Two decades after her brutal murder, the person who gunned down TV favourite Jill Dando still hasn't been caught. Now, the police officer who led the investigation into the shocking 1999 murder has said he fears the culprits will never be caught.
Former Met Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell defended his probe into local man Barry George, who was found guilty of Jill's murder in 2001, but later acquitted when he had his conviction quashed in 2008.
He was convicted after the jury heard he had a single particle of gunshot residue matching that in Jill's hair was found in his coat pocket.
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However, in his retrial, this was deemed as inadmissible evidence, with his lawyers arguing it could have come from another source. George was then freed after spending seven years in prison.
Now, 20 years later, Campbell has told a TV documentary: "We, as an investigation team, brought somebody before the courts and that's what we had to do.
"The outcome is entirely out of our hands. You're either guilty or you're not guilty. It's not really determining whatever you mean by innocence."
When asked whether he believed anyone would be brought back to court over the case, which remains open, he replied: "Probably not."
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And when asked if somebody new would ever be brought before the court, he said: "No."
"There's always been the view, in the media and elsewhere, that the police chose Barry George somehow as a scapegoat and for want of a better word, a patsy, for the investigation team because we couldn't solve it," Campbell continued.
"That is somewhat insulting and completely untrue, and wrong. If none of the things [about Barry] had emerged, he would never have been charged at all."
While the former policeman said the gunpowder discovery was "one tiny element" of the case against George - but admitted it did contribute towards him being charged.
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Campbell, who now works for Jamaica's Independent Commission of Investigations, did admit there was a great deal of pressure but on his department to land a conviction in Jill's case.
"There was a lot, even in those early days. Sometimes I felt we were a day away from solving it and other times, I thought no, we're a long way away," he explained.
"Senior officers were asking what is the likelihood of this case being resolved? We had over 2,000 people named as potential suspects or responsible. Some actions to trace and eliminate one person might take a day. One action might take two weeks.
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"But there's thousands of them and that's the issue of managing stranger homicides, you're looking at it and thinking, 'How do you know which one is right then?'"
In a case note from the time George's name appeared in the investigation in April 2000, Campbell wrote: "It is essential he's eliminated or implicated as quickly as possible we are now a year behind him."
Jill's cousin Judith told the documentary how she wasn't convinced by George's arrest, claiming it was "contrived and convenient."
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She continued: "For him to have done it, all the stars would have had to be aligned. People didn't notice he was walking around with a gun, he would have had to been there at the right time, how did he know how to do it?
"There were all these questions where you thought someone like Barry George wouldn't have been capable of doing it."
Now 58, Barry George, who has ADHD, Asperger's, epilepsy and brain damage, said: "The police tailor-made the case to fit it around my neck.
"They thought it would just go away and solve the Dando fiasco. But I didn't know who Jill was. I'd never seen her. Her family are victims too, there has been no justice for them.
"The innuendo... did he get off on a technicality? It's soul destroying when you know you're innocent."
Jill was murdered on her own door step in Fulham, West London on 26th April 1999 at 11.30am.
The programme hears the 999 call from witness Helen Doble, who found Jill after she was shot in the head from point blank range.
"It looks like it's Jill Dando. There's a lot of blood," she tells the operator.
"There's blood coming from her ears and her arms are blue. Oh my god I don't think she is alive."
Jill, from Weston-Super-Mare, was known for presenting the Holiday programme, the 6 'o' clock news and Crimewatch.
The Murder of Jill Dando is on BBC One at 9pm, Tuesday 2nd April.
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