So who killed Jill Dando? According to Uri Geller, it was a Serb hitman.
I know this because about two days after her murder, I had lunch with Uri Geller for a project we wanted him to do. I wasn't looking forward to it as I considered him to be a bit of a charlatan and found his spoon-bending schtick to be tiresome. However, I was surprised as he was quite fascinating. And did he like to talk.
After little persuasion (Me: Will you do your spoon thing? Uri: I'd rather not. Oh alright then), a selection of cutlery was brought from the kitchen and he wowed a rubbernecking restaurant full of diners with his special powers. He read our minds and drew what he thought you were thinking of (I was thinking of a tree - he got it), and regaled us with tales of Michael Jackson and Seventies chat shows. He was great. I totally changed my opinion of him. (Sadly the project never came off, though we did speak on the phone once and he was at Glastonbury doing casting an anti-rain dance for the NME). He also said he was convinced a Serbian hitman was responsible for Jill Dando's death.
So I wonder if he's right? I once saw Jill Dando at BBC TV Centre. I was going in, she was going out. She was willowy and elegant and she smiled at me. I was smitten. Her visit to Compass Point in the Bahamas made our minds up about our honeymoon destination. We went where she went. She was a star. But doesn't she look dated in the picutres and footage now? It's one of those frozen-in-time moments.
While I'm here, one thing that sticks in my mind about this case, is the 999 call made by the woman who found her. She tells the operator that a woman has collapsed in her garden and "confidentially" she thinks it's Jill Dando. Why "confidentially"? To me, it sounds over-reverential about her celebrity status. I wonder if she regrets that now? Perhaps she's never given it another thought.
Anyhoo, will we ever know who killed Jill Dando. And where are those Beaumont children?
