By Charlie Charalambous
A RUSSIAN mafia boss said to have chatted up Jill Dando while she was in Cyprus is now being linked to the BBC presenter’s mystery murder.
The dramatic new twist comes days after British police revealed details of distinctive markings on the bullet that killed Dando in a single shot to the head outside her Fulham home in late April.
However, local police told the Cyprus Mailyesterday they had not received any message from Scotland Yard asking for information about a Russian murder suspect.
Reports in the UK claim British intelligence believe Dando was killed on her doorstep by a Russian hit man.
Now the name of a Russian gangster who might have ordered the hit has apparently been given to the British government by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
According to the Sunday People, Dando was murdered because she snubbed the advances of a besotted Russian mafia boss while she was filming her Holidayprogramme in Cyprus.
The Israeli embassy in Nicosia has described the Sunday Peoplestory as “baseless”, and the British High Commission said it had no knowledge of the matter.
Dando is said to have spurned the Russian, who was apparently furious at the public rebuffal.
The Sunday Peopleclaimed the Russian’s infatuation quickly turned to hate, and on hearing that Dando had got engaged, he ordered a contract on her head.
Mossad’s second-in-command Major-general Amiram Levine passed on the mafia boss’ identity to Britain’s MI6 intelligence service 10 days ago, the paper alleged.
Levine apparently told security agents that the unique marks on the killer bullet were typical of bullets used by Russian special forces, known as the Spetznatz.
Mossad keeps close tabs on the Russian Mafia because of its links with Middle East terror groups. Many of the Mafia minders and hitmen are out-of- work special forces operatives made redundant since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The high-ranking Mafia member is said to have begged Dando to spend the night with him and even followed her to Greece after she politely said no.
Fed-up Dando was finally forced to deliver a humiliating brush-off in front of his gangland henchmen, which made him lose face and seek revenge, the Peopleclaimed.
“This man has the power, the money and the connections to take out anybody who upsets him with one click of his finger,” a senior security source told the paper.
“When she made it clear she was not having any of it, he did not take it kindly,” the source said.
