How Credible Is The Theory Involving Serbians?

[Holly Goodhead]

I am going to start up new threads.  Posters are encouraged to do the same. 

A polite reminder of a forum rule:

* Posters are asked to keep to thread topics where possible

Any posts unrelated to thread topic will be removed on sight.  This will hopefully provide a more productive experience for guests and posters alike. 

All feedback welcome 

 

[Holly Goodhead]

It appears there are two aspects to this theory:

- Retaliation for the NATO bombing of Radio Television of Serbia HQ (RTS)

- Jill's appeal in aid of the 'Kosovo Crisis'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqhlPdRXfc

[Holly Goodhead]

Is it really feasible that a Serb(s), anywhere in the world, would go out of his/her/their way to murder a BBC presenter in the UK because she was fronting up an appeal in aid of Kosovans?

It seems from the above clip the appeal was made over the Easter weekend '99 which fell on 2nd - 5th Apr.  Jill was murdered on 26th April.  In this scenario the perp(s) would have some 24 days to plan the murder.

Can anyone think of an example, anywhere in the world, where someone appealing for aid to support some cause has been murdered by some opposing group or person?

[John]

The widow of a Serbian journalist, murdered in almost identical circumstances, has come forward to say she is convinced Miss Dando was shot by a hitman acting on orders from the Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.



Branka Prpa, a historian, believes Miss Dando became a target after presenting a BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan-Albanian refugees driven from their homes by militias backing Milosevic.

Mrs Prpa was with her husband, Slavko Curuvija when he was shot dead outside their home in Belgrade on April 11, 1999 – just 15 days before Miss Dando, 37, was killed in Fulham, west London.

She said: “I think there is a link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both executed.”

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Mrs Prpa pointed to a number of striking similarities between the two murders.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9120523/Jill-Dando-murdered-by-Serbian-hitman.html

[Nicholas]

The widow of a Serbian journalist, murdered in almost identical circumstances, has come forward to say she is convinced Miss Dando was shot by a hitman acting on orders from the Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.



Branka Prpa, a historian, believes Miss Dando became a target after presenting a BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan-Albanian refugees driven from their homes by militias backing Milosevic.

Mrs Prpa was with her husband, Slavko Curuvija when he was shot dead outside their home in Belgrade on April 11, 1999 – just 15 days before Miss Dando, 37, was killed in Fulham, west London.

She said: “I think there is a link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both executed.”

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Mrs Prpa pointed to a number of striking similarities between the two murders.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9120523/Jill-Dando-murdered-by-Serbian-hitman.html

What did the police say about this John?

There’s a clue at the bottom of the 2012 article you’ve posted.

[Holly Goodhead]

NATO bombing of RTS happened around 00.06 GMT on 24th Apr.  This would give any would be retaliator some 2.5 days to plan the murder which imo does not sound credible especially given that Jill spent very little time at Gowan Avenue.  Other than those who were acquainted with her and immediate neigbours who could witness her arriving and departing noone else would have any idea when she would visit unless she was under surveillance.  CCTV shows she was not being followed so surveillance would have to involve bugging, tracking devices etc.

The ITV docu refers to Jill as a journalist.  I don't believe this is correct.  Jill started out as a journalist working on local papers in the West country but her roles at the BBC involved presenting only.  How likely is it that Serbs would orchestrate an assassination on a UK based BBC presenter in retaliation for the NATO bombing of RTS?

Can anyone think of an example, anywhere in the world, where a tv presenter has been murdered by an individual or state in retaliation for NATO military intervention?
 

[Holly Goodhead]

Slavko Curuvija was a journalist and publisher. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavko_%C4%86uruvija

It seems to me his background: family, career, politics etc is at complete odds with Jill Dando's. 

Also Jill was a presenter not a journalist.  She was the messenger not the investigator. 

[Angelo222]

Slavko Curuvija was a journalist and publisher. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavko_%C4%86uruvija

It seems to me his background: family, career, politics etc is at complete odds with Jill Dando's. 

Also Jill was a presenter not a journalist.  She was the messenger not the investigator.

She was extremely high profile doing the job she did. She only had to upset one underworld criminal for a hit to be put on her.  She wasn't hard to find and very easy to follow.  They picked their moment on a quiet London street with nobody around, not even Barry George.

[Nicholas]

She was extremely high profile doing the job she did. She only had to upset one underworld criminal for a hit to be put on her.  She wasn't hard to find and very easy to follow.  They picked their moment on a quiet London street with nobody around, not even Barry George.

“De troothe has the annoying habit of coming to the surface just when you least expect it!!

[Holly Goodhead]

She was extremely high profile doing the job she did. She only had to upset one underworld criminal for a hit to be put on her.  She wasn't hard to find and very easy to follow.  They picked their moment on a quiet London street with nobody around, not even Barry George.

Yes she was high profile in the UK but I'm not sure about global reach?  Would she register on the Serb radar?

[Nicholas]

Yes she was high profile in the UK but I'm not sure about global reach?  Would she register on the Serb radar?

What did the courts conclude?

[Holly Goodhead]

What did the courts conclude?

The police contacted the UK intelligent services who said they had no knowledge of Serbs organising an assassination.

At BG's first trial Michael Mansfield QC for BG put to jurors the Serb theory and Orlando Pownell QC for the prosecution ridiculed the idea quite spectacularly I believe.

At BG's second trial William Clegg QC for BG did not commit himself to any person/group.  This is what he told the Telegraph which I assume would be similar to what he told the jury:

“There’s no doubt at all, the person who killed her was a professional hitman,” he says. “From the way the murder was committed, the weapon used, the method of execution – all point to it being a professional. It would have been beyond the capabilities of anyone [else].”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/barry-georges-lawyer-know-didnt-kill-jill-dando-people-capable/

[Nicholas]

The police contacted the UK intelligent services who said they had no knowledge of Serbs organising an assassination.

At BG's first trial Michael Mansfield QC for BG put to jurors the Serb theory and Orlando Pownell QC for the prosecution ridiculed the idea quite spectacularly I believe.

At BG's second trial William Clegg QC for BG did not commit himself to any person/group.  This is what he told the Telegraph which I assume would be similar to what he told the jury:

“There’s no doubt at all, the person who killed her was a professional hitman,” he says. “From the way the murder was committed, the weapon used, the method of execution – all point to it being a professional. It would have been beyond the capabilities of anyone [else].”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/barry-georges-lawyer-know-didnt-kill-jill-dando-people-capable/

You don’t suppose it has anything to do with the publication of his book then?

I’m interested in facts not the conspiracy theories being used as propaganda. I don’t believe the hype.

[steve_trousers]

Very credible, in my opinion. So far as I can tell one of the reasons the serb theory seems to have been discounted is how would they know Jill was going to be in Gowan avenue that morning when she was more or less living with Alan Farthing? and there were no signs of her being followed.

It must be feasible that they just got lucky with Jill being there that morning, it was after all still her 'official' address, as she went there to collect her mail and so on.

The clinical execution points to a hit and I cannot understand why it was so readily dismissed in favour of the local weirdo/nutter theory.

Real IRA would surely have admitted it to draw attention to their cause, for me the answer is somewhere in the Balkans

[Holly Goodhead]

Very credible, in my opinion. So far as I can tell one of the reasons the serb theory seems to have been discounted is how would they know Jill was going to be in Gowan avenue that morning when she was more or less living with Alan Farthing? and there were no signs of her being followed.

It must be feasible that they just got lucky with Jill being there that morning, it was after all still her 'official' address, as she went there to collect her mail and so on.

The clinical execution points to a hit and I cannot understand why it was so readily dismissed in favour of the local weirdo/nutter theory.

Real IRA would surely have admitted it to draw attention to their cause, for me the answer is somewhere in the Balkans

The NATO attack on RTS happened around midnight on 24th April which would have given the Serbs less than 2.5 days to plan and carry out the assassination. 

I understand Real IRA, as with all the paramilitary groups in Eire/NI, dabble in organised crime to fund terrorism.  Is it possible RI were carrying out a paid 'hit'?  The 26th April falls on a significant day within the republican calendar: anniversary period of the 1916 Easter Rising.  On 24th Apr 1996 Provisional IRA planted bombs under Hammersmith bridge which also coincide with Easter Rising:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Hammersmith_Bridge_bombing