Police today will begin digging a new search for the remains of Muriel McKay, the wealthy murder victim who was kidnapped 55 years ago.
They will spend a week at the Hertfordshire farm, where Mrs.wife of a newspaper executive, was held for £1 million ransom before her kidnappers were caught and convicted of her murder.
Detectives mapped out a small area to excavate and assembled a team of specialized researchers, forensic experts, archaeologists and photographers.
Part of a barn will be demolished as it was later erected on the edge of the land to be excavated.
Muriel’s family has been campaigning for a new search for two years and had to convince the Metropolitan police and the farm owner to approve it.
Police excavated a nearby area in 2022 and found nothing, but the family said they dug in the wrong place.
Muriel’s son Ian, 82, flew from his home in Australia to be with family and visit the excavation site.
“This is a hugely emotional time for all of us and we wanted to be together,” he said. “My sister Dianne and her son Mark Dyer did a wonderful job gathering evidence and handing it over to the police.
“This will be devastating if we manage to find her after all this time. I remember the kidnapping vividly, of course, but I didn’t talk about it later with my wife and children. to talk.”
Muriel was never seen again after being snatched from her London home by brothers Nizamodeen and Arthur Hosein just before New Year’s Eve in 1969.
They mistook her for Anna, wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Muriel’s husband was Alick McKay, Murdoch’s deputy at the company that had just bought the Sun newspaper.
Read more on Sky News:
Devastated England fans leave fan zones after Euro 2024 defeat
How the assassination attempt on the former president unfolded
In January this year, Muriel’s daughter Dianne McKay and her son flew to the Caribbean when they discovered Nizam had been deported to his native Trinidad after serving 20 years for the murder.
He and his brother Arthur – who died in prison – always denied involvement in the crime, but after meeting the family, Nizam told them that Muriel had died of a heart attack just days after her kidnapping and, in a panic, the brothers buried her behind of yourself. a barn at the back of the farm.
The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay is buried
Using old maps and photographs to identify the burial site, Hosein, 76, told them in a meeting filmed by Sky News: “I left the farmhouse, went through the gate and turned left. A meter from the fence, it’s where the body is.”
Muriel’s grandson, Mr Dyer, said: “We have been waiting for this for a long time. I hope by the end of the week we will know if we can bring my grandmother home and give her a proper burial. , but we are hopeful.”
During the excavation, police have enforced a no-fly zone and guards will watch the entrance and paths leading to the farm at Stocking Pelham, near Bishop’s Stortford.
Keep up with the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The McKay family said that if police do not find Muriel’s remains, they will not press for further excavations at the farm.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
