Nick Ross has said he knows who killed Jill Dando on the 25th anniversary of his Crimewatch co-presenter's shocking murder.
The former BBC host has dismissed suggestions that Jill was shot by a Serbian hitman and said Barry George would have an 'uphill task' to prove his innocence if he was granted the new hearing he is demanding.
George is the only person to have been convicted over Jill's murder, although he was later acquitted after experts raised concerns about potential cross-contamination of evidence.
But Mr Ross, whose close friend Jill was just 37 when she was shot in the back of the head arriving at her home in Fulham, West London, in April 1999, says he thinks the prime suspect in her death should never have been released.
The radio and TV presenter says that George - who has repeatedly protested his innocence - has five questions he should have to answer before people take him for his word.
Nick Ross has said he believes he knows who murdered his former colleague Jill Dando (pictured together)
Jill, 37, was shot in the head on her front doorstep 25 years ago and her murder has been the subject of constant speculation - but has remained untouched for 10 years
Barry George was convicted of her murder but had his conviction overturned after experts raised doubts about ballistic evidence used in his trial
Mr Ross had written an open letter in 2007 to judges at the Court of Appeal saying he was 'confident' George was guilty, although the convicted sex offender would have his murder conviction overturned.
He would later be found unanimously not guilty in a retrial in 2008, seven years after George was originally convicted of her murder.
READ MORE 'The brutal killing that today stunned everyone here at the BBC Television Centre': How 'devastated' colleagues told the world of Jill Dando's 'senseless murder'
AdvertisementWriting in The Times today, Mr Ross said that the 64-year-old 'would need to explain a damaging series of coincidences' in order to convince him of his innocence.
These include him being spotted on the road where Dando lived before her death and again in an agitated state after she had been shot.
He added that George had a history of sexual violence against women, including convictions for sexual assault and attempted rape, and had been known to stalk people including Princess Diana.
Mr Ross added that recent theories that Jill had been killed by a Serbian hitman in revenge for her coverage of gangs on Crimewatch did not match the evidence that 'almost every element of the crime had the hallmarks of an amateur'.
He claimed that Jill's killer had 'waited conspicuously outside her house' before committing the act in the street where people could hear the gun, itself a modified starting pistol prone to jamming, and press the weapon itself against her head potentially leaving behind evidence.
He wrote: 'The forensic psychologist who analysed the murder quickly concluded that any three of these features would suggest that the killer was not only an amateur but was taking ill-considered risks.
Jill Dando was brutally shot in the head outside her home in Fulham, West London, in April 1999
Her former Crimewatch co-presenter Nick Ross has said he things Barry George should never have been released over the crime
George (pictured) has consistently protested his innocence and insisted he had nothing to do with Jill's murder
A police forensics tent covers the entrance to Jill Dando's home in Fulham following her shocking murder in April 1999
Floral tributes left to the much loved BBC presenter outside her home in Fulham after her death
'He advised that the murderer would be a classic loner with a severe personality disorder.
EXCLUSIVEREAD MORE I know what kind of killer murdered Jill Dando: As wild theories about the TV presenter's death persist, the Met's lead detective tells STEPHEN WRIGHT why he's sure his instincts are right in an exclusive interview
Advertisement'Indeed, the closest parallels to Dando's murder - famous people shot dead on their doorsteps such as Gianni Versace and John Lennon - were carried out by people uncannily like George.'
Mr Ross said he felt the basis for overturning George's original conviction - that there were doubts over the reliability of evidence over gunshot residue found in the defendant's coat pocket - was weak.
He claimed that the 'second thoughts' displayed by forensic scientists over the forearm discharge residue 'misunderstood the play of chance', adding: 'The appeal should have been disallowed, there should not have been another trial, and George should not have been released.'
The former lead detective in her murder investigation told the Mail last week Jill's killing 'had the hallmarks of the loner acting because of a political motivation, anger, or just an obsessive personality'.
Former Met Police DCI Hamish Campbell said: 'The rationale for the gangland theory, the Russians, the Serbs, the Adams, anyone from Crimewatch, was just never viable.
Jill Dando and Nick Ross pictured in a publicity photo for BBC's Crimewatch in 1995
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
Barry George, now 64, was convicted of the Crimewatch presenter's brutal killing but was released eight years later following a retrial. He wants the police to reopen the case
Locals line the route, as the funeral of Jill Dando makes its way through Weston-super-Mare in 1999
'I wrote in my personal notes, in earliest weeks, that I considered the killing to be the work of the loner or the obsessive. Many months later I recorded that I still feared the loner or an ill man was responsible.
READ MORE Who murdered Jill Dando? The main conspiracy theories about the killing that shocked Britain
Advertisement'Twenty-five years later, there's still nothing from the vast criminal networks. No one emerging. So it must have been a loner, or at least someone acting on their own initiative. That I feel sure of.'
He added 'George was a convicted sex offender [he had several previous convictions for sexual assault and attempted rape]. He was a prolific stalker of female strangers for years. He accosted numerous women in the street and outside their homes. He was violent. The list goes on. He had the access to firearms - and had owned some - and he was fixated on celebrity.'
George himself has demanded police investigate whether Jill was killed by Serbian hitman Milorad Ulemek.
A facial comparison expert gave 'limited support' to the theory that twice-convicted killer looks like an unidentified person spotted along the gunman's likely escape route that night.
This is the second lowest on a subjective scale range from 'no support' to 'powerful support'.
Notorious assassin Milorad Lukovic Ulemek, alias Legija, seen in May 2004. There have been claims he was involved in her murder
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's tragic and brutal death has long been the subject of intense speculation
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.
READ MORE Barry George, the man who was acquitted of Jill Dando's murder, calls on police to investigate Serbian hitman that witness claims looks like man caught on CCTV after the killing
AdvertisementGeorge wants this line of inquiry investigated, and if the assassin is found to be the person responsible, wants him 'brought from Serbia to the UK' so he can be held accountable.
Speaking to The Mirror, George said the hitman should 'face the full letter of the law' if he's found to have murdered the beloved journalist.
But he said he thinks a 'fresh Crown Prosecution Service' should bring the case and 'not anyone who's worked on the previous Dando case'.
He said he is 'concerned' about the fact the police didn't take any action over a mystery man spotted on CCTV in the area at the time of the murder for almost a year.
He told The Mirror: 'It reinforces that they weren't doing their job properly.'
George wants the mystery man to be looked into 'very heavily' and 'questioned'.
And his loyal sister Michelle, who stood by him when the nation believed him culpable, said it was 'appalling' the CCTV was 'sat on' by police for so long.
She claimed: ' We have spent 24 years trying to fight the British justice system that still wants Barry George in the frame for this.'
George agreed, adding that he believed he was used as a 'scapegoat' and demanded a formal enquiry take place.
The Serbian assassin's lawyer said his client is 'not interested in participating'.
Scotland Yard told The Mirror the investigation into Jill's murder is in an inactive phase but 'no unsolved murder is ever closed'.