Inside Jill Dando's £1million London home she loved - where she was shot dead'

28 September 2023 , 11:55

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Inside Jill Dando's £1million London home she loved - where she was shot dead'

Photographs have captured the home of BBC presenter Jill Dando who was shot dead in a chilling murder which remains unsolved 24 years on.

The Crimewatch host was murdered on the doorstep of the property in Fulham, southwest London, which she bought for £265,000 four years previous. The killing has captivated everybody all over again as Netflix has released its latest true crime documentary, Who Killed Jill Dando?

Jill, 37, was tackled to the ground and killed by an unknown assailant as she was unlocking the front door of her house on April 26, 1999. The property is on Gowan Avenue, in an affluent area near Parsons Green station and Bishops Park, a popular green space beside River Thames.

Jill Dando sits on a step up to a home (David Crump/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock)

The house is in Fulham, southwest London (ex)

But Jill's family never wanted her to live at the property alone due to her work as a journalist on Crimewatch and other investigative projects. Relatives felt the area was unsafe for Jill, who had been living elsewhere in London with her cousin Judith before she looked to live by herself. Judith told the Mirror: "Jill was ridiculously naïve about her security.

“When she went for the house in Gowan Avenue I remember saying to her, ‘do you really want to do this, you are living on your own. Wouldn’t you be better off with a smart apartment where you have a security guard’.

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"I had also spoken to her about driving around in a soft top car in London. I said it was not a good idea because she was so well known. But I think perhaps she hadn’t seen enough to realise nasty things can happen – and sadly it did to her."

Detectives and forensic officers talk to neighbours after the shooting in April 1999 (Nigel Howard/Evening Standard/REX/Shutterstock)

Under the most recent listing of Jill’s house, it says the home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a private garden. There’s high ceilings, a spacious living room and an open plan kitchen – but it may have been extended since Jill owned the home in the ’90s.

When Jill was murdered, the presenter was in the process of selling her house – four years after she’d first bought it. It is understood she spent most of her time at her fiancé’s home in Chiswick, west London, and only went home on the day of her death to change her clothes before a photoshoot.

It was reported, in fact, Jill had agreed the sale of the property for £350,000. The figure was nearly £100,000 more than she had bought the house for in January 1994. According to sales records Rightmove, the deal still went through on July 15, 1999, the completion date for Jill had hoped – even after the star’s tragic death in three months earlier. Seven years later, Jill’s home on Gowan Avenue was sold for £811,000 and, by 2009, the house was sold for £1,000,000. It’s unknown who lives there now.

The presenter's life will be documented in the Netflix series (PA)

Alan Farthing had been due to marry just months after her murder (Sunday Mirror)

In 2001, Barry George was found guilty of Jill's murder, but acquitted at a second trial after spending seven years in jail. Judith says she was never convinced by his arrest. "I didn’t get that gut reaction that they had the right man," she said in an interview with the Mirror in 2019.

In a BBC1 documentary, The Murder of Jill Dando, police revealed their frustration at never being able to catch her killer. They admitted then they were no longer looking into the case.

And Judith believes she’ll never know who killed her beloved cousin. Speaking previously, she added: "The last time the police visited me was about two or three years ago. They do cold case reviews every now and again. Now I think about the tragedy of her being killed – and not who killed her."

Bradley Jolly