Met police team begins new dig at Rooks Farm, Stocking Pelham, for remains of Muriel McKay, who was abducted and murdered in 1969

A new search for the remains of Muriel McKay, who was kidnapped for a £1 million ransom and then murdered near Bishop’s Stortford more than half a century ago, began on Monday morning (July 15).

The 55-year-old was snatched from her home in Wimbledon, south-west London, by mistake on December 29, 1969, by brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein, who believed she was the wife of newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Her husband Alick was Murdoch’s deputy.

Her body has never been found, but the brothers were nevertheless convicted of the mother of three’s abduction and murder.

The Indian Muslims, who were born in Trinidad and moved to East Herts in 1968, took her to their rundown home at Rooks Farm near Stocking Pelham.

Arthur died in the secure Ashworth Hospital, near Liverpool, in 2009 and his brother was deported back to Trinidad after 20 years behind bars.

Nizamodeen has since claimed that Muriel suffered a heart attack and was buried under a dung heap. In 2022 police again searched the farm site, a 17th-century property set in 11 acres.

The Indie reported in November last year that in a new twist 75-year-old Nizamodeen wrote to the Home Office asking it to lift a deportation order, which still bars him from the UK, so he could help pinpoint her final resting place.

Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne, 84, and grandson Mark Dyer persuaded police to carry out a third search at the farm after making contact with Nizamodeen.

After a Met police investigation team flew out to Trinidad to speak to Nizamodeen in March, despite “concerns about inconsistencies” in his account, they said detectives would carry out a final dig “for completeness.”

A Met spokesperson told the Indie: “The search for the remains of Muriel McKay, who was murdered in 1969, is scheduled to begin from 08:00hrs on Monday July 15.

“Officers from the Met’s specialist crime command will be working closely with forensic archaeologists and other specialists as well as Hertfordshire police and our own forensic officers.

“The search is expected to take around five days but may be extended if required.”

The BBC reported that Cdr Steve Clayman said their inquiries “highlighted other areas of potential interest”, including where a manure heap once stood.

“We know now this was probably larger than we previously thought and therefore that area was not entirely searched in 2022,” he said.

“We all share a hope and desire to find Muriel’s remains and bring some closure to her family after all these years.”

Dianne and her brother Ian McKay are reported to have said: “This really is our last chance.”