Fresh hope as cops will fly to Trinidad to interview killer after 50 years

12 February 2024 , 23:15

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Daughter Dianne McKay met Nizamodeen Hosein in his native Trinidad where he showed where her mother was buried (Image: Sky News)

Detectives from Scotland Yard will fly to the Caribbean so they can interview a convicted killer to find the buried remains of his victim, it has been reported.

Nizamodeen Hosein served 20 years for the kidnap and murder of Muriel McKay more than 50 years ago. Mrs McKay was the wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay, who was Rupert Murdoch’s deputy. She was kidnapped by Hosein, now 76, and his older brother Arthur in 1969 after they mistook her for Murdoch's then-wife Anna.

Mrs McKay, 55, was held at their rundown farm in Hertfordshire with the kidnappers demanding £1m ransom. However, Hosein claimed their captive collapsed and died while watching a TV news report on her kidnap. He said he panicked and buried her body outside at the rear of a barn.

A portrait of Muriel Frieda Mckay, 55, wife of the then deputy chairman of the News of the World (PA)

Killer Nizamodeen Hosein (black and white negative)

In an emotional meeting with Mrs McKay's family on a recent trip to his native Trinidad, Hosein identified the burial site on a picture of the farm as it was then. The meeting came about after a documentary maker tracked Hosein to his native Trinidad, where he was deported after serving 20 years for Mrs McKay's kidnap and murder.

The meeting, which was broadcast on Sky News has given detectives a clearer idea of where they should dig to find the body. Hosein’s murder conviction was one of the first without evidence of a body.

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Detectives are now making preparations for a similar visit to talk to the freed killer, who has said he wishes to help recover Mrs McKay's remains to clear his own conscience before he dies, Sky News reports.

Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin told the family: "I am hopeful that shortly after this visit we will be in a position to clearly seek an agreement with the landowners [if we have sufficient detail] or to apply to the Home Office. In the meantime, we are also making arrangements with our forensic and search teams so that they are prepared."

Police have dug up land at the farm once before but the family has said they were looking in the wrong place, and the landowner has said he will only agree to another excavation without a search warrant if police have enough new evidence.

The Mirror contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.

Joe Smith