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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
John Dunne

Muriel McKay: Deported killer offers to return to Britain to show family where he buried body

A man who killed a news executive's wife 54 years ago, before being deported, has offered to return to Britain to show her family where she is buried.

Nizamodeen Hosein was 22 when he and his elder brother Arthur kidnapped Muriel McKay and demanded a £1m ransom.

The brothers were jailed for life for murder after being caught but Ms McKay, who was 55 when she was snatched, was never found.

The kidnap had been botched as the killers mistook Ms McKay for Anna Murdoch the wife of media mogul Rupert.

Ms McKay's husband Alick was Murdoch's deputy and was also Australian.

Hosein, who now lives in his native Trinidad after serving his sentence, has been in touch with Ms McKay's family offering to return to the UK to show show where he buried her, Sky News reported.

Nizamodeen Hosein at 22 (PA)

He claims she died of a heart attack during the kidnap ordeal and he buried her body in the grounds of the Hertfordshire cottage where they had been holding her.

The 75-year-old has written to the Home Office asking it to lift a deportation order which bans him from returning to Britain. His brother died in prison in 2009.

Hosein wrote in his letter to the Home Office: "I admit my involvement in the kidnap and death of Muriel McKay and I have been attempting to assist her daughter Dianne in locating her body.

"I believe I am the only living person who knows where Muriel's body is and I would like her body to be found before I myself die."

He claims he buried her after she died of a heart attack at the farmhouse near the village of Stocking Pelham.

A previous police search failed but Hosein said he is confident he can locate the body. The family has commissioned computer generated images of the area as part of the hunt.

In a video call between Hosein and Dianne and given to Sky News she says: "It's very hard for me to talk about this because it's quite painful, but if you can come and help us find our mother we'd be grateful."

Scotland Yard detectives are looking at the case again and are aware of the development.

A Met statement said: "We most recently met some members of Muriel's family in May 2023 and continue to keep in contact with them. An extensive search for Muriel's remains was conducted in March 2022 at a site in Hertfordshire, unfortunately it concluded unsuccessfully. We continue to review any opportunities to recover Muriel's body and return her to her family."

The Home Office said: "We express sympathies with Ms McKay's loved ones. Whilst we do not comment on individual cases, we work with the police on any requests pertaining to ongoing investigations."

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