Muriel McKay family criticise police approach of killer in Trinidad

The grandson of Muriel McKay has criticised the "appalling" way in which police approached her killer at home.

Officers visited Nizamodeen Hosein in Trinidad and Tobago this week to ask where Mrs McKay's body was buried.

The 55-year-old was abducted from her home in 1969 and held to ransom for £1m at a farm near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire.

The Metropolitan Police said it interviewed Hosein "extensively" and remained in contact with the family.

The grandson Mark Dyer said he believed Hosein was spooked by officers arriving at his house and said police told him he suffered "memory issues" when they spoke to him.

Mr Dyer spoke to one of the Met Police detectives returning from Trinidad at Gatwick Airport

"He is terrified of police and authority, especially three Scotland Yard officers turning up at his house," said Mr Dyer, 59, who suggested officers should have made Hosein comfortable in a hotel.

"When you're giving out for what you've done and you're trying to atone, you would be anxious and clearly that is what [the police] experienced.

"To have them doorstep him is, in my mind, appalling because it doesn't work."

Mrs McKay was mistaken for the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch when she was kidnapped from her home in Wimbledon, south London, and was held at Rooks Farm, now known as Stocking Farm.

Hosein, who was convicted of her kidnap and murder along with his brother Arthur, said her body was buried there and told the BBC he was willing to come to England to show police the location.

Muriel McKay was kidnapped from outside her London home on 29 December 1969

Police carried out what they described as an "extensive search" of the farm in March 2022, but the family believed the search was too limited in scope.

Mr Dyer and his mother, Dianne McKay, 83, visited Hosein in January and described the meeting as "difficult" but also "a great success".

He said the killer had a "tremendous amount of guilt and empathy" for what he did.

"Nizam Hosein, I am programmed to destroy, because he is the devil, but the devil I have to do business with," Mr Dyer added.

Mark Randolph Dyer said finding Ms McKay's body would end a lifetime of anxiety

Det Supt Katherine Goodwin, of the Met Police's specialist crime unit, said: "Specially trained officers conducted extensive interviews over three days."

She added: "We remain in contact with the family and will keep them updated."

The Met Police is understood to have written a letter to Hosein in advance of travelling to his home, explaining the purpose of its visit, but it is unknown whether the letter reached him.

• Listen: Murial McKay's family fly to Trinidad for answers