Muriel McKay's son to come face-to-face with mother's killer in family's bid to find body

The son of a woman kidnapped and presumed murdered in a case of mistaken identity more than half a century ago is travelling to Trinidad to meet the man convicted of killing her as the family attempts to find her body.

Muriel McKay was taken in 1969 after criminals wrongly thought she was media mogul Rupert Murdoch's then-wife, and planned to demand a £1m ransom.

She was actually the wife of Mr Murdoch's deputy Alick McKay. Two men were jailed for murder but Ms McKay's body has never been found.

One of her killers, Nizamodeen Hosein, who has been deported from the UK, broke his silence telling Muriel's family she is buried at Stocking Farm in Hertfordshire.

Several searches were carried by police earlier this year and in 2022 but nothing was found.

Speaking to ITV News London Muriel's son Ian McKay hoped his trip to see Hosein would help bring him back to the UK so he could show police where she is buried.

Nizamodeen, the kidnapper, is not looking as fit as he might do," Ian told ITV News.

"We do need to bring him to the UK, he might pass on, and therefore we need to get as much information as we can possibly get from him and possibly things that he may be concealing," Ian explained.

Both the police and other members of Muriel's family have already visited Hosein in Trinidad, but he has now asked to meet with her son.

Ian said: "I'm really going to do a job in this particular situation and that's the only way I can look at it.

"We need to get information from Nizamodeen. My sister Diane embraced him at the time when they first met him in Trinidad.

"I wasn't surprised. I think a lot of people were surprised. But the problem is we have to get this information and it's only by getting his confidence and his cooperation which we worked very hard to build up.

"And he made a confession. He confessed to the fact that he had buried her."

Asked why Nizamodeen had not been brought to the UK to help with the search, Met Police said in a statement earlier this year: "Our view has always been that we do not believe it would provide us with beneficial information and therefore we would not formally approach the Home Office who would be required to grant permission.

“We carefully reviewed this decision during the search and, based on Hosein’s reliability as a witness and the likelihood of a successful outcome, we stand by our original decision.

“As we have said previously, Muriel’s family are aware it would not be proportionate to carry out any further searches and that our investigation is now at an end. We are saddened that we were unable to bring them the closure they so desperately long for.”

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