Court told of Gaddafi aide’s role in Pc’s death
AN ex-aide to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was a “leading participant” in a “common design to use extreme violence by gunfire” at the protest outside the Libyan Embassy where a West policewoman was shot dead 37 years ago, the High Court has been told.
Pc Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was killed while policing a demonstration against the former Libyan leader outside the building in St James’s Square in central London on April 17 1984.
Retired police officer John Murray, 66, is bringing a civil claim for a nominal amount of £1 against Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, who has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Murray, who has suffered posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since being at the incident, is seeking the “vindicatory” damages for alleged assault and battery in a bid to bring to a “judicial forum” the evidence surrounding his friend’s death.
His barrister, Phillippa Kaufmann QC, told a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday that “nobody has ever yet been brought to justice for killing Yvonne Fletcher”.
Mr Mabrouk was arrested in 2015 in connection with Wiltshire-raised Pc Fletcher’s death but two years later the Metropolitan Police said that, while detectives could identify those responsible, charges could not be brought. This was because key evidence had been kept secret to protect national security.
Ms Kaufmann told the court that Mr Murray’s “primary aim” is to bring evidence to court so a finding can be made over whether Mr Mabrouk was “liable” for the “assault” on him and Pc Fletcher, who grew up in Semley in South West Wiltshire.
She added that Mr Murray hopes the case might also give the Crown Prosecution Service an opportunity to “reflect again on whether or not a prosecution can be brought or not”.
The court heard that Mr Mabrouk has chosen not to participate in the proceedings and he was not represented yesterday.
Writing to Mr Murray’s lawyers in September last year, he said he could not settle a claim and that he “cannot be held liable for something I didn’t do”.
The court was told that Mr Mabrouk said he was not present when Pc Fletcher was killed, adding: “Nor did I instruct anyone to kill her, nor did I encourage anyone to kill her.”
But, in written submissions, Ms Kaufman said it is “inconceivable” that Mr Mabrouk was “not at the heart of decision-making in relation to the use of armed violence against the anti-Gaddafi protesters” at the embassy.
“The orchestration of the shooting was entirely consistent with the official functions he had been given under the Gaddafi regime,” she said.
The court was told that Mr Mabrouk, a member of the proGaddafi Libyan Revolutionary Committee, was among the men who controlled the embassy on April 17 1984, with him being described as having “fanatical” pro-Gaddafi political views at the time.
In preparation for a planned student protest over political executions carried out by the Gaddafi regime, men from the Surveyors Department of the Met, including John Sullivan, set up barriers that morning.
They were met with “objections and hostility” from men coming out of the embassy, including Mr Mabrouk, who allegedly told Mr Sullivan “We have guns here today, there is going to be fighting”, the court was told.
After continuing to obstruct efforts to erect barriers, Mr Mabrouk and another man were arrested and taken to Vine Street police station.
Pc Fletcher was later among 50 to 60 officers deployed to respond to the anti-Gaddafi protest and two counter-demonstrations, and died after being struck by shots fired from an embassy window, Ms Kaufmann said.
Mr Murray, who was supported in court by former police officers, cradled his colleague as she lay dying, promising on the way to hospital that he would find her killers.
Witnesses allegedly saw a gun barrel and a cloud of smoke at a firstfloor window of the embassy, and a spent 9mm cartridge case, firearms residue and guns were later discovered, Ms Kaufmann said.
She said Mr Mabrouk did not fire any shots from the embassy as he was detained, but claimed the evidence “overwhelmingly” established there was a “plan” to use violence at the protest which he was allegedly part of.
Early in 1984, according to evidence from a Libyan engineering student who had infiltrated “proGaddafi elements” in the UK, Mr Mabrouk was allegedly “very aggressive” at a student union gathering in London, the court heard.
He is claimed to have told those present that Colonel Gaddafi had instructed him and others to take the embassy and “use the facilities, the guns, all the weapons, the money and the power of the embassy” and “teach the British a lesson for letting the opposition work freely in the UK”.
At a different meeting at the Libyan ambassador’s house later, Mr Mabrouk allegedly told peers “they had to teach a lesson to anti-Gaddafi people”, indicating they had a number of “targets” in the UK, Ms Kaufmann said.
The same unnamed student was also allegedly told the night before the protest by a friend and roommate, who was financially supported by the Libyan Consulate, that there was “going to be a shooting”.
The court also heard that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office received warnings about the protest and a police officer in charge of operations outside the embassy allegedly received information from “numerous agencies” that “trouble was expected”.
Ms Kaufmann also alleged that the “pre-planned” nature of the shooting was indicated by the positioning of pro-Gaddafi protesters.
According to one witness, whose name was redacted in court documents, Mr Mabrouk allegedly told protesters where to stand “so they wouldn’t get shot”.
The hearing before Mr Justice Martin Spencer, which is due to last three days, continues.