someone. If the police came to me and were like, what were you doing on April 19th, 2024? I'd be like, I don't have a clue. You know, like, I don't know what I wearing, I what was doing have to my calendar.

Like, look at my camera, roll on my phone. Oh, yeah's sure. And see what I was doing that day, you know? But otherwise, like, I don't know how you would. Possibly remember, like no, if you were wearing the jacket that day? No. So the police pressed forward and gathered several witnesses to view a video lineup.

And they did it this way because Barry actually refused to go and [00:29:00] stand and appear in person for a lineup, and only one person was able to pick him out. But it is worth noting that his appearance had changed quite a bit between the time of the murder. And a year later now, he had a full grown, grown in beard and a mustache, and so.

You don't know, you know if people would recognize him, right? But on May 25th, 2013 months after Jill was shot, Barry George was arrested and four days later he was formally charged with her murder. Interestingly though, Barry wasn't the first person to be arrested in connection with the case. In fact, he was actually the fourth.

But the other three suspects had come forward quietly and had gone without being charged or publicly named. And Barry's name was the only one that stuck, and so was his arrest. After Barry was taken into custody, he gave a signed statement that laid out his alibi for April 26th, 1999. He claimed he was at home that morning before he headed to the offices of Hammersmith and Fullham Action on disability.

At around 10 30 or 10 [00:30:00] 45, which is roughly the same time that Jill was shot, Barry alleged that the walk there would've taken him about 30 minutes, but from there he went to the office of a taxi service called Traffic Cars at around one 15. That's a very British name for, I thought the same thing. I thought the same thing for sure.

There were however gaps in Barry's Day and in his timeline, and he couldn't account for things. And so this was a pretty loose timeline that he was giving the police. And because of that, the police didn't think it was a very solid alibi, and they were convinced that Barry was their guy. On April 23rd, 2001, Barry George St.

Stood accused of murder inside the central criminal court of London, better known as the old Bailey. The courtroom was packed as a jury of five men and seven women prepared to decide the case. Before arguments began, the judge issued a stern warning for the jury to ignore everything they'd read or heard in the media, but in a case as high profile as this one, that [00:31:00] was really a lot to ask.

The prosecution's case rested on four main points. First, there were the witness sightings. Several people had seen a man who resembled Barry near Jill's home around the time of the murder, one of who claimed to see him four hours beforehand. However, none of those witnesses were able to positively identify Barry.

They were just going off what prosecutors called features of similarity. The defense pushback and pointed out that many of the descriptions were given almost a year after the fact and memory, especially when under pressure is really a tricky and often unreliable thing. Prosecutors also argued that Barry had lied during his interviews with the police specifically about whether he knew who Jill Dando was or where Goen Avenue was even located.

He said no to both, but police found evidence in his apartment to suggest otherwise. They found a business card for a doctor's office that was actually on Goen Avenue, as well as a photo of a woman [00:32:00] walking on Goen Avenue. There was also forensic evidence, a single microscopic particle of firearm residue found in the pocket of Barry's coat that matched the residue that was found in Jill's hair and at the scene of the shooting.

That's a big one. And lastly, prosecutors leaned on Barry's criminal history and his bizarre behavior. They said he had an apparent fascination and even obsession with fame and with both living and dead celebrities. There were thousands of photos of female newscasters mixed with images of women that Barry was believed to have stalked at one point or another.

He even had four copies of a magazine that was published the day after Jill's murder with a full page photo of her and a detailed account of her killing still. Barry said he didn't know who Jill was, and he claimed he had never even seen her before. Barry had actually taken on false identity several times, and he often borrowed names from well-known figures.

Like we mentioned before, his nod to Freddie Mercury. He also had other aliases that were [00:33:00] similar in style. Prosecutors said these things were the hallmarks of a disturbed man chasing attention. It was also revealed that Barry had worked at the BBC in the 1970s, which was the same network where Jill had built her career.

Years later, after leaving the company, Barry continued to visit the building to get a copy of the staff newspaper. I thought that was interesting and that regularly featured BBC personalities, including Jill. So really this idea that he had no idea who she was, just doesn't seem to hold up, and prosecutors said this connection felt like more than a coincidence.

Then of course there was the mailman, Terry Griffin, who had seen a man standing near Jill's house on the morning of the murder. At the trial, Terry identified Barry as the man that he had spoke with at a later time. That's the one who just randomly came up to him and told him he saw the person who killed Jill, and why would the mailman make any of this up?

That's right. You know, of course, you know, he had no, would have no reason to say [00:34:00] any of this. Questions were also raised about Barry's relationship with firearms. He had told the police that he didn't own any or have access to any and that he hadn't handled a gun since his time in the territorial army years earlier.

But authorities found evidence to suggest that was a lie, like a picture of him holding a gun that was found in his apartment and testimony from a witness that said they had seen Barry with guns on two different occasions. That same witness said that Barry kept a gun under his bed at one point.

Another man told police that in 1985, Barry showed up at his front door with a pistol in his hand. This was all important because the police believed that whoever shot Jill was familiar with firearms. The shot was deliberate, accurate, and executed in a way that suggested skill. Police found an advertisement in Barry's apartment for deactivated weapons for sale, as well as magazines with articles about guns and ammunition.

But beyond that, Barry was allegedly obsessed with the military. Two weeks before Joel's [00:35:00] death, Barry went on a trip and purchased military gear and to prosecutors. This was part of a larger, more disturbing picture of a man with a criminal past, a fixation on women in the public eye, and also a fascination with weapons.

Finally, prosecutors laid out the timeline and explained how Barry had tried to manipulate it. He alleged that he had an alibi for the time of the murder, but prosecutors said they looked into his story and learned that his timeline was actually inaccurate. He did go to the office of Hammersmith and Fullham Action on disability that day, but not until around 1245, which was well after Jill was shot, and he was only there for about 10 to 15 minutes, which is confirmed by CCTV footage and phone records.

I'm surprised, like we normally don't get that kind of information. I know. CCTV footage. Often is absolutely not helpful. Well, not in the uk so yeah, they're doing, doing something right over there. Yeah. So employees at that office stated that Barry was acting strangely when he came in and he was talking to himself and [00:36:00] behaving in a very odd and nervous way.

Two days later, he shows back up at the disability office again and claims he's there because people told him that he looked like the man in the police sketch, which makes no sense. No. What does the disability office have anything to do with that? Yeah. Why would you go there and tell them? Um. But it was weird anyway because the police sketch hadn't even been released at that time, wouldn't be released for another two days.

So that was just a completely bizarre thing. And of course, that's just going to make the employees there remember you. Yes, but not in a good way. Right. They're gonna be like, when the police come asking, they're gonna be like, yes, we saw this guy twice. Absolutely. He came in. Mm-hmm. And he was very, very weird.

Mm-hmm. So that's not what you want if you're trying to avoid. Getting caught or detected by the police. So prosecutors argued that Barry was only there to confuse those witnesses and to shape his own timeline. Barry asked an employee there if they remembered seeing him on the 26th, if they remembered what time he came in, what he looked like and what he was [00:37:00] wearing.

Not suspicious at all. Yeah, the employee said that he recalled Barry arriving at one 15, and that was of course, far too late in the day to serve as an alibi for Jill's murder. Of course, the main piece of evidence the prosecutors had was that tiny, tiny little particle of gunshot residue found in Barry's coat pocket.

Though it wasn't discovered until a year later, they thought it was the missing link that was going to tie everything together. The jury was taken outta the courtroom on a little field trip to go an avenue, and they went down there at around 11:30 AM the same time Jill was shot and stood outside of her home.

Then they were taken to Barry's home. Authorities had maps, diagrams, and other demonstrations needed to visualize how the events might have unfolded. Then it was time for the defense to speak, and we're gonna get into that after one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. So before the break, we were going over the prosecution's theories on what actually happened and what they thought Barry's [00:38:00] involvement was in the murder of Jill Dando.

And the defense's strategy, though, was really clear. They were casting doubt on everything from the evidence to really the entire premise of the prosecution's case. Barry's attorney Michael Mansfield argued that Jill had not been killed by some local loner, but by a professional hitman. He claimed that this was a calculated execution and not the work of a disorganized man with a history of delusions and instability.

They pointed to Jill's work and her public support of the refugees of Kosovo, as well as her work on crime Watch, and said that those things could have easily made her a target. Mansfield said there was no solid evidence that was actually tying Barry to the crime. No eyewitnesses, no murder weapon, and no motive.

The only forensic link they had was that teeny tiny microscopic particle of gun residue, and that was found inside a cluttered apartment a year later. But of course, that teeny [00:39:00] tiny microscopic particle of gun residue is what became the centerpiece of a courtroom standoff between prosecutors and the defense.

Prosecutors had two forensic scientists, Mr. Keeley and Dr. Renshaw, who argued that the amount of residue just didn't matter. What mattered was that it matched the type of residue found in the cartridge from the crime scene. They said the fact that it matched at all was enough for them, but the defense brought in their own expert, Dr.

Lloyd and Dr. Lloyd said that the size and timing of that particle actually mattered a lot. It wasn't a clump of residue. It was one microscopic spec found nearly a year later, and he said it could have easily landed there through a number of innocent sources. He argued cross-contamination of some kind, and interestingly enough, a new detail emerged that seemed to back up this theory.

The officers who had searched Barry's home did not follow proper contamination protocol. They did wear gloves, [00:40:00] but they didn't change into clean outfits before entering the apartment, and they didn't wear protective booties over their shoes, which meant that anything they stepped in that day could have been tracked inside.

After weeks of testimony, arguments and analysis, it was now in the jury's hands after one juror was dismissed due to a family death. It was up to 11 jurors to decide Barry's fate. After 20 hours, they still hadn't come up with a verdict and the judge stepped in to speak with them. Mr. Justice Gage informed the jurors that he would accept a majority verdict.

Just 10 out of 11 had to agree. So this is actually something different that's allowed under UK law, but of course in the US we require a unanimous jury decision. Also unlike the US, there are no replacements or alternates in a jury. So if a juror is dismissed, then the trial just goes forward without them.

In the instance that a jury were to drop down to just nine people, then the verdict would have to be unanimous. But with [00:41:00] 11 jurors, having 10 of them in agreement would be enough. It's interesting. Yeah, it is interesting. And apparently, you know, obviously it works for that system, works for them, but I kind of get that because how many times, yeah.

Is there just one person on the jury that can't be swayed or you know, has one opinion but then at the same time I'm like, but is that, you know, yeah, there's a reason for that as well, you know, in our system's eyes. Like there, if there is that one person, then you know, that's one person who does not agree that's on the jury.

So that's an that, that person is important as well. But that is exactly what happened on July 2nd, 2001. After 32 hours of deliberating, the jury returned with a verdict by a vote of 10 to one. Barry George was convicted of the murder of Jill Dando and sentenced to life in prison, but that wasn't the end of the story.

Barry didn't give up after his conviction, and in July of 2002, he filed an appeal arguing that it was not definitively proven that he was the person seen near the crime scene. [00:42:00] The court rejected his appeal and the conviction stood the single particle of firearm residue was still considered enough forensic evidence to keep Barry behind bars for the time being anyway.

By 2006 though, things had shifted and Barry's legal team was honed in on that one tiny particle themselves. They presented new evidence to the court of appeal that the particle could have come from a gun that Barry had fired or from another entirely unrelated source. Then what the heck is the point of it?

Right? If it can be from like not even a gun, right? It can be from whatever. Crazy. I know. I agree. So they presented analysis from Marco Morin, who was a firearms residue expert, and he took things one step further and said that the residue. Might not have even come from a firearm at all. Like you just said, it could have come from something as mundane as an incinerator burning paint or from welding equipment.

So this could come from, like you said, any kind of tool really. And this meant that the evidence that was used to convict Barry was actually inconclusive. And this time the court actually did [00:43:00] agree. They said if the jury had known the full truth about the residue and that it wasn't necessarily unique to the murder weapon, that there was a very real possibility they would not have convicted him.

And that meant. Barry had not received a fair trial. Of the original expert witnesses from the prosecution even admitted that he knew the gunshot residue findings were not as conclusive as the jury may have believed, and that he should have done a better job at making that very clear to them. And he also admitted that it did make a difference that it was just one little particle and not an entire clump.

Wild. On November 15th, 2007, eight years after his arrest, and over six years after being found guilty of murder, Barry's conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal. His second trial began almost 10 years after Jill was killed. A new jury was sworn in consisting of eight men and four women. Much of the evidence that was presented was the same, but the one critical piece of evidence was removed.

That, of course, was the single particle of gunshot residue, which had been ruled [00:44:00] inadmissible and would not be allowed in the second trial. And of course, this makes the prosecution's case almost entirely circumstantial. So prosecutors relied heavily on Barry's checkered past and troubling behavior around women.

His bizarre fascination with celebrities and his apparent fascination with weapons. They brought up a blue fiber that was found on Jill's coat and tried to match it to a pair of pants that were found in Barry's home. But the forensic testing left no definite answers or clear links. The defense introduced testimony from a neuropsychiatrist who presented brain scans taken that showed Barry suffered from what he called.

Repetitive burst of abnormal brain discharges, which is something that could last for hours and cause temporary disruptions in his speech and cognitive function. Additionally, Barry had epilepsy and an IQ of just 75. He was described as having severe cognitive impairment. This was used to argue that he simply [00:45:00] wasn't capable of planning and executing Jill Dan's murder.

He was a man with significant mental health issues, struggling just to function, let alone carry out a professional style. Hit. This time, the jury took just two days to deliberate and return with a verdict. Barry was found not guilty, but now the question remains. If it wasn't Barry, then who was it? The murder of Jill Dando was now unsolved.

Once more days after Barry's acquittal, Scotland Yard announced that they were reopening the investigation into Joel's murder. In 2002, the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science opened its first laboratory in West Bromwich. The institute's mission is to find innovative ways to prevent crime through research and evidence-based practices in schools across the uk, a different kind of tribute took shape.

The Jill Dando News Centers were student-run spaces designed to give young people hands-on experience in journalism, which was the career that Jill had [00:46:00] dedicated her life to. As for Barry, his legal battles didn't end with his acquittal. In 2009 and 2010, he filed libel suits against the Sun News of the World and the Sunday Mirror accusing them of publishing false claims that he had stalked women and that he was obsessed with celebrities and also that he had harassed a newscaster and a singer.

Barry won both of those lawsuits and the newspapers in question issued apologies and paid out damages. Barry also sought compensation from the UK government for the eight years that he spent in prison, but his request was denied because the court said that the original jury had enough evidence to convict him at the time and that disqualified him from any payout.

To this day, Barry has never been officially cleared as a suspect in the eyes of the law, but hasn't been charged. Again, Jill's killer remains technically unknown. In 2019, her brother Nigel, told the BBC quote. I will eventually find answers no matter how long it takes. [00:47:00] What do you think, Melissa? I'm not sure because if you do take out that one thing of the gunshot residue, it really is all circumstantial mean It's It is, yeah.

Pretty interesting circumstantial evidence. But I would be, that's all it is. There was a lot that I would be curious to know that wasn't really available, like in the research. Like I'm curious to know, 'cause it said that they got his name in a tip two days after the shooting. But I'm curious like why the person thought that he was suspicious.

Yeah. Right, right. Like I wanna know what led someone to reporting him as a possible suspect in the first place. Like that would be interesting to know. Mm-hmm. I totally agree. And it seems like, um, I mean his apartment was like a treasure trove of things, right? So I feel like they would find more forensics there because it doesn't seem like he was.

Taking care of everything in his house so much that, you know, they're finding pictures and all this other stuff that maybe they'd find more definitive stuff there in his house. Right? Yeah. But after a year has passed, I do feel like it's hard to say. It's hard to say, you know, [00:48:00] what he could have gotten rid of or things that he may have.

He had a lot of time. I don't know what I think. I do think it's very interesting though, that it was just, just interesting because of the teeny tiny particle being what everything hinged on, and then that turned out to even just not be that. Great of a piece of evidence, like it really didn't mean anything.

Yeah. I just feel for Jill's family, and especially because she was working at looking at these, uh, unsolved crimes and, and working in that side of things, that to be a victim of that is really sad. All right guys. Thank you so much for listening. That was the story for this week. This week we will be back next week.

Same time, same place. New story. We have a new episode this Thursday, uh, that you guys might be interested in. So stick around and stick around. Listen around and listen to that. There you go. Bye [00:49:00] bye.