Police start new search for remains of murdered Muriel McKay

Police have begun a new search for the remains of Muriel McKay, who was murdered in a kidnap-for-ransom case more than 54 years ago.

Nizamodeen Hosein and his brother, Arthur, mistook McKay, 55, for Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of the newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch, when they kidnapped her in 1969. The pair held McKay at a farm in Hertfordshire and demanded a £1m ransom.

They were jailed for life in 1970 for her kidnap and murder. Nizamodeen was deported to Trinidad and Tobago after serving his sentence, while Arthur died in prison.

McKay’s 84-year-old daughter, Dianne, and grandson, Mark Dyer, visited Nizamodeen in the Caribbean in January 2024, when he told them where he and his brother buried the body.

They persuaded the Met police to visit Nizamodeen in March this year. Afterward, they committed to making one last attempt to find McKay beginning on 15 July “for completeness”.

Dyer said he may fly Nizamodeen to the farm “if we get nowhere by midweek. I know he’s particularly keen to see this resolved,” he said. However, Dyer added: “To be honest, I don’t want him here – if he’s told us the truth – we shouldn’t take that long finding her. It’s a couple of feet either way.”

Dianne McKay’s brother, Ian McKay, said: “This really is our last chance.”

He said although he did not trust everything Hosein had told his family, “I believe what he’s saying about where my mother’s body is.”

“He knows exactly the spot he buried her in. I’m prepared for anything,” he added.

Dianne McKay said she feels on edge and is waiting by her phone to hear if the police make a discovery, adding that finding her mother will provide her family with closure. “It would mean everything if we found her. If we do, maybe it will tell us things that we have never really known, like how she died. I have lived with this loss all my life, and this process of trying to find her has been very good for me.”

Officers have searched the site at Stocking Farm in Stocking Pelham twice, once at the time of the murders and again in 2022, and found no remains.

Cmdr Steve Clayman of Met police said: “We all share a hope and desire to find Muriel’s remains and bring some closure to her family after all these years.”