McKay: son to meet mother's killer for very first time

Deported killer Nizamodeen Hosein specifically requested to meet Muriel McKay's son Ian

Muriel McKay
Author: Zoe Head-ThomasPublished 6th Nov 2024

The son of a woman who was kidnapped and murdered 54 years ago is today flying to Trinidad to meet her killer in person.

Muriel McKay was kidnapped from her Wimbledon home in 1969 by two criminal brothers, Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein.

The brothers served a life sentence for her murder in a landmark conviction as her body was never found.

Upon his release from prison, Nizamodeen was deported to Trinidad, where he still lives.

In January, Muriel's daughter Dianne and grandson Mark Dyer (Dianne's son) flew to Trinidad to meet him for the very first time.

The killer has now requested to meet Ian McKay, Dianne's brother.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio prior to his departure, Ian said: "I guess I'm obviously apprehensive. We always refer to him as the kidnapper, but in fact he may very well be the murderer.

It's it's quite a confronting thing to have to face this."

Ian said he had questions left unanswered, which he hopes the killer can bring clarity to.

"...it was always my fear right from the start that if we didn't maintain contact with them, we might spend the rest of our lives just wondering what had actually happened to her."

Muriel was mistaken for Rupert Murdoch's wife, as the couples were friends and the husbands business associates, and the brothers demanded a £1 million ransom in exchange for her release.

Several attempts failed before they were arrested, with no trace of Muriel.

While this will be the very first time they meet face to face, Ian revealed having spoken to the brothers in the days following her kidnap in December 1969, when they attempted to negotiate the ransom.

For the family, continued communication was key at the time, and still is today.

Ian said: "48 hours after the event had happened I was sort of led into the house.

From that moment on, I took over every telephone call that came into the house and my idea, which I cleared with Chief Superintendent Bill Smith, was that we should have continuity on the phone.

"It was our only hope to make any contact with these people. My job, I guess, was basically to keep them involved, keep them interested, because without them we had absolutely nothing.

"And it was always my fear right from the start that if we didn't maintain contact with them, we might spend the rest of our lives just wondering what had actually happened to her."

A barrister working with the family from Trinidad spent years building a trusted relationship with Nizamodeen, which led to crucial information on where she is said to be buried on a Hertfordshire farm being revealed.

This subsequently led to a third search for her remains at Stocking Farm in Stocking Pelham in July, ordered by the Met Police.

The dig was unsuccessful, and despite Police insisting this was the final search, Muriel's family is still hopeful that they will eventually bring her home.

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