Muriel McKay: Murdered woman’s family claims police ‘scared’ killer hampered search of body

The family of murdered Muriel Mackay have condemned the way Scotland Yard detectives interviewed her killer as they continue to search for her body.

After relaunching the search for her body, her relatives now fear police will abandon plans to dig at the Hertfordshire farm where mrs mackay She was held for ransom by kidnappers 55 years ago.

Her family said the killer was The burial site has been determined give them.

Last week, British police removed 76-year-old Nizam Hosein from his ramshackle home in Trinidad and spent three days at a local police station where he was asked to secure Mrs McKay’s burial. exact location.

Hussein was deported to the island after serving 20 years for the kidnapping and murder of Mrs McKay. It was one of the first murder trials without a body. Until recently, he refused to say what happened to his victims.

Detective Superintendent Catherine Goodwin initially told the family they were making progress with their interview with Hussain, before sending them a message: “He has been unable to provide any consistent location and that is not what you or we want to find. “

Mrs McKay’s grandson Mark Dyer was confronted by police as they returned to Gatwick Airport earlier on Saturday.

He told Sky News: “This is the most disturbing for us personally, we have tried so hard to find my grandmother but now the Metropolitan Police have failed twice.

“We warned the police that thugs putting him in a police station would scare him and they would never get anything out of him. He was scared of the police and needed to be handled with care and encouraged to talk about those days.”

He added: “The Nizam told the family the exact burial site many times. He was not swayed. He pointed this out on old photos of the farm that we showed him and offered to return to the UK to tell us the exact burial site. Location.” Find my grandmother. “

Businessman Mr Dyer and his mother Diana, Mrs Mackay’s daughter, met Hussain in January after flying 4,500 miles to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

Sky News filmed a series of meetings in which Hussain was shown old and new photos of the farm and studied computer-generated imagery to identify the burial site.

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

A week later, after studying the Sky News footage, Sheriff Goodwin said she found Hussain’s evidence “compelling” but wanted to confront him to test his credibility and memory.

She and two colleagues landed on the island on Monday and began interviewing Hussein the next day. They urged the family not to be there and to let them speak to him alone.

She hopes enough evidence is gathered to justify a new search of the farm near the village of Stocking Pelham, or she urges the Home Office to lift Hussain’s deportation order and allow him to briefly return to the farm to show police the details. excavation site.

read more:
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Two years ago, her colleagues searched a farmland but found nothing during a five-day dig. The family said they were digging in the wrong place.

Fifteen months ago, 84-year-old Dianne McKay made a formal complaint about the attitude towards her by the officers involved in the first raid.

She accused him of shouting at her, which was “completely, completely unacceptable behaviour” and accused her of breaching an agreement with the landowner who allowed police to conduct the first search.

She wrote to commissioner Sir Mark Rowley: “I am completely surprised and remain deeply traumatized by his actions.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm that a public complaint has been received and is currently being assessed. We will liaise with the complainant during this process.”