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A convicted killer signed an extraordinary $50,000 contract with his victim’s family to reveal what happened to her body.

Nizamodeen Hosein had kept the secret of Muriel McKay’s fate for more than 50 years, long after his release from prison, until her family made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

But after signing an agreement that would have rescued him from a life of poverty, he turned down the money (the equivalent of £43,000) and told the family how and where Muriel died.

Muriel McKay. Martin Brunt package. Uploaded 15 November 2023.
Pic: 2006 Getty Images/Sky UK
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Muriel McKay. Pic: SkyUK

At his squalid, remote home in Trinidad he explained to their lawyer: “I don’t want the money. Money wasn’t my objective, it was peace of mind.

“Talking about it now breaks my heart. I was young, 22, I didn’t feel the pain like I’m feeling now.”

Hosein, aged 75 and in poor health, has offered to return to the UK, from where he was deported at the end of his life sentence in 1990, to show Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne and her grandson Mark Dyer the site of Muriel’s remains.

He claims she died from a heart attack at a Hertfordshire farm owned by his brother Arthur a few days after they kidnapped and held her for a £1m ransom at Christmas in 1969.

Mr Dyer, a businessman who drew up the contract with lawyers, said: “It may seem odd to many people that we should pay Nizam Hosein for the information, but our offer unlocked everything after many years of his silence and our sadness and frustration.

Mark Dyer, Muriel McKay's grandson.
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Mark Dyer

“It seemed our last chance of ever finding out what happened to my grandmother.

“Nizam could certainly have made good use of the cash because he is living in a hut with rotting floorboards, no proper sanitation and poisonous snails climbing the walls.

“He seems to have rejected the money because he wants closure. He’s getting old and he’s frail and it was perhaps his chance to atone for what he did.

“Our lawyer gave him the first $500 and he just pushed it away. For me, that gave him legitimacy.”

Read more:
Deported killer offers to return to UK to show victim’s family where body is buried
Family of murdered Muriel McKay urge police to launch new search

Muriel was aged 55 and the wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay, deputy to press baron Rupert Murdoch – who had just bought the Sun and News of the World.

The bungling brothers mistook Muriel for Murdoch’s first wife Anna after following the wrong car, Murdoch’s Rolls Royce, to the McKay home in Wimbledon, South London.

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After days of playing cat and mouse with the police – and a bodged attempt to pick up a suitcase of ransom money – the kidnappers were caught and arrested at the farm.

However, there was no sign of Muriel and they refused to say what had happened to her.

They were jailed for life after one of the first murder convictions without the discovery of the victim’s body. Arthur Hosein died in prison in 2009.

Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein
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Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein. Pic: SkyUK

Last year, Scotland Yard searched part of the farmland near the village of Stocking Pelham after talking to Hosein on a video link, but he later insisted they had dug in the wrong place.

Some of the farm buildings, fencing and gates have been changed in the intervening years since the murder, which gripped the public and made worldwide headlines at the time.

The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay was kept prisoner by the Hosein brothers. Martin Brunt story. Uploaded 15 November 2023
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The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay was kept prisoner by the Hosein brothers

Detectives have sent Hosein a list of more than 80 questions in a bid to check his story and narrow down the true burial site.

They are in contact with the McKays and considering applying for a warrant for a new search at the farm.

The family has launched a petition calling on the Home Office to lift Hosein’s deportation order temporarily so he can revisit the farm.

He said: “If I go back to the farm, I will remember where I put the body. I am sure I can go to the spot directly.”

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Suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge named

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Suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge named

The suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge has been named as paediatric consultant Kuldeep Stohr.

Eight hundred patients operated on by Ms Stohr are having their cases urgently re-examined, after an external review found nine children whose care fell below expected standards.

The initial review was ordered after concerns were raised by her colleagues.

Sky News has seen a copy of the interim report which details several issues relating to complex hip surgeries performed by the surgeon.

One of the parents whose child was identified in the review showed us a recent letter from the hospital which reported “problems with both judgement and technique” in her child’s surgery.

Ms Stohr, who has been suspended since the end of January, said in a statement: “I always strive to provide the highest standards of care to all my patients.

“I am co-operating fully with the trust investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Tammy Harrison
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Tammy Harrison: ‘It was hell’

Left in agonising pain

Tammy Harrison, 12, has cerebral palsy and had surgeries carried out by Ms Stohr. Her operations didn’t work, leaving her in agonising pain.

She said: “My first one was just like trauma. I couldn’t get out of bed for eight weeks. I was either stuck in bed or stuck on the sofa. It was hell.”

Her mum, Lynn, told Sky News: “There is nothing that can put Tammy back to where she was now and that’s the sad thing.

“If I could just click my fingers and have the child back that I had I would do it with a blink of an eye.”

Lynn Harrison
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Ms Stohr operated on Lynn Harrison’s daughter

So far, there’s been no confirmation of any wrongdoing in Tammy’s care.

But her family have a meeting at the hospital this week to find out more.

Read more from Sky News:
Who are the two MPs deported by Israel?
Father and daughter who died in caravan park fire named

The trust has asked a panel of specialist clinicians to review all the planned operations carried out by Ms Stohr at Addenbrooke’s. One hundred emergency trauma cases will also be looked at.

Addenbrooke’s is a major regional trauma centre and treats serious emergency patients from all over the region.

One clinician at the hospital told Sky News that the review of so many patients was “creating a lot of extra work”, which was “slowing things down” for other patients awaiting treatment.

Addenbrooke's Hospital. File pic: PA
Image:
Addenbrooke’s Hospital. File pic: PA

At least one extra locum consultant has been helping the team, as they work through the caseload.

Trust apologises

Sky News has been told Cambridge University Hospitals Trust had wanted to identify Ms Stohr before but had been threatened with a legal injunction.

The trust has apologised unreservedly to families and patients. But what’s troubling many is the fact concerns were raised about Ms Stohr a decade ago.

Chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, Roland Sinker, has set up another review to examine whether opportunities were missed, and action could have been taken sooner.

The Department of Health described the ongoing situation as “incredibly concerning.”

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Starmer promises ‘bold changes’ to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump’s tariffs

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Starmer promises 'bold changes' to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump's tariffs

Sir Keir Starmer promised “bold changes” as he announced he will relax rules around electric vehicles after carmakers were hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The prime minister said “global trade is being transformed” after the US president‘s 25% levy on imported cars, and 10% tariff on other products, came into force.

Jaguar Land Rover has said the firm will “pause” shipments to the US as it looks to “address the new trading terms”.

Trump adviser explains why tariffs put on island inhabited only by penguins

Labour made a manifesto pledge to restore a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after it had been rolled back to 2035 by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.

Sir Keir Starmer. Pic: Reuters
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Starmer promises to ‘back British business’. Pic: Reuters

Sir Keir will officially confirm the ban in an announcement on Monday but regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will be altered, to help firms in the transition.

Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond the 2030 date, because they only manufacture a small number of vehicles per year.

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‘Nothing off the table’ over tariffs

Petrol and diesel vans will also be allowed to be sold until 2035, along with hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars.

The government is also going to make it easier for manufacturers who do not comply with the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which sets sales targets, to avoid fines, and the levies will be reduced.

Sir Keir said: “I am determined to back British brilliance.

“Now more than ever UK businesses and working people need a government that steps up, not stands aside.

“That means action, not words.”

Officials have said support for the car industry will continue to be kept under review as the full impact of the tariffs announced last week becomes clear.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the industry deserves “clarity” in the economic context.

She said: “Our ambitious package of strengthening reforms will protect and create jobs, making the UK a global automotive leader in the switch to EVs, all the while meeting our core manifesto commitment to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.”

Read more:
Starmer pledges to shelter UK business from tariff storm
Jaguar Land Rover decision sparks anxiety in car-making hub

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the government had “recognised the intense pressure manufacturers are under”, while Colin Walker, a transport analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the ZEV mandate is a “global success story” in driving a surge in sales of electric vehicles.

Tariff impact on UK businesses revealed

Some 62% of UK firms with trade exposure to the US are being negatively impacted by Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

Its survey of more than 600 businesses also found 32% of firms with trade exposure to the US said they will increase prices in response.

The survey also found 41% of firms with no exposure to the USA said they would be negatively impacted by the tariffs.

Some 44% of firms with exposure to the US said the UK should seek to negotiate a closer trade relationship with the US, while 43% said they wanted closer trade with other markets.

Just under a quarter (21%) said they thought the UK should impose retaliatory tariffs.

The survey also found that 40% of firms considered the 10% tariffs to be better than they had expected.

It comes as KPMG warned US tariffs on UK exports could see GDP growth fall to 0.8% in 2025 and 2026.

The accountancy firm said higher tariffs on specific categories, such as cars, aluminium and steel, would more than offset the exemption on pharmaceutical exports, leaving the effective tariffs imposed on UK exports at around 12%.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said: “Given the economic impact that tariffs would cause, there is a strong incentive to seek a negotiated settlement that diminishes the need for tariffs. The UK automotive manufacturing sector is particularly exposed given the complex supply chains of some producers.”

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Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

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Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Two people who died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness have been named by police.

Lincolnshire Police said 48-year-old Lee Baker and his 10-year-old daughter Esme Baker, both from the Nottingham area, were killed in the blaze.

However, formal identification is still yet to take place and “could take some time”, the force said.

Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Golden Beach Holiday Park, in the village of Ingoldmells, at 3.53am on Saturday.

In a statement issued through police, a member of the Baker family said: “Lee and Esme were excited to be spending the first weekend of the holidays together.

“We are all utterly devastated at what’s happened.

“This loss is incomprehensible at the moment, and we ask for people to give us space to process this utterly heartbreaking loss.”

A GoFundMe page set up for the victims’ family described the father and daughter as “two peas in a pod” who were “both happy-go-lucky people who loved life”. It has so far raised more than £3,000.

The police force, together with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Detective Inspector Lee Nixon said: “We believe we might be close to arriving at a working hypothesis.

“We are working hard to validate the facts available to us to be able to provide answers for the family and loved ones of those who were very tragically taken by this fire.

“Yet the evident intensity of the fire has made this task incredibly challenging.”

Dan Moss, from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, said: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family at this time.

“Our Fire Investigation Team is working with colleagues from Lincolnshire Police, and a full investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

“Once investigations are complete, local fire crews and our community fire safety team will be on hand to talk to people in the area and address any fire safety concerns they may have, at what will be an upsetting time.”

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