Compléter Jill Dando's murderVersion en ligne Read the article and choose the best option to complete the gap par Andrea Blas Duran 1 The killing of a popular BBC journalist and TV presenter has police and crime experts for many years . One of the strangest unsolved crimes in the UK in recent years was the murder of Jill Dando , a well - known and much - loved presenter on the BBC programme Crimewatch . On Crimewatch , major crimes are reconstructed by actors in the hope that members of the public will come forward with new information to help the police catch the criminals involved . According to the producers of the show , about a third of its cases are solved , half of which as a direct result of viewers' calls . These have included some of Britain's most notorious crimes , such as and murders . But on the morning of 26th April 1999 Jill Dando herself became a victim of a violent crime . As she was about to open the front door of her house in West London she was shot once in the head . Her body was discovered about a quarter of an hour later by her next - door neighbour . At first there was great media speculation that the murderer might have been a criminal who had previously been convicted and imprisoned because of Jill Dando's investigative work on Crimewatch , but the police later discounted this theory . In fact , Crimewatch reconstructed the presenter's murder in an attempt to aid the police in the search for her killer , but a year later , despite an intensive police investigation no arrest had been made . The police began to focus their attention on 38 - year - old Barry George , who lived about half a mile from Dando's house . He had a history of women and other anti - social and - behaviour . George was put under police , and on 25 May 2000 he was arrested and charged with Dando's murder . He was tried at the Old Bailey court in London and he pleaded not guilty to murder . The jury reached a majority - George was found guilty and sentenced to life , despite the fact that the only forensic evidence linking him to the crime was a tiny microscopic particle in his pocket , which experts believed could be . George appealed unsuccessfully against the sentence on two occasions , but after a third appeal he was and released from prison , after serving eight years of his life sentence . Jill Dando's murder remains unsolved .