Jill Dando police in new investigation into possible CCTV of ‘Serbian hitman’

Jill Dando was shot dead on the steps of her home in Fulham, south west London, in April 1999 (Picture: PA)

Police have launched a new investigation into the unsolved murder of Jill Dando nearly 30 years ago.

The 37-year-old Crimewatch presenter, then one of the BBC’s highest-profile stars, was shot dead outside her home in Fulham, west London, on April 26, 1999.

Scotland Yard has confirmed advances in ‘enhancement technology’ have allowed detectives to take a fresh look at old CCTV footage.

It shows an unidentified man, since dubbed Man X, near Putney Bridge station, about a mile from Ms Dando’s home, shortly after the attack.

The Met Police said: ‘In the 27 years since Jill Dando‘s murder, the investigation has been subject to numerous reviews, aiming to identify whether matters could be progressed with advances in technology and forensics.

‘Recent advancements in CCTV enhancement technology have provided investigators with the opportunity to re-examine original footage from Putney Bridge train station.

‘This remains ongoing.’

Police forensic officers at Gowan Avenue, Fulham, where TV presenter Jill Dando was murdered (Picture: PA)

The footage is being examined for possible links to suspect Milorad Ulemek, a Serbian assassin and paramilitary commander who is currently serving a 137-year prison sentence for war crime.

Ulemek was first named in connection with the murder by The Mirror in 2024 after a facial comparison expert said he and Man X have similar features.

They said Ulemek and Man X had similar noses, mouths and chins.

Two witnesses described seeing a man resembling Ulemek close to the murder scene, one of whom said the person was ‘running for his life’.

She later picked out Man X as the person she saw.

A second witness later said he was ‘80%’ certain Ulemek was the man he was running in front of his car near the scene.

The 37-year-old former Crimewatch presenter WAS one of the BBC’s highest-profile stars (Picture: PA)

Barry George was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2000, one year after Ms Dando was killed.

He was convicted and imprisoned for eight years, then acquitted and released after a retrial.

One theory which emerged over the course of the inquiry is that Serbian warlords ordered the execution in response to a Nato attack on a Belgrade TV station, which killed a number of journalists.

Weeks before she was killed, Ms Dando had hosted a television appeal that raised £54million for Kosovan refugees who fled Serbian paramilitaries during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

Outside of her work on Crimewatch, she was also seen during the 1980s and 1990s on BBC shows including travel show Holiday and The Antiques Inspectors.

She began as a reporter at her local paper The Weston Mercury in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, before moving to the morning programme Breakfast Time, which later became BBC Breakfast.

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