Muriel McKay: Family of murdered woman claim police jeopardising search for body by ‘spooking’ killer
The family of murdered Muriel McKay have condemned Scotland Yard detectives for the way they interviewed her killer in the continuing search for her remains.
After a renewed campaign to find her body, her relatives now fear police will abandon plans to dig at the Hertfordshire farm where Mrs McKay was held ransom by her kidnappers 55 years ago.
Her family says the killer has already pinpointed the burial site to them.
Dianne McKay and Hosein looking through photos of the farm when they met in January
The British officers collected Nizam Hosein, 76, from his ramshackle home in Trinidad last week and spent three days in a local police station asking him to identify the exact spot where he buried Mrs McKay.
Hosein was deported to the island after serving 20 years for Mrs McKay’s kidnap and murder. It was one of the first murder trials without a body. Until recently he had refused to say what happened to his victim.
After initially telling the family they were making progress in their interviews with Hosein, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin then sent them a message: “He was unable to provide a location with any consistency, which is not what you or we wanted to find.”
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Daughter meets mother’s killer
Mark Dyer, Mrs McKay’s grandson, confronted the officers on their return to Gatwick Airport early on Saturday.
He told Sky News: “This is most upsetting to us personally, having done so much for this search to find my grandmother who has now been twice failed by the Metropolitan Police.
“We warned the police that going mob-handed and putting him in a police station would spook him and they would never get much out of him. He is terrified of police officers and needs to be carefully handled and encouraged to speak about those days.”
Nizamodeen Hosein had kept the secret of Muriel McKay’s fate for more than 50 years
Dianne McKay, Muriel’s daughter, said: “It’s taken us nearly three years to get this guy to really be open and friendly with us, and that’s not what we ever set out to achieve.
“We only wanted information, but we’ve had to work very hard psychologically on his character to gain his confidence, and they walked in and snuffed it.”
Mr Dyer said: “Many times Nizam has told the family the precise burial spot. He hasn’t wavered. He pointed it out on old photographs of the farm we showed him and has offered to return to the UK to show us exactly where we will find my grandmother.”
He also told Sky News that he feels he and his mother “are being played with”.
“It’s not a game,” he added. “My mother’s emotions and health are being played with, this has got to stop.
“Either my grandmother is where Nizam says she is, or she’s not, it’s simple. This is not rocket science.”
Businessman Mr Dyer and his mother Dianne met Hosein in January after flying 4,500 miles to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay was kept prisoner by the Hosein brothers
Sky News filmed a series of meetings, in which Hosein was shown old and new photographs of the farm and studied computer-generated images to identify 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 to test his credibility and memory.
Mark Dyer confronted Supt Katherine Goodwin at Gatwick Airport
She and two colleagues landed on the island on Monday and began interviewing Hosein the next day. They had urged the family not to be there and to let them speak to him alone.
She hoped to gather enough evidence to justify a new search at the farm near the village of Stocking Pelham, or 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.
Read more:
Killer reveals location of victim’s remains
Muriel McKay’s killer mees Scotland Yard
Farm owner to allow police search for remains
Her colleagues searched a patch of the farmland two years ago, but found nothing during a five-day excavation. The family said they had dug in the wrong place.
Fifteen months ago, Dianne McKay, 84, made an official complaint about the attitude towards her one by one of the officers involved in the first search.
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Muriel McKay’s killer wants to help find her body
She accused him of “completely and wholly unacceptable behaviour” by confronting and shouting at her and accusing her of breaching an agreement with the landowner who had allowed the first police search.
She wrote to Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley: “I was gravely surprised and still feel deeply traumatised by his behaviour.”
Scotland Yard spokesperson said: “We can confirm a public complaint has been received and is now being assessed. We will remain in contact with the complainant during this process.”
UK
Cardinal Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is ‘intimidating’
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has told Sky News it’s “intimidating” to be one of those responsible for choosing the next pope.
Vincent Nichols is among four UK cardinals in Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.
Following the funeral, and after nine days of mourning, cardinals from around the world will gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to cast their votes, with white smoke announcing to the world when a new pope has been elected.
Cardinal Nichols told Sky’s Anna Botting: “I hope nobody goes into this conclave, as it were, with the sole purpose of wanting to win. I think it’s very important that we go in wanting to listen to each other… It has to be together, trying to sense what God wants next. Not just for the church.”
Becoming emotional, he also said the final message he would like to have given Pope Francis is “thank you”.
The 88-year-old died peacefully on Easter Monday, the Vatican confirmed.
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Pope’s cause of death confirmed .
Heads of state – including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron – have all confirmed their attendance at his funeral, which takes place on Saturday at St Peter’s Square.
Prince William will attend on behalf of the King, Kensington Palace has said.
Cardinal Nichols explained that the funeral would be “exactly the same Catholic rite as everyone else – just on a grander scale”.
In a break from tradition, Pope Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican – and will instead be laid to rest at his favourite church, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.
He will also be buried in just one simple wooden coffin, instead of the traditional three coffins which are usually used for pontiffs.
Born in Crosby near Liverpool, Cardinal Vincent Nichols hoped to be a lorry driver as a child – but as a teenager reportedly felt the calling to join the priesthood while watching Liverpool FC.
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Where will Pope Francis be buried?
As cardinal, he is known for leading the church’s work tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, for which he received the UN Path to Peace Award.
He was criticised by the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which said he “demonstrated a lack of understanding” of the impact of abuse and “seemingly put the reputation of the church first”.
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3D map shows pope’s funeral route
Cardinal Nichols, responding to the findings, previously told Sky News he was “ashamed at what has happened in the context of the Catholic Church” and promised to improve the church’s response.
He has appeared to rule himself out of the running for pope, telling reporters he was “too old, not capable”.
A man who was shot dead by police had called 999 himself, an initial investigation into the death has suggested.
David Joyce was killed by “a single gunshot wound to the abdomen” after officers shot him at close range outside Milton Keynes railway station on 1 April, according to preliminary findings.
The 38-year-old, who lived in the town, was given first aid by officers but died at the scene.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the circumstances leading up to the death and revealed its initial findings.
It said it had established that Mr Joyce was armed with a 12cm steak knife when he “ran at two officers” before being shot by an officer from a Thames Valley Police armed response unit.
The IOPC said police had been alerted to the incident following a 999 call “from a man reporting that ‘there is a man with a gun down at the train station in Milton Keynes'”.
“The call handler rang back after the caller hung up during the call and spoke to the man again who said the man with the gun was acting suspiciously, looked like he was about to do something bad and ‘definitely’ had a gun,” it said in a statement.
“Records show that the mobile phone number used to make the 999 call had been used to call police before and was linked to Mr Joyce.
“CCTV footage shows Mr Joyce making a phone call at a time which matches with when the 999 call to police was made.”
Police at the scene of the incident. Pic: PA
An inquest into his death was opened and adjourned at Milton Keynes Coroners’ Court earlier in April and a full hearing will follow after the IOPC investigation concludes.
IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “We again extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of David Joyce and all those affected by this incident. We continue to keep his family informed of our progress.
“Our investigators are working hard to piece together the circumstances leading up to Mr Joyce being shot by a police officer and have already carried out a significant amount of enquiries.”
He said the enquiries included accounts from the police officers involved, CCTV from inside and outside the station, footage from officers’ bodyworn cameras and police vehicle dashcam footage, and statements from members of the public who witnessed the shooting.
The IOPC added that, as is standard in investigations following a fatal police shooting, it would “look at the decisions and actions of officers prior to and during their interaction with Mr Joyce – including the medical care they provided at the scene; if the lethal force was necessary, justified and proportionate; and whether the officers followed policy”.
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