Sunday Sport

DID SAVILE ORDER JILL DANDO’S MURDER?

She was going to expose him, says new book

- By BARNEY SAMUELS news@ sundayspor­t. co. uk

JILL Dando was murdered on the orders of Jimmy Savile because the late Crimewatch presenter was just about to expose the meganonce’s vile crimes.

What’s more, the authoritie­s KNEW that Savile was the ‘ Mr Big’ who ordered the hit but were powerless to act as the DJ and industrial scale kiddy- fiddler was protected by shadowy Establishm­ent figures.

That is the chilling theory proposed by author John Gilchrist, who has spent the last two years researchin­g links between Savile and Jill’s murder.

The 37- year- old TV presenter was shot dead on April 26, 1999, on the doorstep of her home in west London. The crime remains unsolved to this day.

In 2001, Barry George was wrongly convicted of the murder and spent seven years behind bars before he was freed on appeal.

Disgrace

John reckons that Mr George was set up as a “fall guy” to divert attention away from Savile, who died in 2011, aged 84.

The author said: “The whole case is tragic, chilling and a disgrace to Britain. It was particular­ly tragic for Barry George, who rotted in jail for years, wrongly convicted of killing Jill.”

John claims Jill was told that DJs, celebritie­s and other staff were involved in organised abuse and that Savile “topped the list”.

But an anonymous source told him that “no- one wanted to know” when Jill raised concerns about the alleged ring and other sexual abuse claims at the BBC.

The source is quoted by John as saying: “I think Jill was shocked by what she was told and made it her business to stop it.

“She was a woman on a mission – and that mission terrified Savile. Nobody at the BBC had stood up to him before.

“Savile considered sexually smearing Jill through his contacts in the media but that was a non- runner. Jill was too popular.

“She had to die… and it was Savile who gave the order.”

John says that Savile “called in a favour” from underworld pals, who blasted Jill to death on the doorstep of her home.

Theories about her death ranged from the culprit being a Serbian warlord angry over her TV appeal on behalf of Kosovan refugees, to British underworld enforcers who were furious at her

Crimewatch investigat­ions. But the paedophile ring link appears to be the only one that still holds water.

John said: “It was a massive job to protect Savile from investigat­ion but the people shielding him are among the most powerful in the land.

“Even with Savile dead, the cover- up continues – if details ever came out it would rock the government, the civil service, the courts… the lot.”

Meanwhile, a former Scotland Yard Flying Squad boss revealed his former colleagues ignored ‘ excellent leads’ into the unsolved murder of Jill Dando.

John O’Connor said: “I was given an excellent lead that was ignored.

“The Met did nothing with it. It was quite clear this was a pro hit by a trained assassin.

Witness

“The person identified was a significan­t and key witness. But the Met just shut its eyes to everything else, once they’d nicked poor Barry George.”

Mr O’Connor now wants Home Secretary Amber Rudd to look into the unsolved case.

A Metropolit­an Police spokesman said: “The Metropolit­an Police Service fully investigat­ed the circumstan­ces into the murder of Jill Dando.

“If any new informatio­n comes to our attention this will be investigat­ed.”

Last year, it was revealed that more than 100 potential murder suspects who could have shot dead Jill Dando on her doorstep in a ‘ profession­al hit’ were never traced by police.

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 ??  ?? ORGANISED HIT: Jill Dando ( far left) was shot dead outside her west London home ( above) after uncovering ring of abuse at BBC, headed by Savile ( above)
ORGANISED HIT: Jill Dando ( far left) was shot dead outside her west London home ( above) after uncovering ring of abuse at BBC, headed by Savile ( above)
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 ??  ?? FALL GUY: Barry George ( left) and ex- Flying Squad boss John O’Connor
FALL GUY: Barry George ( left) and ex- Flying Squad boss John O’Connor
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