Muriel McKay's son hopeful on first visit to farm

Police are searching Stocking Farm for a third time in the hope of finding the body of Muriel McKay

The son of Muriel McKay said he was hopeful his mother's body would be found as he made his first visit to the site where it is believed she may be buried.

Police are digging an area of Stocking Farm in Hertfordshire to try to locate the remains of Mrs McKay, who was held hostage and killed there 55 years ago.

She had been mistaken for the then-wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and held to ransom for £1m.

Ian McKay, 82, who lives in Australia, said: "You can't be 100% but I'm ever hopeful. It comes down to the hard work of the people who are actually doing the digging and searching."

He said: "We've been given direct instructions of where she is by the man who actually laid her there."

Muriel McKay was married to Alick McKay (both centre), who was deputy to Rupert Murdoch

Mrs McKay was abducted in December 1969. Police traced her kidnappers to Rooks Farm – now Stocking Farm – but could find no trace of her.

Nizamodeen Hosein and his brother, Arthur, were jailed for life in 1970 for her kidnap and murder. Arthur Hosein died in prison and Nizamodeen Hosein was later deported to Trinidad and Tobago.

In 2021, Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne and grandson Mark Dyer made contact with Nizamodeen Hosein after seeing him in a Sky documentary. He confessed to the crime and pointed to where he said she was buried.

Excavation work began on Monday

The Metropolitan Police searched the farm again in 2022 without success, and the force has said this will be the final attempt to locate the body.

Mr McKay, who was 27 when his mother was killed, said he was apprehensive about the search.

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"I'll be feeling a bit happier if we see a result, but that result is very much dependent if the police use the information we've given them," he said.

"Admittedly that information comes from [Nizamodeen Hosein] but they've accepted that... It seems to me it would be crazy you didn't take that sort of information and look there first."

Ian McKay felt emotional on his first visit to Stocking Farm

He added: "I've never been to the farm before. [My sister] and I spoke about it more than 20 years ago. We always thought we would visit. We hoped for some kind of release but we never got round to it.

"When we get there and see what's actually happening, it'll all come home pretty quick. I don't really know what I feel at this stage."