Murder
On the morning of 26 April 1999, 37-year-old Dando left Farthing's home in
Chiswick. She returned alone, by car, to the house she owned in Fulham. She had lived in the house, but by April 1999 was in the process of selling it and did not visit it frequently. As Dando reached her front door at about 11:32, she was shot once in the head.
[12] Her body was discovered about 14 minutes later by neighbour Helen Doble.
[13] Police were called at 11:47.
[7] Dando was taken to the nearby
Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared
dead on arrival at 13:03
BST.
"As Dando was about to put her keys in the lock to open the front door of her home in Fulham, she was grabbed from behind. With his right arm, the assailant held her and forced her to the ground, so that her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch. Then, with his left hand, he fired a single shot at her left temple, killing her instantly. The bullet entered her head just above her ear, parallel to the ground, and came out the right side of her head."
—
Bob Woffinden,
The Guardian, July 2002
[14]
Forensic study indicated that Dando had been shot by a bullet from a
9 mm calibre semi-automatic pistol, with the gun pressed against her head at the moment of the shot. Richard Hughes, her next door neighbour, heard a surprised cry from Dando "like someone greeting a friend" but heard no gunshot. Hughes looked out of his front window and, while not realising what had happened, made the only certain sighting of the killer—a six-foot-tall (183 cm) white man aged around 40, walking away from Dando's house.
[7]
Investigation[edit]
After the murder, there was intense media coverage. An investigation by the
Metropolitan Police, named Operation Oxborough, proved fruitless for over a year. Dando's status as a well-known public figure probably brought her into contact with thousands of people, and she was known by millions, so there was fevered speculation about the motive for her killing.
Within six months, the
Murder Investigation Team had spoken to more than 2,500 people and taken more than 1,000 statements. With little progress after a year, the police concentrated their attention on
Barry George, who lived about half a mile from Dando's house. He had a history of
stalking women,
sexual offences and other anti-social and
attention seeking behaviour.
[15] George was put under surveillance, arrested on 25 May and charged with Dando's murder on 28 May.
[16]
George was tried at the
Old Bailey, convicted, and on 2 July 2001 was sentenced to
life imprisonment. Concern about this conviction was widespread on the basis that the case against George appeared thin. Two appeals were unsuccessful, but after discredited forensics evidence was excluded from the prosecution's case, George's third appeal succeeded in November 2007. The original conviction was quashed and a second trial lasting eight weeks ended in George's
acquittal on 1 August 2008.
Dando's family and her fiancé Alan Farthing did not ask the police to reopen the investigation.
[18] After George's acquittal, some newspapers published articles which appeared to suggest that he was guilty of the Dando murder and other offences against women. In December 2009, George accepted substantial damages from
News Group Newspapers over articles in
The Sun and the
News of the World, following a
libel action in the
High Court.