The widow of a Serbian journalist, murdered in almost identical circumstances, has come forward to say she is convinced Miss Dando was shot by a hitman acting on orders from the Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

Branka Prpa, a historian, believes Miss Dando became a target after presenting a BBC appeal on behalf of Kosovan-Albanian refugees driven from their homes by militias backing Milosevic.

Mrs Prpa was with her husband, Slavko Curuvija when he was shot dead outside their home in Belgrade on April 11, 1999 - just 15 days before Miss Dando, 37, was killed in Fulham, west London.

She said: "I think there is a link between Dando and Curuvija. I think they were both executed."

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Mrs Prpa pointed to a number of striking similarities between the two murders.

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Both victims were high profile journalists who had upset the Serbian regime. Both were returning home when they were approached from behind, forced to the ground and shot in the head at close range.

Furthermore, both killings bore the hallmark of professional assassinations, with both victims dying instantly and the shootings over in a matter of seconds.

The day after Miss Dando's killing a man with a mid-European accent called BBC TV Centre in London to claim responsibility.

Mrs Prpa, currently a director of Belgrade's Historical Archives said: "There were a whole range of people defined by the regime as political enemies who were assassinated at the beginning of the war. They would simply kill you and walk away. When you look at this timeline of killing, then it is clear that it is part of the same context."

Asked if she thought Miss Dando's murder had been carried out by Milosevic's henchmen, Mrs Prpa replied: "That theory is quite possible."

At the time of her murder Miss Dando was one of the most recognisable faces on British television, having hosted programmes such as Holiday and Antiques Inspector and was lined up to host the BAFTAs.

She was shot in the back of the head as she arrived at her Victorian terraced home in Fulham on the morning of April 26, 1999. Her death came three weeks after she presented the refugee appeal and just three days after Nato bombed a state-owned TV station in Belgrade.

The strike claimed the lives of 16 innocent workers, including make-up artist Jelica Munitlak, a close friend of President Milosevic.

At the time it was Nato's first offensive action against a sovereign nation in its 50 year history. Intelligence sources claimed Milosevic had vowed revenge and gave orders to "take out" people he classed as "political enemies".

Miss Dando's murder led to a massive investigation, with Scotland Yard detectives interviewing hundreds of people. Barry George, a loner who lived in the area, was convicted but later cleared of the killing - leaving police with an unsolved murder.

Mrs Prpa believes the Serbian regime would have taken pleasure from the "shock value" of murdering the BBC presenter on her own doorstep.

She said: "The question is why they chose her when they had so many foreign media journalists in the field? The only explanation would rely on a perverted nature of a mind based on destruction, evil and the idea of power.

"They are thinking, 'I will kill you, but in your own country, look how powerful I am'. This is the only possible explanation. It is very possible and is not unrealistic."

Recalling her husband's death, she said: "Everything was over in a second. Holding me by the hand, Slavko started falling down. I turned over to see what was going on, and was hit on my head with a gun.

"While falling on the ground, I saw a faceless person - black jacket, black cap. It was only then that my consciousness registered that something awful was going on. While I was lying at Slavko's side, the person approached us and shot him in his head."

The man who called the BBC told the operator: "Yesterday I call you to tell you to add a few numbers to your list. Because your government, and in particular your Prime Minister Blair, murdered, butchered 17 innocent young people. He butchered, we butcher back.

"The first one you had yesterday, the next one will be Tony Hall."

Mr Hall was chief executive for BBC news and the man ultimately responsible for coverage of the Kosovo conflict. Detectives took the threat so seriously they put Mr Hall, now Baron Hall of Birkenhead, under police ­protection for six weeks.

But officers working on Operation Oxborough, the code name for the investigation, eventually discounted a Serbian link. Det Chief Insp Hamish Campbell, who led the manhunt, said that theory was only considered "for a short while".

Instead police focused their attention on George, who had a history of stalking women and sexual offending. He was convicted of Miss Dando's murder in July 2001, but subsequently cleared on appeal in November 2007, after flaws in the prosecution case were exposed on appeal.

Apart from a microscopic speck of explosives residue found on his coat a year after the murder, the police found no evidence that he had possessed guns or ammunition in the previous 15 years.

Miss Dando's neighbours, the only two witnesses to the killing, also failed to pick out George in an identity parade.

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, who served with the British Army in Bosnia, also suspects a Serbian link to Miss Dando's murder.

He said: "It had all the hallmarks of covert forces. The killer even used specially tailored ammunition, which was a Serbian assassination trademark and something I saw when I was over there."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Numerous lines of inquiry have been explored. No credible evidence or intelligence was ever found to support this theory."

Cold case detectives are still working to solve the crime, with Detective Chief Supt Campbell still in charge of the operation.