Jill Dando’s house: What happened to the BBC presenter’s Fulham home after her shock death

A new owner moved in just three months later

7 months ago

The nation was shocked when adored BBC presenter Jill Dando was murdered on the doorstep of her Fulham home by a fatal shot to the head in 1999. And now, 24 years since the unsolved murder of the 37-year-old Crimewatch host took place, the case has captivated everybody all over again with the coming of Netflix’s latest true crime documentary: Who Killed Jill Dando?

On the night of her death, Jill was tackled to the ground and killed by an unknown assailant as she was unlocking the front door of her house in South West London, Fulham. And, as the mystery of her death captures public interest more than two decades later, here’s all we know about what happened to her home on Gowan Avenue:

Jill lived with her cousin for five years before she bought her solo home for £265,000

Credit: Mark Large/Daily Mail/Shutterstoc

Jill was originally from Weston-super-Mare and, when she moved to London, bought a house with her cousin Judith. But after five years of living together, Jill decided to buy her own place and purchased her terraced house on Gowan Avenue in Fulham for £265,000 on January 4 1995, according to Rightmove.

Under the most recent listing of Jill’s house, it says the home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a private garden. There’s high ceilings, a spacious living room and an open plan kitchen – but it may have been extended since Jill owned the home in the ’90s.

The area around Gowan Avenue is considered safe and affluent

Credit: David Crump/Daily Mail/Shutterstock

Jill’s London home is situated in Fulham – a leafy area of South West London, which neighbours Chelsea and is across the river from Putney. At her house in Gowan Avenue, she was a ten minute walk from Fulham Palace and nearby to the buzzy and fashionable Fulham Road, which has long had endless bars, restaurants and high-end boutiques.

Jill’s family never wanted her to live in her house in Fulham because of safety concerns

Credit: Nigel Howard/ANL/Shutterstock

Due to her work as a journalist on Crimewatch and other investigative projects, Jill’s family had worried she was at risk of an attack long before her shock death. “Jill was ridiculously naive about her security,” her cousin Judith told the Mirror.

“When she went for the house in Gowan Avenue I remember saying to her, ‘do you really want to do this, you are living on your own,” she explained. “‘Wouldn’t you be better off with a smart apartment where you have a security guard’.

“I had also spoken to her about driving around in a soft top car in London,” Judith added. “I said it was not a good idea because she was so well known. But I think perhaps she hadn’t seen enough to realise nasty things can happen – and sadly it did to her.”

Jill was in the process of selling her house for £350,000 and the buyers still moved in after her death

Credit: Nigel Howard/Evening Standard/Shutterstock

When Jill was murdered she was in the process of selling her house in Fulham – four years after she’d first bought it. Reportedly, she spent most of her time at her fiancé’s home in Chiswick and only went home on the day of her death to change her clothes before a photoshoot.

“Shortly before her death, she [Jill Dando] had agreed the sale of her home in Fulham, worth about £350,000, which is due to be completed on July 15,” The Guardian reported at the time. And, according to sales records Rightmove, the deal still went through on that date – even after Jill’s tragic death in three months earlier.

Seven years later, Jill’s home on Gowan Avenue was sold for £811,000 and by 2009 the house was sold for £1,000,000. It’s unknown who lives there now.