London police to reassess station CCTV in unsolved Jill Dando killing

London’s Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it will re-examine CCTV footage connected to the unsolved murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando, citing advances in image-enhancement technology. Dando was shot with a single bullet on the doorstep of her home in Fulham in April 1999. The killing prompted one of Britain’s largest and most high-profile murder investigations, but it remains unsolved.

A police spokesperson said improved technology had given investigators an opportunity to reassess original footage from Putney Bridge train station. The footage shows an unidentified man running near the scene about 20 minutes after the shooting. The Metropolitan Police said the investigation had undergone numerous reviews during the 27 years since Dando’s death.

Those reviews were intended to establish whether developments in forensic methods and technology could help advance the case. However, the force cautioned against interpreting the latest examination as a major breakthrough. It said the work formed part of ongoing inquiries and should not be understood as a significant new line of investigation or the reopening of a new case.

Dando was 37 when she died. She had worked for the BBC for 14 years as a presenter and newsreader. The case has continued to attract public attention, including through a 2023 Netflix documentary examining possible explanations for her killing.

Soon after the murder, a man of Serbian descent called the BBC and claimed that Dando had been killed in retaliation for NATO’s bombing of Serbia’s state broadcaster in Belgrade. The supplied report does not say that this claim was verified. Barry George, a local man, was convicted of Dando’s murder but spent eight years in prison before being acquitted at a retrial in 2008.

Police also interviewed her partner, former partner, a BBC news editor and her agent; the report says they were ruled out as suspects.