Killer’s shock confession over murder of woman mistaken for Murdoch wife
52 years after kidnapping, he reveals where body is buried
‘I panicked and dug the grave’
‘She died of a heart attack’
PolICe were last night reviewing one of Britain’s most notorious murders after the killer revealed where he buried the body 52 years ago.
Nizamodeen hosein, 75, identified the grave of Muriel McKay, 55, who was the victim of a bungled kidnap by two brothers who mistook her for the wife of media tycoon rupert Murdoch.
Nizamodeen hosein and his older brother Arthur demanded £1million for Australlian Mrs McKay who was married to Alick – deputy to Mr Murdoch in the uK. on december 29, 1969, the kidnappers followed Mr Murdoch’s chauffeur-driven rollsroyce, unaware he had lent it to his deputy while he was in Australia.
They forced their way into the
McKay house in Wimbledon, southwest london, and bundled the terrified wife into a car, taking her to a hertfordshire farm where they lived.
They demanded the ransom claiming they were a mafia group called M3. Mrs McKay was never seen alive again and her body was not found.
The pair were caught after police noticed their car circling a ransom pick-up area. They were later sentenced to life in the uK’s first conviction for a murder without a body.
Now, after his release from prison, hosein has given directions to the grave on the 11-acre farm. last month, he told a barrister representing Mrs McKay’s family that she died from a heart attack two days after the abduction.
The killer, who denied any involvement in the kidnap during his 1970 trial, said: ‘I panicked and I dug [the grave]...I lifted her on my shoulder...I jumped down the hole...’
he added: ‘At the farmhouse there’s a wooden gate, it has a barn beside and 10ft forward... the body’s somewhere around there.’ The development is a major boost to the family who have been ‘haunted’ by her final moments.
hosein, who was deported to Trinidad after serving 20 years, was 21 when he and his brother, then 33, hatched the kidnap plot after watching Mr Murdoch being interviewed on TV about his purchase of The Sun and News of the World.
his brother, Arthur died in prison in 2009. hosein has claimed that no violence was used before Mrs McKay died while watching a TV news report about her kidnapping.
her daughter, dianne, 81, said: ‘I’ve been haunted by this. It is a relief to think we may get her back soon and that she died relatively quickly. Nizam told us there was no physical violence involved, she was not tied up and she was sitting beside him in the back seat of the car and spoke with him on the long journey to the farm.’
She added: ‘It’s very reassuring as I have spent all these years with a feeling of horror about what happened. It was a relief – to be taken from her home was bad enough but to imagine they had been cruel or violent towards her has just been horrible to think about.’
The family have met detectives and shared recordings of the interviews with hosein.
But attempts to find her body have stalled as the current owner of the farm has refused family requests to allow them on the property so the location can be scanned using a groundpenetrating radar.
Now police will review the files. Miss McKay told The Times: ‘We’re pleased the police are taking it seriously. We have worked hard for the last few months to get this far and we just want to get on with it.
‘It’s very frustrating because we’ve talked about nothing else...Nizam told us where he buried my mother and now we have to stop and wait. It’s very difficult.’
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘The Met were contacted in december 2021 by the family of Muriel McKay regarding information they had obtained in relation to her murder.
‘officers from the Met’s specialist crime command have met with the family and are in the process of reviewing all the material.’ Mr McKay died aged 73 in 1983.
The kidnap was one of the main themes of award-winning West end play Ink.