Family offer landowner £40,000 to help in search for murdered woman’s body
The family of a woman who was kidnapped and murdered 54 years ago are begging a landowner to let them excavate the farm where they believe her body was buried.
Muriel McKay was kidnapped by brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein in December 1969 in a case of mistaken identity.
She was married to Alick McKay, deputy to media magnate Rupert Murdoch, and the kidnappers mistook her for Mr Murdoch’s wife Anna Maria.
Muriel was presumed dead in early 1970 and later that year the Hosein brothers were jailed for life for her kidnapping and murder – one of the first UK murder convictions without a body being found.
The brothers had always maintained their innocence and refused to say what they had done with Muriel’s body.
But last year Nizamodeen, now aged 75 and living in poverty in his native Trinidad since his prison release, revealed the location ‘for my peace of mind’.
He said they had held Muriel at a farm owned by Arthur for several days while demanding a £1 million ransom – but when she collapsed and died one night, they buried her body behind a barn in a panic.
Ian de Burgh Marsh, the new owner of Stocking Farm in the Hertfordshire village of Stocking Pelham, has previously refused to give Muriel’s family access to the land, except for allowing Scotland Yard to dig up a small part of the land last year.
But now Muriel’s family are offering Mr de Burgh Marsh £40,000 to let them excavate the farm fully to search for her body.
They hope the sum will compensate him for the inconvenience and any damage or repairs to his land.
Detectives found nothing when they searched a small, restricted part of the land in 2023 – but the family have since insisted that police searched the wrong area.
Sky News reports that in a hand-delivered letter offering the £40,000, Muriel’s grandson Mark Dyer said: ‘The perpetrator has admitted his part in this crime after so many years and he genuinely wishes to help us find Muriel.
‘He has provided a written and sworn affidavit detailing the location of the burial site.
‘We now wish to search a small, targeted and specific area with minimal police attendance. That way there will be no unnecessary searching.
‘We agreed to a limited search previously and now the circumstances have changed as we have specific information as to the burial location from the person who actually dug the grave.
‘As a family, we now offer you this sum for any inconvenience caused and any legal fees incurred. Please assist us as we need to have closure on this family tragedy.’
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