The brother of Jill Dando has hailed a student-led global Jill Dando Journalism project as a "fitting tribute" for his late sister.

Since 2017, Nigel Dando has pioneered Jill Dando News to ensure her legacy is kept alive and expanding daily through the lives of thousands of young people.

The children find and write local, national and global good news stories with kindness, positivity and brilliance - just like Jill herself in her journalism career, which she started with the Weston Mercury and went onto work for the BBC.

In the week that Netflix revealed their three-part documentary on Jill, Nigel said it is vital that she is remembered for her incredible character of kindness, positivity and humility, and journalism - and not her her murder and death.

“Jill Dando News is a fitting tribute for Jill, an expanding living legacy that children worldwide can take part in," said Nigel.

"With children finding positive good news stories with kindness, positivity and brilliant journalism, this is what Jill was all about.

“The Netflix documentary will feature the murder in great detail but the bigger story is that so many growing numbers of young people are becoming wonderful people and brilliant journalists like Jill was, from England to Africa.”

The scheme began in Jill’s former school, Worle Academy, part of The Priory Learning Trust in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where she first started writing news stories aged 13 for the school’s magazine ‘Merlin’.

Since then children, aged eight to 18, are trained by Nigel and other professional journalists have expanded the scheme across 12 schools which have over 6,000 students involved.

The trained students then themselves do Jill Dando Journalism talks in assemblies for younger children and in primary schools - promoting kindness, positivity, aspiration and brilliant journalism.

There is even now a Jill Dando News base in Malawi, Africa, with more lined up.

In 2019, several Jill Dando Journalists aged nine to 13 became the first journalists of any age to interview the then new Prime Minister Boris Johnson inside Downing Street.

Already this year the Jill Dando News scheme has been hailed by a host of world stars including Sir Richard Branson, Sir Cliff Richard, Alan Titchmarsh and Fiona Bruce.

It has also partnered with top business magazine Business Leader to interview top entrepreneurs, millionaires and even billionaires.

The first graduate was Alex Crowther, who is now thriving in his career after securing a First Class Broadcast Journalism Degree and has become one of Britain’s youngest football club board members at Weston-super-Mare AFC.

Olivia was the second graduate and is now studying medicine.