Met Police Reopens Jill Dando Murder Investigation Following CCTV Breakthrough
Newly enhanced footage from Putney Bridge station has led investigators to re-examine a Serbian assassin linked to the unsolved 1999 killing.
The Metropolitan Police have initiated a new investigation into the unsolved murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando, prompted by a significant breakthrough involving enhanced CCTV footage. Dando, 37, was fatally shot on her doorstep in Fulham in April 1999, and her killer has never been identified.
Investigators are now re-examining original footage from Putney Bridge train station. The video shows an unidentified man, referred to as Man X, who was captured walking along what is believed to be the assassin's escape route approximately 20 minutes after Dando's murder. This man's features are reported to closely resemble Milorad Ulemek, a notorious Serbian assassin and paramilitary commander currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for war crimes.
A spokesperson for the Met Police stated that investigations are ongoing and that recent advancements in CCTV enhancement technology have enabled the re-examination of the footage. Ulemek, 58, was first linked to Dando's murder in 2024, when his resemblance to Man X was noted by a facial comparison expert.
The CCTV footage from Putney Bridge station, located about a mile from Dando's home, shows Man X near the crime scene. Cold-case officers reportedly spent ten months this year locating and digitizing the original footage, employing modern forensic imaging techniques to determine if Ulemek was present at the station on the night of the murder.
Authorities were initially alerted to Man X by an eyewitness who reported seeing a man in a suit running near the crime scene on Fulham Palace Road. This witness later identified Man X from the CCTV footage, though her testimony was reportedly dismissed by police who claimed her description did not match the man on camera, despite similarities in appearance and attire.
A second witness reportedly stated he was "80 percent" certain that Ulemek had run in front of his vehicle on the same road.
Ulemek, a former French Foreign Legionnaire, led paramilitary units implicated in atrocities during the Yugoslav Wars. Court documents previously revealed that Ulemek was asked to murder a "leading journalist" a month before Dando's death but allegedly declined, citing his need to be in Kosovo. At the time of Dando's murder, Ulemek commanded a squad targeting opponents of Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader.
Speculation following Dando's death suggested she may have been targeted in retaliation for a NATO attack on a Belgrade television station that resulted in 17 deaths. Weeks prior to her murder, Dando had hosted a televised appeal that raised £54 million for Kosovan refugees displaced by Serbian paramilitary actions during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Dando had previously expressed fears about potential retribution due to her role on the crime-show Crimewatch.
Barry George was previously tried and convicted of Dando's murder but was later acquitted on appeal in 2007. The investigation into the case remains active.