Dando was planning to marry before being gunned down

CRIMEWATCH presenter Jill Dando was deeply in love and planning to marry when she was gunned down on her doorstep.

She was truly the “Golden Girl” of British television who had proved herself as a journalist and a presenter of programmes as varied as Crimewatch and Holiday, a court heard yesterday.

Born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, she rose through the ranks of local journalism to co-present the BBC Breakfast News in 1988. In November 1997, a year after the end of a seven-year relationship with BBC news executive Bob Wheaton, she met consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing. A month later they travelled to Australia together and Ms Dando was soon spending most of her time with him at his home in Chiswick, west London. “It was apparent to all of those who knew them that the couple were deeply in love,” said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw.