Murder police issue image of Dando suspect

POLICE investigating the murder of Jill Dando yesterday released an e-fit image of the man they see as the key suspect.

The image was compiled from a description given by a witness who saw the man sweating heavily at a bus stop near the TV presenter's house shortly after the shooting on Monday morning. The witness was "90 per cent satisfied" with the image, which took less than four hours to complete, said police.

There are up to seven witnesses who saw a tallish, well-dressed man in the vicinity of Ms Dando's home in Fulham, west London, before and after the shooting. Descriptions vary in some respects, but police are satisfied it is probably the same man.

Police also revealed yesterday the killer may have had an accomplice. Minutes after Ms Dando was shot at around 11.45am, a metallic blue Range Rover was spotted speeding in a street close to her house. Detectives believe this may be linked, and clearly the person driving the car could not have been the man at the bus stop.

Detective Chief Inspector Hamish Campbell, heading the inquiry, said yesterday no lines of inquiry had been ruled out, although he said that a caller to Ms Dando's office two weeks ago who said she should not have made an appeal for Kosovar Albanian refugees had not made any threats. "I am not ruling out any line of inquiry," he said, adding: "There's no intelligence that the murder relates to the Serbian and Kosovan crisis."

Ms Dando was shot seconds after returning to her home from Chiswick in west London, where she had spent the night at the home of her fiance, Alan Farthing. On the way she had stopped to go shopping in nearby Hammersmith.

Five days after Ms Dando was shot and fatally wounded on the doorstep of her home, detectives have few hard lines of inquiry but plenty of speculation. The blame has been laid variously at the feet an obsessive stalker, a robber, a fanatic fan or even Serb gunmen.

Tight security remains in place around BBC staff and offices after further death threats against presenters and executives. Radio 4 Today programme presenter John Humphrys and director of television Alan Yentob have been subject to threats similar to those issued against the head of news, Tony Hall.