Libyan will not face prosecution over Fletcher murder

Ministers refuse to admit existence of secret evidence that may convict official in criminal trial

THE Libyan official found liable over the 1984 murder of police officer Yvonne Fletcher will not be prosecuted after ministers refused even to admit the existence of secret evidence that could convict him in a criminal trial.

In a letter to lawyers, Tom Pursglove, the policing minister, said he was “unable to confirm nor deny the existence of any material that may or may not relate” to the murder of the 25-year-old officer.

She was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 on the orders of Colonel Gaddafi. Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, a close aide to Gaddafi, was found jointly liable for the shooting following a High Court trial last year.

But a criminal case against Mabrouk was dropped as long ago as 2017 after the Metropolitan Police said “key material has not been made available for use in court in evidential form for reasons of national security”.

Lawyers acting for John Murray, the policeman who cradled WPc Fletcher in his arms as she lay dying, had sought to obtain the evidence from the Government to push for a prosecution.

Mr Murray successfully sued Mabrouk in the High Court with a senior judge finding him “the prime mover” in her murder. But the criminal courts require a higher standard of proof, making the evidence held by the Government critical to a prosecution.

In a letter to Mr Murray’s lawyers, Mr Pursglove refused to acknowledge the “key material” exists. He wrote: “I remain unable to confirm nor deny the existence of any material that may or may not relate to this case, nor whether or not any decision was taken by the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary in relation to any information.”

Mr Murray, who vowed to seek justice for WPc Fletcher as she lay dying, said it was “insulting to her memory” that the Government was refusing to say if the “key material” even existed.

He said: “It is obvious the material exists and it would give us a chance for a criminal conviction. I cannot see how there can still be a security risk in releasing it all this time on.”

Matthew Jury, Mr Murray’s solicitor, said: “Boris Johnson was one of the ministers responsible for the decision to withhold the evidence from use by the CPS when he was Foreign Secretary. When he became Prime Minister he promised Parliament he’d revisit the decision. Since then, he’s passed the buck from junior minister to junior minister.”

Mabrouk was arrested in 2015 but the case was dropped two years later. He had been living in Reading, Berkshire, but was expelled from the UK, and is now living in Libya.

Although he denied any involvement in WPc Fletcher’s death, he did not participate in the High Court case. He subsequently lost an appeal against the judgment that found him jointly liable.