Justice 'finally achieved' for Wiltshire born PC Yvonne Fletcher after High Court victory
She was shot while policing a demonstration in London
A retired police officer who cradled his colleague Yvonne Fletcher as she lay dying has said his promise to find those responsible for her fatal shooting is "now fulfilled".
John Murray, 66, said justice for PC Fletcher, who was born in Semley in Wiltshire, was "finally achieved" after a High Court judge found a former aide to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was jointly liable for her shooting in 1984.
Yvonne worked for the Metropolitan Police and was policing a demonstration against the former Libyan leader outside the Libyan Embassy on April 17th 1984 when she was killed.
In a statement after the ruling, Mr Murray said:
"My promise to Yvonne Fletcher to find those responsible for the shooting and to get justice has taken a huge step forward after all these years."
Mr Murray said the High Court trial "should not have been necessary", hitting out at "late interference" from the Government when it previously "refused" to allow "vital evidence" to be used in an ultimately unpursued criminal prosecution.
He added:
"Today, we have proven that we were right all along. Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk was responsible for Yvonne's death. Everything we have done leading up to this verdict has been for Yvonne. Today we have finally achieved justice for Yvonne."
Lawyers for Mr Murray accused Mr Mabrouk, who denied any wrongdoing, of being "jointly liable" for the shooting, arguing that, while he did not fire any shots, he was "instrumental" in the "orchestration" of a plan to use violence at the protest.
In a judgment delivered at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Justice Spencer found that Mr Murray had succeeded in making his case.
The ruling was met with applause in a courtroom packed with Mr Murray's supporters, while he quietly wept as it was read out.
During a three-day trial, the court heard Mr Murray, who has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the incident, was seeking "vindicatory" damages for assault and battery.
Mr Justice Martin Spencer said in his judgment that "those responsible for the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher also bear liability" to Mr Murray.
The judge said the evidence pointed to Mr Mabrouk being an "active participant" in a "common design to fire upon the demonstrators".
The judge described Mr Murray and Pc Fletcher, who worked together in central London's Covent Garden, as "salt of the earth" who were "the very best of friends" and "the first port of call if anyone in the community had a problem".
He told the court that Pc Fletcher died as a result of "a cowardly attack" when gunmen armed with Sterling submachine guns opened fire from the first-floor windows of the embassy on "unarmed and unsuspecting lawful demonstrators", and who were "uncaring of the risk posed to police officers going about their normal duties".
The judge added there seemed to be "little doubt" that the actions of the gunmen were "orchestrated and sanctioned" by Col Gaddafi, who "could not tolerate dissent or disagreement" and who was "prepared to approve murder on the streets of London".
He added that Mr Murray, who said he blamed himself over his colleague's death, should be "proud" and feel "no guilt" over the incident.
According to a Libyan engineering student who had infiltrated "pro-Gaddafi elements" in the UK, Mr Mabrouk told meetings earlier in the year that Col Gaddafi had instructed him and others to take the embassy and spoke of "bombings and murders" to "scare the British authorities into withdrawing support from anti-Gaddafi movements", the court was told.
The court also heard that Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials received warnings over potential consequences ahead of the protest, with Ms Kaufman suggesting that knowledge of a plan to use violence went "way up the hierarchy" in Libya.
In 2019, Mr Mabrouk was "excluded" from the UK over his "suspected involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity".