Mystery surrounds fingerprints where man sprinted from Jill Dando murder scene

Fingerprints which were hoped to hold a vital clue in the Jill Dando murder case have never been identified. The marks were reportedly left by a "crazy" man on a traffic light post as he sprinted away from the murder scene.

His movements were watched by a dog walker. The witness stated that the mystery runner narrowly avoided being hit by a car as he dashed in front of traffic near to the popular BBC Crimewatch presenter's home in Fulham, West London, where a neighbour saw the gunman running.

The revelation that the fingerprints were never identified has been exposed by the Mirror today, as the 25th anniversary of Jill's death approaches. The dog walker said he crossed Gowan Avenue, the street where Jill lived, at the junction of the Fulham Palace Road.

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It was around 11.37am on April 26, 1999, after the witness had placed a bet at a bookies. He said in a police statement: “I then noticed a man running across the pelican crossing, he was about one to two yards from my side of the road.

“I was aware that the bleeper had stopped sounding. I noticed that the cars on the far side of the road had started to move. I thought, ‘He’s not going to make it,’ but he just kept on running across.”

The witness said it was “strange” this man in a dark suit was “so determined to get across the road”. A car braked hard and the man lost his balance and grabbed the railings or traffic light post. The witness added: “I was thinking to myself, ‘What’s he running for?’ I looked and could see no bus coming.”

While waiting to cross with a woman, one of them said “he must be crazy”, the statement revealed. Finger and palm marks were later found on the post, 70in from the ground, facing the road and pointing left towards Putney Bridge Tube station, police files reveal. Fingerprint expert John Griffin said in a statement that he found “marks in dirt” on the post five days after the murder. Nine months later he went back to supervise the removal of the post, and arranged for a section to be cut away.

In a separate document dated March 21, 2000, a memo was sent from a senior identification officer to Det Chief Supt Brian Moore stating that the marks had not been identified. The dog walker was one of eight witnesses who described seeing a man, or men, of a similar description acting suspiciously around the time of the murder. The man, or men, have never been traced.

The killer appears to have sprinted from Jill’s house to nearby Bishops Park, where he may have got rid of the gun. It is possible that he met an accomplice here who took the weapon from him and returned to a Range Rover seen speeding away from the park minutes later in the direction he had run.

The man was almost run over again while crossing the road to get into the park. "Moments later, a man seen coming from the direction of the park, and not running, stood openly at a bus stop, sweating profusely."

A witness said he was baffled when the man failed to board either a 74 or a 220, the only buses that stopped there. Detectives suspected he may have been using his phone to arrange a rendezvous with the Range Rover away from the murder scene.

In a final bizarre act, a man fitting the description of the e-fit walked through ticket barriers at Putney Bridge Tube station, an area covered in CCTV cameras, turned on his heel and walked back out, never to be seen again. His actions suggest that he may have been trained in counter-surveillance techniques. They also appear to show he did not appear to care about being caught on camera.

Timeline of day that shook Britain

10.08am: A traffic warden says she sees a blue Range Rover on Gowan Avenue near Kimbell Gardens.

After 11.30am : Jill is shot dead outside her house at 29 Gowan Avenue.

Neighbour Richard Hughes, who lived at 31, hears her car locking and a cry around 30 seconds later. From an upstairs window he sees a man walking out of her gate and shutting it behind him. He is wearing dark clothing, has dark hair and is carrying an object that he believed to be a mobile phone.

At the same time Geoffrey Upfill-Brown, who lived opposite Jill at number 30, sees the same man “running very quickly” towards Fulham Palace Road. When he sees Mr Upfill-Brown, he slows to a walk. The witness said: “He was up to no good, I could tell it at once.” He described him as being in his 30s, around 5ft 10in, of medium build and with a sallow complexion, dark hair and dark clothing.

It is accepted that the two neighbours are the only people to definitely see Jill’s killer. Neither picked out Barry George, who was wrongly jailed for Jill’s murder, in ID parades. Mr Upfill-Brown died in 2010.

11.37am : Dog walker sees a running man.

Between 11.30 and 11.40: A motorist sees a man holding a mobile phone “running for his life” and looking like he is about to cross the road, from the north side to the south side on Fulham Palace Road. She described him as 5ft 10in or 5ft 11in, with brown eyes, a hazel face and with black office shoes, laced, wearing a single-breasted dark suit.

He was “quite good-looking”, aged between 33 and 42 and was carrying the phone in his right hand. His hair was about two inches long, smart and parted on the left-hand side.

A very short time later, a van driver heading south along Fulham Palace Road screeches to a stop approximately 400 yards from the Fulham Road, diagonally opposite the entrance to Bishops Park.

A smartly dressed man, looking back from the direction he had come, runs out in front of him, about three metres from his Transit. His window was already open and he shouts “you a**ehole” at the man, who doesn’t look at him and keeps running.

The delivery driver remains stationary as he watches the man run into Bishops Park. He contacted the police that day. He described the man as white, early 30s, 5ft 10in or 5ft 11in, of medium build with short black hair. Running faster than jogging, he was not paying attention to traffic.

11.40am: Stevenage Road, opposite Fulham football ground, a dark blue Range Rover is seen parked with two men in it.

Separately, a witness spent several minutes at a bus stop at 389 Fulham Palace Road with a man who was sweating heavily and who he said looked “foreign” and he thought could have been a policeman. He said this man, who fits the description of the one running, had come across the road from the Bishops Park side to the bus stop. His behaviour caught his attention.

He was smartly dressed but had been sweating so much his collar was wet. He appeared agitated, like something was wrong. The man was in his late 30s, clean shaven, with a dark suit. He was of slim build, had dark brown hair and had a “foreign nose”, he said in his statement. The man had a mark across his nose as if he wore glasses, a ring on his right hand little finger.

There were only two buses to go from that stop – the 220 and the 74. The 74 came but the sweating man did not get on it. The witness got on the 220 and the man was still at the bus stop as he left.

This witness provided an E-fit that was released by police. The witness said: “I recognised this as a strange event but didn’t really think anymore of it until I heard something had happened in Fulham.”

11.46am: The sweating man gets on a 74 bus and asks the driver for Putney Bridge station in a quiet voice. He gets off at the station and the driver sees the e-fit days later and recognises him. He later tells police he did not notice an accent and he paid the 70p fare with the correct change.

11.40-50am: Unknown location on the Fulham Palace Road a man fitting the E-fit description is seen by an aromatherapist looking out her flat window. She said he drew her attention because he was wearing a suit while running and talking into a mobile phone.
11.48am: Helen Doble, who was passing Jill’s house, makes 999 call. She said: “I’m walking along Gowan Avenue. It looks like somebody’s collapsed. Confidentially it looks like it’s Jill Dando.

“She doesn’t look as though she’s breathing. She’s got blood coming from her nose. Her arms are blue.”

11.52am: While the sweating man is on the bus, a blue Range Rover is caught on CCTV driving at “high speed” south over Putney Bridge. The same vehicle had been seen minutes earlier speeding out of Doneraile Avenue, opposite Gowan Avenue, cutting in front of a van and jumping a red light at the pelican crossing. It was coming from the direction of Bishops Park. The witness said: “There was nothing going to stop him.” The vehicle was allegedly going so fast it leaned on its side.

Approximately 11.55am: The sweating man gets off the 74 bus at the station.

12:00: Putney Bridge Tube station. A witness statement given in May 1999 said a man police wanted to trace was seen at 12.34 entering the ticket barrier, before turning away and walking straight back out.

Some time before 3pm on day of the murder: A call was made to the BBC by an unidentified man, saying in possibly an Eastern European accent: “Tell your Prime Minister in Belgrade 15 people were killed, so 14 more to go”.