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Jill Dando's killing bore the hallmarks of a hit by men working for dictator Slobodan Milosevic, the widow of one of their victims claimed. As the four were named last night, Branka Prpa said: “I believe they may have killed Jill.”

The secret agents being linked to Jill Dando’s murder all held top positions in the brutal regime of the hated Serbian ruler.

And the volatile leader was said to hold a grudge against the BBC presenter after she made a successful TV appeal for Kosovan refugees displaced by his brutal ethnic cleansing programme in the 90s.

As three of the men were last night in custody facing questions over a string of political assassinations in Serbia and an international warrant was issued for the fourth, the widow of one of their alleged victims claimed they could have been behind Jill’s murder in April 1999.

Branka Prpa told how her husband, journalist Slavko Curuvija, was shot just 15 days before the Crimewatch star was gunned down at her home aged 37.

And she said Jill’s death bore all the hallmarks of a hit by the gang from Serbia’s secret police force.

The four men can be unmasked for the first time today by the Mirror after a ­supergrass linked them to Slavko’s death. One, Radomir Markovic, is serving 40 years for murdering former Serb president Ivan ­Stambolic. The others are Milan Radonjic, Ratko Romic and Miroslav Kurak.

Slavko 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

Branka 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 respected historian said she is convinced the arrests of the former secret agents will result in them being quizzed over Jill’s murder. Asked if she believed a Serbian hit squad could be behind the killing, she replied: “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?” Jill’s brother Nigel Dando, 61, last night said: “We will watch any developments with interest.”

Suspect Markovic is former head of the Serbian National Security Service, known as DB. He was convicted in 2005 of murdering Stambolic, who vanished in August 2000 during the murderous reign of ­Milosevic. He had been president from 1982 to 1983.

Radonjic and Romic, both former DB chiefs, were arrested last month in connection with Slavko’s murder. Kurak also belonged to the DB. He left Serbia more than a decade ago and is believed to be running safaris in Tanzania, East Africa. Officials are in the process of applying for a warrant for his arrest through Interpol.

Sources revealed the alleged killers are to be interviewed over Slavko’s death and “a dozen unsolved murders”.

Like Jill, Slavko had seemingly upset Milosevic. Special Prosecutor for ­Organized Crime Miljko ­Radisavljevic said the key witness in the investigation into the journalist’s murder is a former chief of Serbia’s Special ­Operations Unit called Milorad Ulemek. He is serving 40 years for his role in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Dindic in 2003.

He was also caged for two other ­political murders. Ulemek has claimed the four suspects are “behind numerous secret operations” spanning three decades. Prosecutor Radisavljevic said: “For now, the motive is politics. I do not rule out that in the course of the ­investigation we will arrive at other motives, perhaps personal.”

Barry George was convicted in 2001 of Jill’s murder. But he was cleared at a retrial in 2008 after having spent seven years in jail. George’s barrister Michael Mansfield QC supported the idea the broadcaster had been targeted by Serb hitmen after her appeal and the BBC’s continued coverage of the genocide.

Her death came three days after Nato bombed a state-owned TV station in Belgrade, killing one of Milosevic’s close friends. 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.”

And he warned BBC news chief ­executive Tony Hall would be killed next. It was never discovered whether the threat was a hoax or not.

Ex lovers and maniacs in the frame

In the days following Jill’s murder, detectives kept an open mind about the identity of the killer and the motive.

A jilted lover, or a criminal who bore a grudge after being caught as a result of an appeal by Jill on Crimewatch were among the possibilities examined by police.

The also considered whether she had been targeted by a celebrity-obsessed maniac, and even explored the idea that the shooting of the BBC presenter was a case of mistaken identity.

But the theory that attracted most attention was that she was assassinated by a Serbian hitman, hired by dictator Slobodan Milosevic after she fronted an appeal on behalf of Kosovan Albanian refugees just days after a US bomb killed 16 in Belgrade.

The theory was discounted as police thought it unlikely a murder could have been planned and carried out in three days. Also, Dando had been staying with her fiance and not at her own home in South West London.