Serbian assassin 'looks like man seen near Jill Dando's home' after her 1999 murder says witness - as lawyers for Barry George call for police probe

A witness who saw a man running from the scene of Jill Dando's murder has claimed that he looks like a Serbian assassin.

The beloved 37-year-old journalist's death after she was shot in the head on her front doorstep in April 1999 has been the subject of countless speculation, but the case hasn't been touched in 10 years. 

Barry George's defence lawyer has also claimed police should reopen the case to look at twice-convicted killer Milorad Ulemek, who looks like the mystery man.

Mr George, now 64, was tried and convicted of the TV presenter's murder but after spending eight years in jail, he was cleared.

A facial comparison expert gave 'limited support' to the theory that Ulemek, who is serving 40 years in a Serbian prison, looks like the unidentified person along the gunman's likely escape route.

This is the second lowest on a subjective scale range from 'no support' to 'powerful support'.

And now a witness who reported seeing a man 'running for his life' from the scene has claimed he looks like the notorious assassin.

Emi Polito was commissioned by The Mirror to compare the CCTV of Man X to the assassin.

At the time of Jill's death, the 56-year-old hitman led a squad of assassins targeting those opposing dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

The journalist made an appeal for Kosovan refugees dying at the hands of his forces, and within hours of her passing, a call claimed the hit was in response to British planes bombing Serbia.

CCTV of 'sweating' Man X showed a suspect getting on a bus in Fulham, south-west London, shortly after Jill was shot nearby.

Mr Polito alleges the assassin and Man X share a similarly shaped mouth, chin and hairline.

Speaking to a witness who saw the mystery man running from the area, The Mirror quoted her as saying: 'It's him'.

She told the newspaper 'I've no doubt' and said: 'I'm bad for remembering names but I'm good with faces'.

The woman added that she is 'completely and utterly adamant' that they're the same person.

 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told The Mirror he wants Jill's family to get justice.

The Mirror reports the expert as saying the general shape and sizes of their noses and ear are also the same.

But the CCTV imagery was blurry and he clarified that his observations only add 'light weight' to the theory that they're the same person.

When the assassin was asked if he murdered the journalist, his lawyer said 'he is not interested in participating,' The Mirror reported.

The man on the CCTV is a white male with dark hair in a dark suit, thought to have been born in the 60s.

He was seen about a mile away from the murder scene, by Putney Bridge underground station. He bought a ticket, went through the barriers but then left the station through another exit. 

He was 'sweating heavily' and speaking into a mobile phone when he took the bus to the tube station a few minutes after the incident, according to The Mirror.

The newspaper said that Ulemek was in his 30s at the time and of a similar build.

A month before Jill died, Ulemek was asked to murder a 'leading journalist', a court heard previously. But he declined, he said, because he was needed in Kosovo.

The Crimewatch star once time admitted that her role on the show left her in fear of retribution from the criminals she sought to expose. 

And in 1999, she featured on Crimewatch as the victim of a brutal assassination two years later. Her career meant there was an extensive list of suspects.

It has long been suspected that she was shot by a professional assassin.

A blue Range Rover that was parked illegally on the street where she lived, Gowan Avenue, was caught on CCTV driving away at speed from the area.

In 1999, Detective Chief Inspector Hamish Campbell was a senior investigating officer in the Met's murder squad, based in Kensington, West London.

He had never met Jill, though she had made an appeal on Crimewatch for one of his old murder inquiries and they had attended the same lunch at Scotland Yard, where she had spoken of her fears of a 'hit' being carried out on a Crimewatch presenter.

When told by a colleague that reports were coming through that a woman had been 'stabbed' in Fulham, Campbell decided to take a sergeant and go see for himself as it it was a 'very unusual' crime for that area of London.

As he drove down, he received a call from his chief superintendent who said to him bluntly, 'that case, that's going to be Jill Dando', it was heard in a Netflix documentary which aired last year.

Scotland Yard told The Mirror that the investigation is 'inactive' but 'no unsolved murder is ever closed'.