French #MeToo sex assault case hears bombshell claim a Russian mafia hitman was dispatched to London to ‘deal with’ a blonde undercover BBC reporter whose doctor was Jill Dando’s fiancée… weeks later Crimewatch host Jill was shot dead on her doorstep
- Bombshell court documents suggest Jill Dando’s murder was a mistake
- French court heard Lisa Brinkworth could have been the real target in the death
- Gerald Marie, 72, the former boss of the Elite modelling agency, is being investigated over alleged sexual assaults and rapes involving at least 11 women
- He is accused also of hiring a member of the Russian mafia to kill Brinkworth
Jill Dando’s killer may have mistaken her for another BBC journalist who was the real target of an assassination plot, astonishing documents submitted to a Paris court suggest.
A French fashion mogul accused of multiple counts of sexual assault hired a Russian hitman to murder Lisa Brinkworth after she went undercover to expose his agency, according to extraordinary claims in the papers.
And the assassin may have mistaken Miss Dando for the real target given striking similarities in their appearance and occupation, as well as the fact that they lived in the same part of London, lawyers argue.
The lawyers also note that Miss Dando’s fiance, Alan Farthing, was Miss Brinkworth’s doctor.
Miss Dando was gunned down on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, west London, in 1999 and though stalker Barry George was convicted in 2001, he was later acquitted and the investigation remains open.
A French fashion mogul accused of multiple counts of sexual assault hired a Russian hitman to murder Lisa Brinkworth
Miss Dando was gunned down on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, west London, in 1999
Gerald Marie, 72, the former boss of the Elite modelling agency, is being investigated over alleged sexual assaults and rapes involving at least 11 women.
Among them is Miss Brinkworth, 55, who claims he sexually assaulted her in 1998 while she was working undercover alongside journalist Donal MacIntyre to expose sex crimes in the fashion industry in a BBC programme.
France’s statute of limitations, however, means sexual abuse claims must be reported within 20 years. Lawyers for Miss Brinkworth have filed papers to the Paris prosecutor arguing that the statute does not apply in her case due to years fearing for her safety.
The ex-BBC journalist was kept in safe houses for years following the exposé and claims she was discouraged from taking legal action against Marie by the corporation.
Gerald Marie, 72, the former boss of the Elite modelling agency, is being investigated over alleged sexual assaults and rapes involving at least 11 women
In the documents, the lawyers reference a conversation witnessed by former Elite executive Omar Harfouch in which Marie ordered a member of the Russian mafia to ‘deal with a problem’.
‘Shortly thereafter… a BBC journalist, Jill Dando, was shot dead in April 1999,’ the documents from French law firm Bourdon Associes state.
‘Indeed, these two journalists were in their thirties, were blonde with the same facial features, of the same height and of similar stature. They lived close to each other and had people in common, including the husband of Jill Dando.’
The documents also stated that an investigative journalist, Philippe Berry, had been told by a source that Marie had boasted in 1999 of having paid gangsters to intimidate a BBC employee.
In addition to the documents filed at the Judicial Court of Paris, a partner at a prestigious British law firm wrote to the BBC’s legal director, Nick Wilcox, drawing the same connection in September 2021.
The messages state that Mr Harfouch was party to a conversation in 1999 in which a member of the Russian mafia was asked to kill Miss Brinkworth and agreed.
The evidence has been passed to Scotland Yard, which said detectives would always explore any new information that may help the investigation.
Marie successfully settled with the BBC in 2001 after suing them for £1.7million in damages over the documentary, part of the MacIntyre Undercover series.
As part of the settlement, the corporation agreed not to broadcast the film again.
It is not known when the Paris prosecutor will make a decision over whether Marie can be tried.
What happened to Jill Dando?The theories behind the unsolved murder
Journalist and presenter Jill started her career working for the BBC in Devon.
She became a newsreader for BBC Radio Devon in 1985 and that year, she transferred to BBC South West, where she presented a regional news magazine programme, Spotlight South West.
In 1987, she worked for Television South West, then BBC Spotlight before being transferred to London the following year where she went on to achieve national fame.
The popular TV presenter was shot dead on Monday, April 26, 1999, outside her home in Fulham, West London.
The murder shocked the nation and has never been solved – making it one of the most infamous cases in Britain.
A man named Barry George was charged and convicted of the murder in July 2001.
After an appeal, and a retrial at the end of 2008, he was found not guilty.
Despite several theories, the murder remains unsolved.
The theories:
IRA revenge killing
One theory is that the IRA targeted the BBC broadcaster because of her links to police through her work presenting Crimewatch
Wayne Aird was serving a life sentence in prison for killing a man two months after Jill Dando was shot
He claimed the IRA was responsible for her death but had not been brought to justice due to concerns it may jeopardise the Northern Ireland peace process
Paedophile ring
In 2014, an anonymous source who is believed to have worked with Jill Dando revealed she was trying to expose a VIP paedophile ring just months before her death
The friend reportedly told the Daily Express: ‘I don’t recall the names of all the stars now and don’t want to implicate anyone, but Jill said they were surprisingly big names.’
Stalker
Dando had a large following due to her TV career, leading the police to believe an opportunistic individual may have been responsible
The police identified 140 people who were ‘obsessed’ with the star. Adding to the theory, one of Jill’s neighbours revealed he had seen a sighting of the possible killer – a 6ft white man aged around 40. In the statement he said he heard a surprised cry from Jill ‘like someone greeting a friend’, suggesting she may have known her murderer
Joe the barman
In 1996 Kenneth Noye was sentenced to life in prison for a road rage killing with the help of a Crimewatch TV appeal – could this have been an act of revenge?
Serbian mafia
15 days before Jill’s murder Serbian journalist Slavko Curuvija was shot dead outside his home in Belgrade
Detectives were informed Serbian mobsters who were residing in the UK plotted the assassination over drinks at a nightclub
A message sent to detectives claimed they carried out the hit in revenge for the Nato-led bombing of a Serbian TV station – but this theory has since been discredited by the Daily Mail
A professional hit
Barry George, 58, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001, but was acquitted seven years later after his conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered
After his release, a review suggested the killing had signs of a professional hit – particularly the ‘hard contact execution – which involves pressing the gun against the head to silence the shot and minimise the blood on the killer’s clothes
An intelligence report identified two suspects from a known London crime family, suggesting the murder could have been in retaliation for a Crimewatch investigation
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