Jennie Bond Opens Up on the 25th Anniversary of Jill Dando’s Death | Loose Women

it later became clear that Jill had in fact been shot and not stabbed and a quarter of a century later her murder remains unsolved and Jenny here with us now hi Jenny um gosh just watching that having you know sort of sat in that newsreader seat how did you separate Jenny newsreader and Jenny friend well I mean you're no okay you just do don't you you get on with your job but it was probably the toughest bulletin I'd ever had to do you know just a couple of years earlier I'd reported extensively on on the death of Diana who I also knew um and liked um but this was far more personal far more shocking I mean the whole Newsroom was in shock and Newsroom is such a vibrant place you know you know it's Buzzy and everyone's chatting at the same time and that morning suddenly all went quiet and honestly physically cold it seemed what was the timing of the morning I mean when did hear it was about midday that we started hearing rumors well we heard that someone had had been killed on their doorstep a woman and then unbelievably people started saying it's Jill and we were just Whispering we didn't dare say it out loud and we didn't believe it um and and we at the BBC were absolutely adamant that we had to contact the family first and so I don't think we were the first to break the news actually but that didn't matter the family were told um and my bosses came over to me and said are you okay can you do this and I said yes but I know you could see you could see I was was very emotional but you could also see and you would know this if you've read the news that when you're dreading saying something you probably say that bit perfectly well and then you have a little stumble after that and I did and that was that just betrayed how you also looked a bit in shock and sometimes shock protects you from emotion doesn't it initially because the actually that it took a long time for the news to sink in I think you know when you're told something it still feels quite surreal doesn't it yeah and it was you know it was fast moving story at that stage and we got it wrong I mean she wasn't stabbed but um it it was it was something that stayed with the whole of The Newsroom for for days after that and I think we all felt a little bit a little bit frightened actually you know when then nights after that when I got home to my house at 11:00 at night maybe after day in The Newsroom and put the key in the door you just looked around am I am I safe am I okay because we didn't know then who killed her and we don't know now 25 years later oh sorry Sor just because it's difficult to kind of get of course could have got a younger generation I mean Frankie you probably don't have the memory that that the rest of us have how utterly unfathomable it was I mean Jill was the Golden Girl of Television absolutely known as this bright bubbly Sunny character who presented the holiday program and the news and all these things and you know was loved absolutely loved that she should be shot on her doorstep was I mean it's difficult to express yeah it was like the girl next door had suddenly been assassinated and that's what it looked like in assassination yeah what were the early conversations with that then what what what were people thinking at that well I think most people thought at the beginning it was probably an odd ball um and yet it had the some of the signs it seemed to us of an assassination a muffler that's what I thought because it was in it because you was shot on the head yeah and now this week you know there have been um Revelations I I don't know but a new lead anyway has come forward with I I hope will be investigated that possibly a man who's now serving a 40-year jail term in um Serbia um and who is convicted of assassinating the former Serbian president and prime minister um Bears a striking resemblance to a man that one witness uh saw running away from Jill's home but the lead police guy of heish Campbell he's kind of he did a piece didn't he and he sort of ruled that out well he does I mean what what can any of us rule out 25 years on but he doesn't think it had the hallm marks of a professional hit and the main reason for that was that she was not due to be at her house on Gan Avenue on that day she just happened to pop back and so his theory has always been that it was an obsessive person that was sort of waiting behind her hedge yeah and just kind of happened to be there when she came home unexpectedly yeah it may well be but I just think we owe it to Jill Jill who who uh was integral to solving so many crimes because of her role on crime watch we owe it to her to explore every Avenue just to see you know we were saying earlier I don't think I even knew the word stalker in those days did did it wasn't it was like you say it was just so un more innocent time it really was oh I don't know well you will all ladies know that if you get a little bit of Fame you get all sorts of oddb writing to you and people she'd had a few oh absolutely yeah and I did too and people there was a child murderer who wrote to me almost every week from prison um there were people who wrote and said I'm I'm going to wait for you outside the BBC you know and I thought well please don't you know um what sort of friendship did you have oh she was lovely J you know she was the most generous woman because we we women can be um is not the right word is it a little bit be tough on each other yes that's a good way of but she was never that I mean she was such a star that when we were in a makeup room together or something she always used to say and I think of her all the time when I'm doing my hair because she used to say your hair looks a bit blocky which it does look a bit blocky she said use some of this wax and she put wax through my hair and I said oh that's nice so every time I use a little bit of wax I think of Jill so I think of Jill every and she was just lovely like that she was it was not the old phrase there's not a bad bone in her body she and and from my perspective over at the time on the print media there was such an appetite to get this story in the papers and to help find the killer because she had always been so lovely to other journalists because she was a journalist herself and it felt like she was one of us but she'd always played the game as we say you know she'd never sort of said oh you pesky people annoying me you know she was always very polite very you know just just a lovely lovely person which is again what made it so kind of like who would want to kill jel dando it just did not make any sense at all it's funny the memory I have over she and I at one point kind of shared a job if you like it was actually Esther Ranson who was unwell and so we shared S standing in for Esther and so we shared an office but we didn't actually cross path and because I'm a terrible Snoop I would look at all the cards that were on the the desk and there was these lovely cards from Jill dando who I was an old I mean she really was the most but she'd written these really really lovely cards and you got a real sense of her and it made me think God I'm a real hoer cuz I don't do these things um but even just through her writing you know I just kind of thought well she is what she appears to be on on television because they were just so genuine why would no I wants to anything like that and she was planning her wedding as well later that year was it was just you know and 37 I'd forgotten it's so young isn't it yeah so how do you remember then Jenny um I remember her as an absolutely Charming good friend someone who wanted to help others wanted to help others in the industry um a very generous character and um I'm just so sad I me so terribly sad to be cut down at that age yeah well listen thank you very much um thank you very much for coming and speaking about Jill and and it's lovely that that is the the memory that uh we're left with as you say such a tragic loss um

Channel: Loose Women

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Length: 7min 50sec (470 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024