Muriel McKay death: Notorious killer tells police where he buried victim’s body 55 years ago
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.
Nizamodeen Hosein
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.
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Daughter meets her mother’s killer
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.
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Hosein with Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne McKay in January
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.
The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay is said to have died
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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Update given on health condition of Slovakia’s PM – as suspect in court over attempted assassination
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in a stable but serious condition as the man accused of attempting to assassinate him appeared in court for the first time.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova said further two-hour surgery on Friday “contributed to a positive prognosis” for the 59-year-old, who was shot five times at point blank range while greeting supporters in the former mining town of Handlova on Wednesday.
Pic: AP
However, although awake at the hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Mr Fico was taken by helicopter after being shot, his condition still made it impossible to transport him to the capital, Bratislava.
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Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak has said there was no need to formally take over Mr Fico’s official duties.
The suspected gunman was tackled to the ground and arrested at the scene of the attack and the first assassination attempt of a European political leader for more than 20 years.
He has previously been named as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a former shopping centre security guard who also writes poetry.
The special criminal court in Pezinok, a small town outside the capital, Bratislava, was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons for his court appearance.
The media were kept at a distance. Pic: AP
News media were not allowed in for the hearing and reporters were kept behind a gate outside.
Officers had taken the suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, to his home in the town of Levice on Friday and seized a computer and some documents, according to local media.
The attack sent shockwaves throughout Europe and raised concerns over the already polarised and febrile political situation in Slovakia.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova gave the latest update on the PM’s condition. Pic: Reuters
Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure.
His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American ticket fuelled worries among fellow EU and NATO members over the country’s direction.
Slovakia had previously been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, but on taking office Mr Fico halted arms supplies to the nation battling invading Russian forces.
Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest against his policies.
The bodies of three Israeli hostage taken by Hamas have been recovered in Gaza.
The remains were discovered in an overnight operation carried out by Israel’s military and intelligence agency Shin Bet, said chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22, were killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October, with their bodies then taken into Gaza by Hamas militants.
Ms Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.
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Shani Louk
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“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” said Mr Hagari.
He said their families have been notified.
“Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.”
The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.
Ms Louk’s father has said the return of his daughter’s body to her family has been a form of closure.
Nissim Louk told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz his daughter “radiated light, to her and those who surrounded her, and in her death she still does”.
He added: “She is a symbol of the people of Israel, between light and darkness. Her inner and outer beauty that shone for all the world to see is a special one.”
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In November, the brother of Ms Louk told Sky News of their last phone call as his sister tried to escape Hamas.
Speaking about the video that was circulated online after she was taken, Amit Louk said: “I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position.
“And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking”, saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Meanwhile, Professor Hagai Levine, a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has said the recovery of the bodies is a “painful reminder” of those who are still in captivity.
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“We do not lose hope. We are preparing for the return of the hostages that are alive,” he added.
Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the 7 October attack.
Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a ceasefire in November.
Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
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Mr Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back.
He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas.
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