Police ‘dismissed’ Dando revenge killing calls, says documentary

POLICE disregarded a telephone call claiming responsibility for the murder of Jill Dando in revenge for the Nato bombing of Serbian television headquarters, a new documentary claimed last night.

It has emerged that a man with an eastern European accent made a call within hours of the murder on the morning of April 26, 1999, in which the killing was linked to the bombing in Belgrade three days earlier – when more than a dozen civilians died.

According to a summary of the message found by the ITV documentary, the caller said: “Re the murder of journalist tell your Prime Minister in Belgrade 15 killed so 14 more to go.”

It is not clear whether the call was made to the BBC, where Ms Dando worked, but it was passed to detectives by 3pm on the day of her death.

Two further phone calls came in the days that followed, also appearing to claim responsibilty for the murder. But these appear to have been dismissed or not followed up by Metropolitan Police officers investigating Ms Dando’s death outside her home in Fulham.

The claims will once again raise questions about the investigation.

Barry George, a local man with learning difficulties, was convicted of Ms Dando’s murder at the Old Bailey in 2001, but had his conviction quashed in 2008 following concern over the quality of forensics evidence. He told the programme: “My conscience was clear – I knew I hadn’t done it.”

The ITV documentary, Jill Dando –

The 20 Year Mystery, examined dozens of files from the original investigation.

It found that around 11am on the day after the murder, the man who made the first call is believed to have made another to the BBC, saying: “Yesterday I called to add a few more numbers to the list because your government and in particular your Prime Minister Blair murdered, butchered 17 innocent young people.

“He butchered, we butcher back. The first one you had yesterday. The next one will be Tony Hall.”

Police took this call seriously enough for security around Mr Hall, the then head of BBC News, to be increased.

The man called again on April 28, saying: “Listen you and the BBC are the voice of your government that’s why your reporter is dead because your government killed 17 innocent people.”

The Met Police declined to answer questions, but said in a statement: “The investigation into the murder of Ms Dando remains an open investigation, and therefore we cannot comment in any detail other than to say we will always explore any new information which may become available.”