Did Yvonne Fletcher case suspect get an ‘amnesty’?

The main suspect in the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher may have received a ‘comfort’ letter reassuring him he was not a suspect when Tony Blair was trying to woo Libyan despot Colonel Gaddafi.

Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk was reportedly informed he was not wanted for her murder as long ago as 2002.

The Libyan, who lives in Berkshire after being granted political asylum on his return to Britain in 2011, was understood to be ‘useful’ to British intelligence.

however, yesterday it emerged that he now faces a battle to stay in Britain as the home Office wants to rescind his leave to remain.

Mabrouk was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in 2015. It was more than 30 years after PC Fletcher, 25, was gunned down outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in St James’s Square on April 17, 1984. She had been policing a protest against Gaddafi.

Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday that they know who is responsible for her murder, but prosecution has been blocked by the home Office on grounds of national security.

his lawyer has claimed his client was reassured by civil servants that he was not a suspect in 2002. But the letter he allegedly received from the Foreign Office fell short of a guarantee he would never face prosecution.

Barrister Stephen Kamlish said: ‘he got a letter from the Foreign Office saying: you are not a suspect. I believe he received that in about 2002. It is from a senior civil serv- Gunned down: PC Fletcher ant.’ he told the Telegraph: ‘he was reassured by the British state and then suddenly 18 months ago he is arrested.

‘If they ever had to disclose [in court] why they changed their position they would have to produce chapter and verse on why they wrote that letter.

‘At no stage have the police produced any evidence against my client. Not a shred.’

The case has echoes of so-called ‘comfort’ letters given to IRA suspects which caused the collapse of the case against the hyde Park IRA bombing suspect John Downey.

The 2002 letter to Mabrouk appears to coincide with the time that a British minister set foot on Libyan soil for the first time since the murder.

It is understood that neither Mr Blair nor Mr Straw have any recollection of any such ‘comfort’ letter.

Then prime minister Tony Blair dispatched Mike O’Brien, who was then Foreign Office minister, to ask for Colonel Gaddafi’s help in combating Al Qaeda.

Yesterday Mr Blair’s office dismissed speculation of a deal and pointed to evidence he gave to the Foreign Affairs Committee in December 2015 on the case.

‘No evidence against my client’