Presenter killed by single shot, Dando jury told

Details of how Jill Dando was killed by a single bullet have been given at the start of the Old Bailey trial of the man accused of murdering her.

The TV presenter was shot as she crouched outside her front door in Fulham, south west London on April 26, 1999, the court was told.

The prosecution alleges the gunman was unemployed Barry George, 41, from Fulham. He has denied murdering 37-year-old Miss Dando.

"Nobody witnessed the attack. Within a short time a number of people saw her slumped and bleeding in the porchway," said Orlando Pownall, prosecuting.

The fatal bullet went into Miss Dando's head just behind the top of the left ear and exited above the right ear, the jury was told.

"An impression of the muzzle and foresight of the weapon used was discernible in the area surrounding the entry wound which suggested it had been pressed firmly against the left side of her head upon discharge," said Mr Pownall.

He said a number of different guns could have produced the wound. It was not fitted with a silencer, but because it was fired so closely to the head, the noise of it firing would have been substantially reduced, he added.

"There was a small bruise on Miss Dando's right forearm that could have been caused when it was grasped by her assailant. There were no characteristic defence injuries," the jury was told.

Police recovered a fired bullet in the vicinity of the doorstep, but the gun was never recovered. Mr Pownall said: "The bullet had caused damage to the lower part of the front door which suggested that Miss Dando was in a crouched position when the shot was fired."

In court was Miss Dando's former fiance, Alan Farthing, her brother, Nigel, her one-time fellow-co-presenter Nick Ross and George's sister, Michelle Diskin.