EXCLUSIVE: Family of woman buried in Hertfordshire seek judge's help to find her body

The family of Muriel McKay whose body was never recovered from a farm in Hertfordshire seek legal help

Author: Zoe Head-ThomasPublished 19th Dec 2023
Last updated 19th Dec 2023

After half a century of secrets and a lack of closure for Muriel McKay's family, they hope they're moving one step closer towards finding her body.

Muriel McKay was kidnapped in 1969 by Nizamodeen Hosein, after being mistaken for Rupert Murdoch's wife for which the kidnappers demanded a £1 million ransom.

Last week, the kidnapper, who had been deported to Trinidad after serving a life sentence for murder, signed an official oath giving the family the exact location of her body.

This new piece of information gave Muriel's daughter, Diane McKay, and Grandson, Mark Dyer, a new lease of life, after 54 years searching for answers.

"We've decided, as a family, that we think we should go and see a judge..."

Speaking to Tay FM, her grandson, Mark Dyer, exclusively told us the family would soon be going to a judge in the hope for a court order to search the farm where she is said to be buried.

He said: "We've decided, as a family, that we think we should go and see a judge, and we've got a sworn affidavit from my grandmother's kidnapper.

"I think it's sensible we go and sit in front of a member of the judiciary and say 'look, how can you help us get to this garden? What sort of order could you do to just go there, spend a few days? If he could come up with an idea and give us some kind of order then at least we can give that order to the police."

For the family, this would be the last piece of a lifelong unfinished puzzle, which they say would give them the closure they had been waiting for.

"...how did they get there? What did they do with her? How did they treat her?"

Diane McKay said: "It's been actually quite a relief to hear these things, although it's very painful because it brings it all back, all the horrible times.

"It plays over and over like a song in my head.

"It's amazing to have the answers to some of those really worrying queries one had all those years: how did they get there? What did they do with her? How did they treat her?", she added.

The family is also hoping the Home Office will lift Hosein's deportation in order for him to travel to the UK one final time to show where he buried Muriel McKay.

Alongside this difficult task, the search warrant will be the final piece of the puzzle for the family to hopefully retrieve their Muriel's body.

Hear all the latest news from across Tayside, Perthshire and Angus on Tay FM. Listen on FM, via our Rayo app, DAB, or smart speaker.