Jill Dando - Legacy

Legacy

Dando's funeral took place on 21 May 1999 at Clarence Park Baptist Church in Weston-super-Mare. She was buried next to her mother in the town's Ebdon Road Cemetery. The gross value of her estate was £1,181,207; after her debts and income tax, the value was £863,756; after inheritance tax, it was £607,000, all of which her father inherited because she died intestate.

Dando's co-presenter Nick Ross proposed the formation of an academic institute in her name and, together with her fiancé, Alan Farthing, raised almost £1.5 million. The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science was founded at University College London on 26 April 2001, the second anniversary of her murder.

A memorial garden was designed and realised by the BBC Television Ground Force team in Dando's memory, using plants and colours that were special to her. It is located within Grove Park, Weston-super-Mare (51°21′09″N 2°58′45″W / 51.352498°N 2.979242°W / 51.352498; -2.979242) and was opened on 2 August 2001.

The BBC set up a bursary award in Dando's memory, which enables one student each year to study broadcast journalism at University College Falmouth. Sophie Long, who was then a post-graduate who had grown up in Weston-super-Mare and is now a presenter on BBC News, gained the first bursary award in 2000.

In 2007, Weston College opened a new University Campus on the site of the former Broadoak Sixth Form Centre where Dando studied. The Sixth Form building has been dedicated to her and named as "The Jill Dando Centre".