Bombshell tip on Jill Dando murder sent to Mirror just hours after 'contract killing'

Jill Dando was the victim of a contract carried out by a with an accomplice driving a blue Range Rover, the Daily was told just 26 hours after the murder.

An anonymous caller contacted our newsdesk to say the killer was helped by a getaway driver who was waiting near Bishops Park, close to 's home in Fulham, South West London. It was not until later that a van driver witness told police that a smartly dressed man he almost ran over disappeared from his view at the same spot. The key witness was driving nearby soon after the Crimewatch host, 37, was April 26, 1999.

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He has now said that the man he saw looked like ruthless assassin Milorad Ulemek. Two days after the murder, he told police that a man in a dark suit sprinted in front of his Ford Transit without looking on the Fulham Palace Road. The witness said he braked hard and watched as the man ran into Bishops Avenue, near Bishops Park.

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In a police statement, then Daily Mirror Deputy News Editor, Anthony Harwood, said he was told the day after the murder that a getaway driver was waiting at the same spot. Mr Harwood said he took a call at approximately 1.15pm on April 27.

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He said two days later: "There was a male on the phone. He said 'I've got some information about the shooting on Fulham Palace Road'. I immediately knew what he was referring to. That is the murder of .

"He then said what we needed to look for was a dark blue Range Rover with a 'C' prefix." Mr Harwood said the caller told him it was a "contract killing" and that two men were involved, the gunman and the driver.

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"He said that at the time of the getaway the Range Rover was parked in Bishops Avenue. The man said that the car had been moving around before that." The tipster then said the murder had nothing to do with Jill fronting Crimewatch.

He denied being an eye witness, saying he was from Canada and that he "just knew about it", Mr Harwood said. The caller sounded British and Mr Harwood said he "got the impression" his accent was "East End/Essex".

, Det Chief Insp Hamish Campbell dismissed the call, saying he believed it was a "malicious claim". But the trial heard that there were at least five separate sightings of blue Ranger Rovers close to the crime scene that were never traced.

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A traffic warden told Crimewatch how she saw a blue Range Rover illegally parked on Gowan Avenue, the road where the television presenter lived, around an hour and twenty minutes before the murder. "I started to type the registration number in. Suddenly I noticed this man that was sitting in the driver's seat," the traffic warden said.

The man tapped on the windscreen and motioned her to go away. "I was quite startled and a bit embarrassed so I walked off," she said.