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I found Dando dead on doorstep says shopper
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent18 Jun 2008
A neighbour told today of the moment she found Jill Dando slumped in a pool of blood on her doorstep.
Helen Doble, who also worked in television and often stopped to chat with Miss Dando, was going shopping when she made the shocking discovery.
In a statement read to the Old Bailey, she said: "I walked past the doorway. I looked to see if she was there because I had not seen her around so much recently. I saw a woman slumped in the doorway. It took me a few seconds to realise it was Jill Dando.
"I saw there was a lot of blood around her face and clothes. She was slumped awkwardly with her head resting on the front door. The front door was closed. I saw the left hand was blue. I saw she was wearing her engagement ring."
Ms Doble said the TV presenter's open handbag was by her body. "I was very frightened by what I saw. I could not see her breathing. She was a strange colour. To me it was obvious she was dead," she added.
Ms Doble called the emergency services and rushed to get help from another neighbour, Vida Saunders.
Ms Saunders described "the look of utter panic on Helen's face". They went back to Miss Dando's home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham.
Ms Saunders said: "The body was right on the doorstep with the head back against the door. Her mobile phone was ringing inside her bag which went on continuously."
The jury was told how another neighbour, Nigel Jenkins, heard "a short scream" as Miss Dando was shot.
Barry George, 47, who lived in Crookham Road, 500 yards from Gowan Avenue, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 37-year-old BBC presenter in April 1999. The trial continues.
