Did killer mistake Jill Dando for lookalike journalist?
Fashion sex assault case hears extraordinary claims over hitman
JILL Dando’s killer may have mistaken her for another BBC journalist who was the real target of an assassination plot, astonishing documents submitted to a Paris court suggest.
A French fashion mogul accused of multiple counts of sexual assault hired a Russian hitman to murder Lisa Brinkworth after she went undercover to expose his agency, according to extraordinary claims in the papers.
And the assassin may have mistaken Miss Dando for the real target given striking similarities in their appearance and occupation, as well as the fact that they lived in the same part of London, lawyers argue.
The lawyers also note that Miss Dando’s fiance, Alan Farthing, was Miss Brinkworth’s doctor.
Miss Dando was gunned down on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, west London, in 1999 and though stalker Barry George was convicted in 2001, he was later acquitted and the investigation remains open.
Gerald Marie, 72, the former boss of the Elite modelling agency, is being investigated over alleged sexual assaults and rapes involving at least 11 women.
Among them is Miss Brinkworth, 55, who claims he sexually assaulted her in 1998 while she was working undercover alongside journalist Donal MacIntyre to expose sex crimes in the fashion industry in a BBC programme.
France’s statute of limitations, however, means sexual abuse claims must be reported within 20 years. Lawyers for Miss Brinkworth have filed papers to the Paris prosecutor arguing that the statute does not apply in her case due to years fearing for her safety.
The ex-BBC journalist was kept in safe houses for years following the exposé and claims she was discouraged from taking legal action against Marie by the corporation.
In the documents, the lawyers reference a conversation witnessed by former Elite executive Omar Harfouch in which Marie ordered a member of the Russian mafia to ‘deal with a problem’.
‘ Shortly thereafter… a BBC journalist, Jill Dando, was shot dead in April 1999,’ the documents from French law firm Bourdon Associes state.
‘Indeed, these two journalists were in their thirties, were blonde with the same facial features, of the same height and of similar stature. They lived close to each other and had people in common, including the husband of Jill Dando.’
The documents also stated that an investigative journalist, Philippe Berry, had been told by a source that Marie had boasted in 1999 of having paid gangsters to intimidate a BBC employee.
In addition to the documents filed at the Judicial Court of Paris, a partner at a prestigious British law firm wrote to the BBC’s legal director, Nick Wilcox, drawing the same connection in September 2021.
The messages state that Mr Harfouch was party to a conversation in 1999 in which a member of the Russian mafia was asked to kill Miss Brinkworth and agreed.
The evidence has been passed to Scotland Yard, which said detectives would always explore any new information that may help the investigation.
Marie successfully settled with the BBC in 2001 after suing them for £1.7million in damages over the documentary, part of the MacIntyre Undercover series.
As part of the settlement, the corporation agreed not to broadcast the film again.
It is not known when the Paris prosecutor will make a decision over whether Marie can be tried.