Jill Dando

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Jill Dando
Born	9 November 1961(1961-11-09) Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
Died	26 April 1999 (aged 37) Fulham, London, England
Cause of death	Murdered
Occupation	Television presenter
Employers	BBC

Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961^[1]–26 April 1999) was an English journalist and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 14 years until she was murdered in April 1999. Her death sparked a huge manhunt by the Metropolitan Police.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Murder 2.1 Investigation 3 Legacy 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Dando (a lifelong committed Baptist)^{[citation needed]} was born in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, and was educated at Mendip Green Infant School, St Martin's Junior School, Worle Comprehensive School and Broadoak Sixth Form Centre. She studied journalism at South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education in Wales.

Dando was a keen thespian, and was a member of Exeter Little Theatre Company and appeared in their plays at the Barnfield Theatre.

Dando's first job was as a trainee reporter for the local newspaper, the Weston Mercury. After five years as a print journalist, she began employment with the BBC when she became a newsreader for BBC Radio Devon in 1985. That year, she transferred to BBC South West, where she presented a regional news magazine programme, Spotlight South West. In 1986, Dando made a move from regional to national television when she transferred to London to present the hourly daytime television news summaries.

Dando went on to present the BBC television programmes Breakfast News, the BBC One O'Clock News, the Six O'Clock News, the travel programme Holiday, the crime appeal series Crimewatch, and occasionally Songs of Praise. At the time of her death she was one of the highest-profile of the BBC's on-screen staff; she had previously been BBC personality of the year. Crimewatch would later reconstruct her murder to aid the police in the search for her killer.

At the time of her death, Dando had presented just one episode of her new project, The Antiques Inspectors and was scheduled to present the Six O'Clock News that evening.^[2] She was featured on the cover of that week's Radio Times magazine.

[edit] Murder

On the morning of 26 April 1999, Dando left the home of her fiancé, Dr. Alan Farthing, and returned to her house in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, West London. As she reached her front door at about 11:30, she was shot once in the head.^[3] Her body was discovered shortly afterwards by a friend, local resident Helen Doble, and she was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival at 13:03 BST. She was 37 years old.

[edit] Investigation

The murder investigation by the Metropolitan Police – named Operation Oxborough – lasted for over a year. Dando's status as a well known public figure probably brought her into contact with thousands of people, and there was fevered speculation about the motive for her killing, including that her role as co-presenter of Crimewatch may have brought her into conflict with elements of Britain's criminal underworld. Although many of these theories were groundless, police did investigate the theory that Dando was killed in retaliation for a previous US and UK-led air attack on a Serbian TV station which killed a number of journalists and staff. Since Dando had recently presented a programme related to funding for Yugoslavia, it was considered strong enough to investigate.^[4]

After six months, the murder investigation team had spoken to more than 2,500 people and taken more than 1,000 statements. With little progress after a year, a review highlighted a suspect who had been largely overlooked, and the police focused on the odd behaviour of a man who lived around half-a-mile from Dando's home. After a period of surveillance, police arrested Barry George for her murder. George was found guilty of murder in a jury trial at the Old Bailey, and was sentenced on July 2, 2001 to life imprisonment. In November 2007, George successfully appealed his conviction and was held in custody pending retrial in 2008.

[edit] Legacy

Dando's co-presenter Nick Ross proposed the formation of an academic institute in her name and, together with her fiancé, Alan Farthing, raised almost £1.5m. The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science was founded at University College London on 26 April 2001, the second anniversary of her murder.^[5]

A memorial garden was designed and realised by the BBC Television Ground Force team in Dando's memory, using plants and colours that were special to her. It is located within Grove Park, Weston-super-Mare (51°21′09″N 2°58′45″W / 51.352498, -2.979242) and was opened on August 2, 2001, by Councillor Peter Bryant, chairman of North Somerset Council.^[6]

The BBC set up a bursary award in Dando's memory, which enables a student each year to study broadcast journalism at the University College Falmouth. Sophie Long, then a post-graduate who had grown up in Weston-super-Mare and now presenter on BBC News 24, gained the first bursary award in 2000.^[7]

In 2007, Weston College opened a new University Campus on the site of the former Broadoak Sixth Form Centre where Dando studied. The Sixth Form building has been dedicated to her and named as "The Jill Dando Centre".^[8][9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jill Dando at the Open Directory Project
• Jill Dando at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary (BBC)
• BBC tribute
• Jill Dando: The golden girl of TV
• Murder trial coverage (BBC)

Persondata
NAME	Dando, Jill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English journalist and television presenter. She was murdered.
DATE OF BIRTH	9 November 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH	Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
DATE OF DEATH	26 April 1999 (aged 37)
PLACE OF DEATH	Gowan Avenue, Fulham, London, England