'I'll go to my grave never knowing who killed her': Jill Dando's brother fears journalist's murder will never be solved

27 September 2023, 19:14 | Updated: 27 September 2023, 19:28

Andrew Marr speaks to brother of murdered presenter Jill Dando

Jill Dando's brother has told LBC he expects to go to his grave never knowing who killed her.

Nigel Dando called for whoever pulled the trigger that killed the TV reporter in April 1999 to come forward and talk to the police because it's "never too late".

Dando was shot in the head on her doorstep outside her flat in Fulham, west London.

Her murder remains a mystery 24 years on, with the only person put on trial later acquitted while a raft of theories ranging from Serbian hitmen to drugs criminals circulating ever since.

Interest in what happened to her has been reignited by a new Netflix documentary exploring the shooting.

Speaking to Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC on Wednesday, her journalist brother said he doubts the case will ever be solved.

"It's 24 years down the line and any lines of inquiry there might be, they've long gone cold," he said.

Read more: Who killed Jill Dando? The main theories behind Britain's biggest unsolved murder

"On the balance of probabilities, I'm going to go to my grave not knowing who killed Jill. But then again, you know, we never say never, so there is that possibility."

Dando was discovered outside her home in Fulham 15 minutes after the shooting by a passer-by, still clutching her car keys.

She was rushed to Charing Cross Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Her death sparked one of the largest criminal investigations in Britain since the case of The Yorkshire Ripper, and saw 1,393 potential suspects, 500 hours of CCTV footage, a £250,000 reward.

Police arrested loner Barry George after being tipped off about a "mentally unstable man" who lived nearby, and they found a holster, a list of firearms and news coverage of Dando.

George, who had a history of stalking women and sexual offences, was put on trial and served eight years in jail for her murder before his conviction was quashed after appeal.

Read more: Was Jill Dando a victim of 'mistaken identity' and blonde model the real target?

Gunshot residue secured the initial conviction but it was later dismissed.

He remains the only man to ever be put on trial for the murder.

Nigel Dando said: "If somebody is still alive, who pulled the trigger on that fateful day, or somebody who has some evidence, who could point the finger at the person who was responsible, then I'd appeal for them to come forward and talk to the police about it.

"It's never too late. So that's my appeal."

Other theories suggested she could have been killed by a Serbian hitman.

Dando, whose screen credits included Crimewatch, had fronted an appeal for Kosovo as the state tried to break away from Serbia during the post-Yugoslavia conflicts.

A man called the BBC to say she was "the first one" of a series of people that would be killed in revenge for the Nato bombing of a Serbian TV station that left 16 people dead.

Then-director general Lord Hall had to be put under police protection after the caller named him as the next target.

But the lead came to nothing.

Suggestions of the involvement of a London-based hitman or a drugs criminal also yielded no results.