Muriel McKay: Deported killer offers to return to UK to show victim’s family where body is buried
A deported killer is offering to return to Britain to show his victim’s daughter where he buried her mother’s body 54 years ago.
Nizamodeen Hosein was 22 when he and his older brother Arthur kidnapped Muriel McKay, the wife of a newspaper executive, and held her ransom for £1 million.
The brothers were caught and jailed for life for murder, but Muriel, 55, vanished and her body was never found.
The kidnappers had mistaken Muriel for Anna Murdoch, the then wife of wealthy Australian newspaper magnate Rupert. Muriel’s husband Alick, also Australian, was Murdoch’s deputy.
Muriel McKay was kidnapped in December 1969. Pic: 2006 Getty Images/Sky UK
Now free and living in his native Trinidad, Hosein has formed an extraordinary bond with Muriel’s family in a final attempt to uncover her remains.
He has written to the Home Office asking it to lift a deportation order which still bars him from the UK. His brother Arthur died in prison in 2009.
He wrote: “I admit my involvement in the kidnap and death of Muriel McKay, and I have been attempting to assist her daughter Dianne in locating her body.
“I believe I am the only living person who knows where Muriel’s body is and would like her body to be found before I myself die.”
After years of refusing to explain Muriel’s fate, Hosein now claims Muriel collapsed and died of a heart attack at the remote, rented Hertfordshire farm where the brothers were holding her.
The Hertfordshire farm where Mrs McKay was kept prisoner by the Hosein brothers
Hosein, 75, says he panicked and buried her body under a dung heap behind the farmhouse near the village of Stocking Pelham.
Scotland Yard detectives searched a small section of a field near the house last year, without success, but the family insist they dug in the wrong place.
Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein. Pic: Sky UK
Hosein says he is certain he will remember exactly where he buried Muriel’s body, even though the buildings, the farmyard and the fields have changed a lot since the kidnap in 1969.
To help him, the McKay family have commissioned computer-generated images to show precisely the changes in the layout of the farm.
Nizamodeen Hosein speaks to Mrs McKay’s daughter, Dianne
I watched as Hosein and Dianne exchanged warm greetings during a recent video call between their homes 4,300 miles apart.
“Hello Nizam, it’s Dianne, how are you?” said Dianne.
“Hello Dianne, all the better for seeing you,” was Nizam’s reply.
Dianne: “It’s very hard for me to talk about this because it’s quite painful, but if you can come and help us find my mother, we’d be grateful.”
Nizam: “I’m quite willing … I’m quite prepared.”
Dianne: “You’re quite prepared to come over and explain and show us exactly where you put her?”
Nizam: “Yeah.”
After their conversation, Dianne told me: “He’s a man of few words.”
I asked her what it was like having to speak to – and rely on his help – the man convicted of her mother’s murder?
She said: “It’s been very hard having so many years of nobody to talk to, no leads and no hope of ever finding her body. It’s actually a relief to talk to him.”
Mrs McKay with her husband, Alick, who was a newspaper executive
Dianne, 82, believes this is probably the family’s last chance to find her mother’s final resting place, but there are still hurdles to overcome.
The Home Office said in a statement: “We express sympathies with Muriel McKay’s loved ones.
“Whilst we do not comment on individual cases, we work with the police on any requests pertaining to ongoing investigations.”
Scotland Yard is in contact with the McKay family and has spoken to Hosein.
Detectives are considering the possibility of applying for a search warrant to excavate at the farm again, but are not yet convinced it is worth it.
UK
Harshita Brella: International manhunt under way for husband after woman’s body found in car boot
An international manhunt is under way for the husband of a murdered woman, whose body was found in the boot of a car.
The body of Harshita Brella was found in east London on Thursday, tens of miles away from her home in Corby.
On Sunday, Northamptonshire Police said they were looking for Pankaj Lamba – who they believe has left the country.
Sky News understands she had been under the protection of a court order designed for victims of domestic abuse.
“Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” said chief inspector Paul Cash.
“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.”
“Fast track” enquires were made after the force was contacted on Wednesday by someone concerned about Ms Brella’s welfare. After she failed to answer the door at her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, a missing person investigation was launched.
Her body was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Brisbane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A post mortem – conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday – established she had been murdered.
Harshita Brella, 24, from Corby. Her body was found in a car in east London. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
More than 60 detectives are working on the case, with lines of enquiry including going house to house and property searches, as well as looking at CCTV and ANPR.
“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” said chief inspector Cash.
“I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”
Pankaj Lamba. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
Force referred to police watchdog
On Saturday, Northamptonshire Police said it had made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to previous contact between the force and the victim.
Northamptonshire Police previously said officers had been conducting investigations at three locations: Skegness Walk and Sturton Walk in Corby and Brisbane Road, Ilford, where Ms Brella’s body was found.
East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit (EMSOU) and Northamptonshire Police said they were working “around the clock to establish the circumstances behind her death, including the exact location and timeframe in which it took place”.
State-of-the-art technology has been used to create a voice for King Richard III – giving him a Yorkshire accent.
A digital avatar of the medieval king’s head went on display in front of excited history fans at York Theatre Royal.
Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.
His remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.
Speaking about the recreation, she said: “We’ve got leading experts in their fields who have been working on this for 10 years and so everything has been meticulously researched, meticulously evidenced, so you are seeing the most accurate portrayal of Richard III”.
A team based at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University created the avatar based on the reconstruction of Richard III’s head with the help of a craniofacial expert.
Experts from various fields helped put the pieces of the puzzle together, including speech and language therapy, dentistry, forensic psychology and archaeology.
His voice has been created by Professor David Crystal, a leading linguist in 15th-century pronunciation. He admitted that it’s impossible to know exactly how he spoke, but this is as close as they will get.
The king was born in Northampton but spent a lot of his life in Yorkshire. His parents were also from the north of England.
Vocal coach Yvonne Morley-Chisholm spent a decade researching how the monarch would have sounded. She worked with the actor Thomas Dennis who was chosen as his body and face were such a good physical match.
Speaking to Sky News, she said people will be shocked at how different he sounded compared with traditional portrayals of the king on stage and screen.
The coach and actor also examined the king’s letters and diary so that “as you pronounced a word that’s how you would write it”.
Read more from Sky News:
Frozen sabre-toothed kitten studied for first time
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The voice shows the change in pronunciation over the centuries – from regional variations to the Queen’s English.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
History fans at the unveiling were delighted with the accent, with one telling Sky News: “Northerners are known to be happy, positive, all those lovely qualities.”
Born in Northampton but a northerner through and through, technology has brought the king’s speech back to life
South Yorkshire Police have warned pet owners to “step up before someone dies” after receiving 13 reports of dangerous dogs in less than 48 hours.
One man was attacked by his own American bulldog in Sheffield on Thursday afternoon, the force said, when he attempted to separate it and a pocket bully inside a property.
The owner suffered lacerations to his face, neck and head, and was taken to hospital, while his dog was seized and remains in police kennels.
Warning: Distressing images below
Another incident saw a woman walking home with her baby in a carrier on her chest, when she was approached by a loose XL bully who began to show aggression and jump up to her baby.
An elderly woman and her grandchild were attacked by another loose dog in Sheffield.
“As dogs causing harm and fear in our communities continues to place significant demand on our force, we’re urging owners to step up, before someone dies,” South Yorkshire Police said in a statement.
Some of the injuries caused by the American bulldog attack. Pic: South Yorkshire Police
The warning comes after 10-year-old Savannah Bentham was killed at her family’s home in North Yorkshire by their dog on 1 November.
Read more:
Murdered woman found in car boot ‘may have been ‘targeted’
How victims of road accidents are being forgotten and failed
Chief Inspector Emma Cheney, leading the work on dangerous dogs across South Yorkshire, said: “Recently we have sadly seen another fatal incident in the UK of a dog causing death.
“People think it won’t happen to them, that their dog won’t cause harm, but it can happen to anyone. Any dog can cause fear and harm and owners who do not step up and prevent harm to our communities will not be tolerated.
“You are responsible for your dog’s actions, and we continue to put people before the courts.
“We only have a limited number of resources, attending dangerous dog incidents takes officers away from other calls. If every owner steps up and makes small changes, we can make a difference.”
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