Remains of woman kidnapped in 1969 believed to be in London garden, court told

The family of a woman who was kidnapped for ransom and killed more than 55 years ago believe her remains are buried in a garden in east London, the High Court has heard.

Muriel McKay, the wealthy wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay, was kidnapped for a £1 million ransom in 1969 after being mistaken for Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein were convicted and jailed for Ms McKay’s murder in 1970, but her body has never been discovered despite several police searches.

On Monday, the High Court heard that Ms McKay’s family now believe that her remains are in the shared back garden of two neighbouring properties on Bethnal Green Road, east London.

Barristers for two of Ms McKay’s children, Ian McKay and Dianne Levinson, are asking a High Court judge to issue an injunction against the owners of the properties, stopping them from disturbing the garden, and forcing them to allow the family to conduct a “ground-penetrating radar survey”.

One of the homeowners, Madeleine Higson, opposes the injunction bid.

Benjamin Wood, for Mr McKay and Ms Levinson, told a hearing in London that the injunction bid was “born out of a belief, fortified by recent evidence” that “the remains of Muriel McKay are buried in the outside land”.

He said: “The police are not willing to excavate this space as matters stand, because it does not meet their evidential threshold.

“The police are not willing to carry out a ground-penetrating radar survey of the sort that is the subject of the present application.”

He continued: “The police are receptive to information coming to light as a result of the survey, which would or might cause them to reopen their investigation.”

Mr Wood said that the survey would be “professionally organised”, and that Ms McKay’s family had offered the homeowners a “temporary decamping” to a hotel during the survey if they wished.

Ms McKay, 55, was taken from her home in Wimbledon, south London, on December 29 1969.

Police investigating the murder at the time searched Rooks Farm, now known as Stocking Farm, near Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, which was owned by Arthur Hosein.

Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein were sentenced to 25 years and 15 years, respectively, following a trial at the Old Bailey, in one of the first murder convictions to be brought without a body.

Nizamodeen Hosein was deported to Trinidad and Tobago in 1990 after serving his sentence, while Arthur Hosein died in prison in 2009.

The Metropolitan Police then searched Stocking Farm again in 2022, without success.

Officers then searched the site again for several days in 2024 following information given by Nizamodeen Hosein, but this also did not lead to the discovery of Ms McKay’s remains, with officers stating in July last year that the details provided were wrong.

Commander Steve Clayman said following the third failed search that there “has to be a point in which we have to say we’ve now done what we can do”.

Callum Reid-Hutchings, for Ms Higson, said in written submissions for Monday’s hearing that while his client has “considerable sympathy” for Ms McKay’s family, “sympathy, however deeply felt, cannot displace the requirement for a proper legal foundation for the relief sought”.

He said: “The applicants have not identified any authority establishing that personal representatives possess a common law right to enter private property to search for remains, let alone to obtain a mandatory injunction compelling such access.”

He continued: “The applicants’ stated objective of providing evidence to the police could be achieved by the police themselves conducting a scan if they considered it appropriate.

“The fact that they have not done so is telling.”

The hearing before Mr Justice Richard Smith is due to conclude later on Monday.