Muriel McKay's children make direct plea to Met chief

Two children of a woman who was kidnapped and murdered have written a letter urging a chief of police to allow their mother's killer to help find her remains.

Muriel McKay was snatched from her home in 1969 and taken to a Hertfordshire farm, where she was murdered by Nizamodeen and Arthur Hosein.

Ian McKay and his sister, Diane McKay, asked the commissioner of the Met Police, Sir Mark Rowley, to "let us be able to say we tried everything", as a dig continues at Stocking Pelham.

A spokesman for the Met said the force did not believe that bringing the surviving brother, Nizamodeen, to the UK from Trinidad would "provide us with any further or useful information".

Mrs McKay was mistaken for the then-wife of newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch when she was kidnapped from her home in Wimbledon.

Her body has yet to be found, but police spent last week digging at the farm near Stansted.

Arthur Hosein died in prison but his brother has spoken with the family of Mrs McKay and offered to come to the UK to help show where he buried her.

Mr McKay and his sister have now written to Sir Mark to express their dismay at the Met's position.

In the letter they said: "We cannot comprehend why the Metropolitan police are unilaterally deciding that having Nizam at the farm is not beneficial.

"The only way we can be absolutely sure and clear about our mother’s burial site would be to have the man who buried her there be present," they wrote.

Speaking to the BBC's Justin Dealey on Sunday, Mr McKay said he was "pretty upset" the police had decided against enlisting Hosein's help.

"We feel that we must make an application, or a plea, to the police chief Mark Rowley," he said.

"Let us put this to rest. Let us be able to say we tried everything and we've either found her, or we haven't found her.

"But at least we can go away with some sort of clearance in our own minds that we did everything possible."

Mr McKay said the police had told the family the search would end on Tuesday, but the force did not comment on this when asked by the BBC.

It has not responded to Mr McKay's message to Sir Mark.

A spokesman said bringing Hosein to the UK had been "carefully considered" prior to the search but no formal approach had been made to the Home Office, which would have to grant permission for the move.

"We're pretty upset about that," Mr McKay said. "It just seems pig-headed.

"But it looks like we're facing a situation where this hell is going to continue ad infinitum."

The Met Police said the search would continue into this week, and that it would continue to liaise with Mrs McKay's family.

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