Muriel McKay death: Notorious killer tells police where he buried victim’s body 55 years ago

Published

2 months ago

March 7, 2024

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A notorious killer has told British detectives where he buried his victim’s remains 55 years ago, after they flew to his Caribbean home to interview him.

Nizamodeen Hosein was convicted of kidnapping and killing Muriel McKay, who he mistook for the then wife of newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch, in one of the first British murder trials without a body.

But this week, he agreed to meet a team of Scotland Yard detectives in his native Trinidad where he was deported after serving 20 years in a UK jail.

In a message to the McKay family, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin said: “We are in Trinidad and were able to speak to Nizamodeen Hosein yesterday and start the interview process.

“He was happy to speak with us and we will hopefully continue to interview him over the next few days. We are making progress working with the local police.”

It is believed Hosein, 76, repeated what he told Muriel’s daughter Dianne McKay and her grandson Mark Dyer when they flew 4,500 miles to meet him in Trinidad in January: that Muriel died of a heart attack at his brother Arthur’s Hertfordshire farm, while they negotiated a ransom, and they buried her under a manure heap behind a barn.

Sky News filmed that meeting, in which Hosein pointed to old and new photographs of the farm and studied computer-generated images to pinpoint the burial site.

He said at the time: “Go through the kitchen door, come through the open land, turn left and it’s two feet from the hedge, that’s where the body is.”

A week later, after studying the Sky News footage, Det Supt Goodwin said she found Hosein’s evidence “compelling”, but wanted to meet him face to face.

She hopes to gather enough evidence to justify a new search at the farm near the village of Stocking Pelham, or to urge the Home Office to lift Hosein’s deportation order and let him return briefly to the farm to show police exactly where to dig.

Businessman Mr Dyer said: “We didn’t know whether Nizam would be happy talking to the British police, but if he is that’s great news.

“They already have his new testimony, but we hope he will tell them everything he told us, the precise details of where he buried my grandmother, so we can recover her and give her a proper burial at last.”

Mrs McKay, 55, was kidnapped from her south London home in late December 1969 by the Hosein brothers, who thought she was Anna, the wife of Rupert Murdoch who had just bought the Sun newspaper. In fact, she was the wife of Murdoch’s deputy, fellow Australian Alick McKay.

The kidnappers realised their mistake straightaway, but carried on with their plot and demanded a £1m ransom for her safe return, playing a cat-and-mouse game with Scotland Yard before they were identified and arrested, by which time Muriel was already dead.

They were jailed for life, denying any part in the abduction and refusing to say what had happened to their victim.

Nizam was persuaded to reveal what he now says is the truth after the McKay family hired a lawyer to interview him at his ramshackle home outside the Trinidad capital Port of Spain.

He lives there alone in poverty but refused the family’s offer of $50,000 to come clean and has spoken to them for free.

Police excavated a patch of the Hertfordshire farmland two years ago without success, but the family insisted they had searched the wrong area.

The farm owner Ian Marsh had refused permission for a new dig but has since said he would allow police back without a search warrant if they felt they had enough evidence.

In an official statement Det Supt Goodwin, of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime unit, said: “We understand how frustrating and difficult this is for Muriel’s family and are still working to recover her remains.

“We recently met Muriel’s family and others to speak to them and gather information obtained during their visit to Trinidad. We are grateful for their time and assistance.

“We have reviewed and assessed this information to determine the next steps in our investigation, which includes whether a further search is appropriate.

“We remain in contact with the family and will keep them updated.”

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Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu rejects ceasefire deal that would ‘leave Hamas intact’

Published

8 hours ago

May 5, 2024

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Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu rejects ceasefire deal that would 'leave Hamas intact'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals because he says Hamas’s call for a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza and an end to the war is unacceptable.

Mr Netanyahu said agreeing to such proposals would “leave Hamas intact” and leave the possibility of another attack in future.

“Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,” he said in a video statement.

Mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but a deal still appears some way off.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday it’s “still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”.

The impasse comes after Egyptian media reported “noticeable progress” in ceasefire talks on Saturday.

The proposal mediators had put to Hamas set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange.

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel’s military operation, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Israel has said it remains committed to a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million have fled in search of safety, as it tries to wipe out Hamas.

The UN and others have warned of catastrophe if it goes ahead.

The war began in October after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, when it launched a surprise attack.

More than 200 were abducted and many remain as hostages, while others are thought to have died.

World

Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

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Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.

Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.

Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.

Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).

Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.

The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.

A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.

They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.

Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.

Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.

Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.

Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.

Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.

Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.

More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.

Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.

World

Philippine coastguard hits out at China’s ‘brute force’ after water cannon attack

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

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Philippine coastguard hits out at China's 'brute force' after water cannon attack

China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.

Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.

“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.

“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”

The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.

The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.

The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.

Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.

The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.

It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.

Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.

He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.

“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.

Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.

The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.

“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.

Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.

Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.