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Murder of Muriel McKay

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Muriel McKay
Born(1914-02-04)4 February 1914
Adelaide,South Australia,Australia
Diedc.1 January 1970(1970-01-01)(aged 55)
Rooks Farm,Stocking Pelham,Hertfordshire,England
NationalityAustralian
SpouseAlick McKay
Children3

Muriel Freda McKay(4 February 1914 –c. 1 January 1970) was an Australian woman who waskidnappedon 29 December 1969 in the United Kingdom and presumed murdered in the first few days of 1970.[1][2][3]She was married to Alick McKay,[4]an executive atNews Limitedand deputy to media proprietorRupert Murdoch.McKay was kidnapped after being mistaken for Murdoch's then-wife,Anna Maria Murdoch.[5]TwoIndo-Trinidadianbrothers, Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein, were convicted of her murder and kidnapping in September 1970.

The case was one of the earliest examples in the United Kingdom of a trial and conviction secured for amurder without a body.[6]

Disappearance

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Muriel McKay and her husband Alick were both born and raised inAdelaide,South Australia.[7]After moving toLondonin 1958 for her husband's job as a newspaper executive forRupert Murdoch'sNews Limited,they lived in St Mary's House on Arthur Road inWimbledon.Their three adult children, Jennifer, Diane and Ian, also lived in the United Kingdom.

On 29 December 1969, assailants broke into the McKay home andabductedMuriel while her husband was at work. Returning home at 7:45pm and finding the front door unlocked, the telephone ripped from the wall, the contents of his wife's handbag scattered on the stairs and the house empty, Alick reported hermissingat 8pm. The attack was especially troubling given that jewellery had been stolen in aburglaryincident three months earlier, and Muriel had become increasingly careful of her personal safety.[7]

Investigation

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When police arrived, the burglary case was quickly upgraded to a kidnapping after investigators found items that were foreign to the house:Elastoplast,twine, a newspaper and abillhook.After the phone was repaired at 1am, a caller identifying himself as 'M3' (short forMafia3) contacted the house and demanded a£1 millionransom.Over the next forty days, M3 made eighteen more calls, demanding to speak to either Alick or their children Ian and Diane, and sent three letters (postmarked inTottenhamorWood Green) demanding the money while repeatedly threatening to kill Muriel. Five letters written by Muriel and pleading for compliance were enclosed as 'proof' that she was alive, as were three pieces cut from her clothing.[7]

Two successive attempts to deliver half of the ransom money were unsuccessful. The first, on theA10 roadon 1 February 1970, was abandoned due to a large police presence in the area.[8]

For the second attempt on 6 February 1970, the kidnappers specifically asked for Diane to make the drop off, as she was always at the forefront of communication with the McKay family. However, following M3's detailed instructions, two disguised police officers (instead of Diane) placed the ransom consisting of two lots of £500,000 (primarily composed of fakebanknotes) in two suitcases and left them at atelephone boxin Church Street in Tottenham, where they would receive further instructions.[7]At 4:00pm, M3 rang and instructed to take the ransom money to a second phone box inBethnal Green.There, M3 rang again and instructed the officers to take theLondon UndergroundtoEpping,where they were to take the money to yet another phone box.[7]Upon the arrival at the phone box in Epping, M3 rang and instructed the officers to take a taxi to a used car yard with a garage inBishop's Stortfordwhere they were instructed to leave the cases next to a minivan that would be parked there on the garage forecourt.[7]

The police conducted surveillance in the area and noticed that a blueVolvosedan with a broken taillight, bearing registrationXGO994Gand carrying a single occupant, slowly passed the garage four times between 8pm and 10.30pm. At 10.47pm it passed again, this time carrying two men. However, a local couple noticed the suitcases and became concerned. The woman kept watching while her husband reported the cases to the police, who were unaware of the drop-off and took them to Epping police station.

The investigation soon shifted to the Volvo, registered in the name of a man from Rooks Farm (now Stocking Farm) nearStocking Pelham,Hertfordshire.[7]Reviewing previous reports, police noted that some witnesses had also described seeing a dark-coloured Volvo sedan driving near Arthur Road in the hours before Muriel's disappearance, and another reporting it as parked in the McKay driveway around 6pm. Police also noted the Volvo acting suspiciously at the first drop-off attempt but had assumed it was either undercover police or a local.

Rooks Farm, which covered eleven acres (4.5 ha) and was considerably run down, was raided by police on 7February at 8am. The owners of the farm wereTrinidad-born Arthur Hosein and his German wife, who also lived with Arthur's youngest sibling, Nizamodeen, a labourer at the farm since August. A notebook was found with torn pages that matched the tear patterns in Muriel's letters. Further, twine and a matching roll of tape were found, and the billhook was revealed as belonging to a neighbour. The brothers' physical descriptions matched those of the men seen in the Volvo, and Arthur's fingerprints matched those found on the ransom letters and a newspaper found in the McKay house. Similarly, Nizamodeen's voice matched that of recordings of M3 when he was tested on a telephone. However, no trace of Muriel was found at the farm, even after it was searched for several weeks.[2]

Trial

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Based on the evidence, the Hosein brothers were arrested and sent to trial on 14 September 1970, with theprosecutionled byPeter Rawlinson.At trial it was learned that Arthur, a tailor inHackney,was experiencing financial difficulty after buying Rooks Farm in May 1968.[8]The Hoseins decided to kidnapAnna Maria Murdochafter watching her husband being interviewed on television about his recent purchase of theNews of the WorldandThe Sunnewspapers on 3 October 1969.[9][10]However, confusion arose when the Hoseins followed Murdoch's chauffeuredRolls-Royceto the house in Arthur Road, which they assumed to be the Murdoch family residence, but it was actually the residence of the McKays. Unbeknownst to the brothers, Murdoch had loaned the car to Alick for a few weeks while he and his wife were in Australia.[11]

Throughout the case, each brother tried to put the blame on the other, although it was soon determined that Arthur was the dominant sibling.[7][8]The Hoseins were charged with murder, kidnap andblackmail,and convicted at theOld Baileyon 6 October 1970.[2]When imposinglife sentenceson the pair, plus twenty-five years in Arthur's case and fifteen in Nizamodeen's, the trial judge,Justice Shaw,said their "conduct was cold-blooded and abominable".[12]Despite investigation, it was never established what happened to Muriel's remains, though there was speculation that the brothers had fed them to their guard dogs or pigs.[7][13]

Aftermath

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The Hosein brothers were sent to prison where they attempted toappealtheir sentence in March 1971. In November 1987 and September 1994, Arthur unsuccessfully applied forparole.[14]Arthur died in prison in 2009, whereas Nizamodeen served twenty years and wasdeportedto Trinidad after his release.[5]

The nature of the case led to widespread media coverage, along with numerous hoaxes, prank letters and phone calls to the McKay home.[7]PsychicGerard Croiset,who had participated in a number of famousmissing personinvestigations, also became involved, though the accuracy of his information has been grossly exaggerated. Because of the notoriety of the case, likenesses of the Hosein brothers were displayed in theChamber of HorrorsinMadame Tussauds,alongside that of then-living murderersDonald NeilsonandGraham Young.[15]

In 2017,Kelvin MacKenzie's review ofInk,a play about the history ofThe Sun,[16]described the portion of the play about McKay's kidnapping as its "most dramatic moment".[11]Jane Martinson,in her review forThe Guardian,described that portion of the play as its "most uncomfortable moment".[17]

Searches for McKay's body

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An initial search for McKay was made at Rooks Farm after the arrest of the Hosein brothers in February 1970, but was hampered by the ground being hardened in the cold weather and ultimately found no trace of her.[18][2]

In 2021, it was reported that Nizamodeen had told aQCthat Muriel died of aheart attackshortly after the kidnapping and provided details of the location of her body at Rooks Farm.[19]This information ultimately led to a search in 2022; upon that search being unsuccessful, Nizamodeen began claiming that the police had dug in the wrong area.[18]In November 2023, Nizamodeen asked to be allowed back to the UK to show the McKay family where he buried Muriel.[20]Muriel's daughter Diane urged theMetropolitan Policeto co-operate to help the recovery of her mother's body.[21]In January 2024, Muriel's daughter and grandson met with Nizamodeen in Trinidad to ask him for the truth about the location of Muriel's body.[22][23]

Nizamodeen signed a £40,000 settlement agreement with the McKay family to reveal where Muriel is buried. He then turned down the money and pointed out on a map where she was buried.[24]He revealed to Mark Dyer, Muriel's grandson, his involvement in the kidnap and her burial location in anaffidavitdated 11 December 2023.[25]

In January 2024, theHome Officerefused to allow Nizamodeen to return to Britain and identify the spot where he buried Muriel. Diane McKay and Mark Dyer then flew to Trinidad on 27 January 2024 withThe TimesandSky Newsto interview Nizamodeen over the course of two days. They claim that Nizamodeen disclosed exactly where Muriel was buried and asked to come to Britain to show where.[26]On 9 March, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin ofScotland YardtoldThe Timesthat investigators decided to visit Nizamodeen in Trinidad with a view to bringing him back to England.[26]Hosein said he would show police the location of Muriel's body.[27]Mark Dyer was contacted by Scotland Yard on Thursday 16 May, confirming that they would search Rooks Farm within six weeks.[28]On 20 June 2024, Mark Dyer met with Detective Superintendent Goodwin at Stocking Farm with a view to agree the search area. The search started on 15 July 2024 with the Metropolitan Police allowing themselves a search period of between a week and ten days. The search area was three times the original search area.[18]On 22 July 2024, it was announced that the search had been unsuccessful and no remains had been recovered. Muriel's family was not satisfied that the search had been conducted properly and insisted that Nizamodeen should have been brought to the farm to pinpoint her location; the police said that Nizamodeen had been inconsistent in his evidence and had incorrectly recalled certain events of the case.[29][30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Nash, Jay Robert (2004).The Great Pictorial History of World Crime, Volume 2.Scarecrow Press. pp. 710–711.ISBN9781461712152.Retrieved26 September2017.
  2. ^abcdJoseph, Francis (3 April 2009)."Englishwoman missing for 39 years".Archives.Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2017.Retrieved25 September2017.
  3. ^"Two bumbling kidnappers get life prison terms".The Montreal Gazette.UPI. 7 October 1970. p. 45.Archivedfrom the original on 28 February 2022.Retrieved8 July2019– via news.google.
  4. ^"Sir Alex Mackay, a director and former deputy chairman..."UPI.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2019.Retrieved8 July2019.
  5. ^abKennedy, Dominic (14 September 2015)."Britain gives killer's ex wife £50,000 to fight death penalty".The Times.London.Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2017.Retrieved27 September2017.(subscription required)
  6. ^Tarver, Nick (3 April 2012)."Body of evidence but no murder body".Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2019.Retrieved8 July2019.
  7. ^abcdefghijCasefile: True Crime Podcast (3 May 2019)."Case 110: Muriel McKay".Archivedfrom the original on 12 October 2019.Retrieved8 July2019.
  8. ^abcPANGEA (27 June 2018),The McKay Kidnapping | Great Crimes & Trials,archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2022,retrieved8 July2019
  9. ^Nash, Jay Robert (2004).The Great Pictorial History of World Crime.Vol. 2.Scarecrow Press.pp. 710–711.ISBN9781461712152.Retrieved26 September2017.
  10. ^Honeycombe, Gordon (7 February 2011).Murder of the Black Museum – The Dark Secrets Behind A Hundred Years of the Most Notorious Crimes in England.John Blake Publishing.ISBN9781843584414.
  11. ^ab MacKenzie, Kelvin(1 July 2017)."Almeida's new play about the Sun is exactly as I remember it, says Kelvin MacKenzie".The Spectator.London.Retrieved26 September2017.For me the most dramatic moment in the play came with the true story of the kidnapping and murder — although the body has never been found — of Muriel McKay, the wife of Rupert's trusted deputy chairman Sir Alick McKay.
  12. ^Borrell, Clive (7 October 1970)."Life sentences for Hosein Brothers".The Times.London.Retrieved27 September2017.(subscription required)
  13. ^Tarver, Nick (3 April 2012)."Convicting a murderer with no dead body".BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on 29 September 2017.Retrieved27 September2017.
  14. ^Burrell, Ian (7 September 1997)."Death row millionaire may be set free".The Independent.London.Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2017.Retrieved26 September2017.Adam Hosein was questioned but not charged over the McKay killing, which stemmed from a bungled attempt to kidnap the wife of Rupert Murdoch. Instead the 55-year-old wife of the newspaper executive Alick McKay was abducted.
  15. ^Pilbeam, Pamela (10 August 2006).Madame Tussaud: And the History of Waxworks.A&C Black.ISBN9781852855116.Archivedfrom the original on 8 February 2024.Retrieved3 October2020.
  16. ^"The meaning of Rupert Murdoch".Financial Times.25 August 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 4 January 2018.Retrieved8 July2019.
  17. ^Martinson, Jane(3 July 2017)."James Graham: 'Rupert Murdoch? He has a weird kind of loneliness'".The Guardian.London.Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2017.Retrieved26 September2017.The play's most uncomfortable moments are those involving the real-life kidnap and eventual murder of Muriel McKay, the wife of the Sun's deputy chairman.
  18. ^abcEllery, Ben (20 June 2024)."Muriel McKay murder: police confirm date of new dig for remains".The Times.Archivedfrom the original on 20 June 2024.Retrieved22 July2024.
  19. ^Ellery, Ben."Muriel McKay's kidnap killer reveals burial place after 51 years".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Archivedfrom the original on 18 December 2021.Retrieved18 December2021.
  20. ^"Muriel McKay: Deported killer offers to return to UK to show victim's family where body is buried".Sky News.Archivedfrom the original on 17 November 2023.Retrieved17 November2023.
  21. ^"Muriel McKay's daughter urges Met to let mother's killer find body".BBC News.2 December 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 2 December 2023.Retrieved2 December2023.
  22. ^"Muriel McKay: Family comes face-to-face with grandmother's killer".BBC News.28 January 2024.Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2024.Retrieved29 January2024.
  23. ^"Daughter of Muriel McKay meets her mother's killer in Trinidad".Sky News.Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2024.Retrieved29 January2024.
  24. ^"Muriel McKay: Convicted killer signed £40,000 contract with victim's family to reveal what happened to her body".Sky News.Retrieved9 March2024.
  25. ^Ellery, Ben (9 March 2024)."Muriel McKay's family to give police 'credible' evidence from killer".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Retrieved9 March2024.
  26. ^ab"Muriel McKay death: Met Police will fly to Caribbean to interview killer in search for victim's remains".Sky News.Retrieved9 March2024.
  27. ^"Muriel McKay killer says he will show where body is buried".BBC News.9 March 2024.Retrieved9 March2024.
  28. ^Gair, Kieran; Ellery, Ben (16 May 2024)."Muriel McKay: police to begin fresh search for body".The Times.Archivedfrom the original on 16 May 2024.Retrieved17 May2024.
  29. ^Fullbrook, Danny (22 July 2024)."No human remains found in search for Muriel McKay".BBC News.Retrieved22 July2024.
  30. ^"Police call off search for remains of Muriel McKay 55 years after her murder".Sky News.22 July 2024.Retrieved5 August2024.
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