Could Serbian Hit Squad be Behind Jill Dando's Murder?

A Serbian hit squad could be behind Jill Dando's murder, it has been claimed.

Branka Prpa said her husband Slavko Curuvija, also a journalist was shot just 15 days before the Crimewatch star was killed at her home - believing both killings resembled all the hallmarks of a hit by a gang from Serbian secret police.

Curuvija was shot in the back of the head at close range as he arrived home – just as Jill was when she returned to her house in Fulham, South West London in April 1999.

Prpa has spoken out following the arrests of three men in connection with Curuvija's murder and a string of political assassinations in Serbia on Sunday. An international warrant has also been issued for a fourth man.

It is believed Dando, like Curuvija, had both upset dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

The hated Serbian leader was said to hold a grudge against the BBC presenter after she made a successful appeal on TV for Kosovan refugees who had been displaced by his brutal ethnic cleansing programme in the nineties.

Prpa said: "Considering the fact that it is absolutely clear the security service committed my husband's murder, I believe those are the people that could be involved in the murder of Jill Dando.

"It is up to the authorities to investigate the matter properly to finally establish who was behind these awful crimes.

"The handwriting is the same, the ­methodology of the shootings is the same. It is very possible and is not unrealistic that this is the work of the same people."

The Mirror today unveiled the names of the four suspects linked them to Slavko's death. They are Radomir Markovic, who is currently serving 40 years for murdering former Serb president Ivan ­Stambolic and Milan Radonjic, Ratko Romic and Miroslav Kurak.

When asked if Prpa believed a Serbian hit squad could be behind Dando's killing, she said: "Of course, the security service could have carried out operations overseas, why wouldn't it?

"If it is a murder of a political nature, the ones responsible are the ones who are the source of this political will.

"Why else would someone kill a BBC journalist if he doesn't have a personal reason? The reason is political. And who can be the source of the political will? The regime of Milosevic, of course. Who else could be behind such a punishment for activities in Serbia and about Serbia?"

Dando's brother Nigel, 61,said: "We will watch any developments with interest."

Barry George spent seven years in jail for Dando's murder after he was wrongly convicted in 2001. But he was cleared at a retrial in 2008.

On the morning after Jill's murder a man with an Eastern European accent called the BBC to claim she was killed in ­retaliation for the deaths of Serbs in Nato attacks. He said of then PM Tony Blair's role in the conflict: "He butchered, we butcher back."