My lifelong search for justice for Yvonne
For the past four decades former PC John Murray has doggedly pursued justice for his much-loved colleague Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down outside the Libyan embassy in 1984. KAREN ROCKETT reports
IT WAS an appalling atrocity which sent shockwaves around Britain and the world.
On the morning of April 17, 1984, gunmen inside London’s Libyan embassy opened fire on a demonstration against Colonel Gaddafi. Aged just 25,Wpcyvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while policing the protest in St James’s Square.
The incident triggered an 11-day siege, but for John Murray it was the start of a lifelong campaign for justice for Yvonne, that has led him to the brink of despair and back again.
Aged just 28 at the time, the Bow Street-based PC cradled Yvonne in his arms as she lay dying on the pavement. He travelled with her in the ambulance, clutching her hand, begging her to hold on.
As she was wheeled through to the operating theatre the spent bullet, which had hit her in the back, fell out of her uniform.
Despite the best efforts of the doctors she died on the operating table at midday.
Vowing to get justice for his friend, John has devoted his life to that cause at huge personal cost, losing his wife, more than £100,000 in savings and at one point even attempting suicide.
But as he prepares to attend a 40th anniversary memorial service on Wednesday, the father-oftwo has every reason to be hopeful.
Usually around 300 mourners attend to pay their respects, but this year up to 1,600 are expected. John, 68, says proudly: “At the centre of it all will be a guard of honour made up of 50 former women police officers.”
Scotland Yard refused permission for serving officers to take part in the guard of honour, so John contacted retired colleagues.
He said: “I put out an appeal on our Facebook page and got 560 responses. With it being the 40th anniversary, we have people coming from all over the world – from Canada, New Zealand, MPS and from the London Ambulance Service.
“Rector Kevin Woolmer will preside over the service as usual. It is going to be very special.”
His preoccupation with finding Yvonne’s killer caused his marriage to Julie-ann to breakdown in 2005. It also badly affected his health as he struggled with his campaign for justice.
In his book No Ordinary Day, which is out in paperback, John says: “I’d had enough. I’d failed Yvonne and I’d become a liability to my family.
“I sat down with the pills I’d been prescribed and a bottle of vodka. I’d necked a few and sat on the settee and started thinking about the note I was going to leave my daughters.”
However, when he awoke the next morning the sun was streaming through the window and he vowed “never to enter such a dark place again”.
Now he is looking ahead to the anniversary commemorations of his dear friend, his book
tour and fundraising for the criminal prosecution he hopes to bring.
Yvonne’s parents Michael and Queenie have died, as has her former fiancee PC Mick Liddle.
John says: “Mick never spoke publicly about Yvonne. He told me, ‘life goes on John. I am a husband and a father and a grandfather now’.
“That was his way of dealing with it. He died fairly recently, only in his sixties.”
Yvonne’s three sisters cannot speak publicly as part of a compensation deal their parents agreed with the Libyan government.
So it remains for John to raise awareness and funds for a criminal prosecution against Gaddafi’s ally Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk.
After years of campaigning, in 2021 the High Court of Justice determined that Mabrouk was jointly liable for Fletcher’s murder in a civil case brought by John at a cost of £265,000.
Buoyed by his success John continues to pursue a criminal case against Mabrouk, who resides in Libya and remains politically active. John says:
‘I wouldn’t change a thing ...despite the huge cost’
“Hearing the judge say that if the case was before him in a criminal court he would have no hesitation in convicting him really gave me the encouragement to carry on.
“There have been countless setbacks and obstacles, but I wouldn’t change anything I have done despite the huge personal and financial cost. Because I am doing what I believe is right.”
John is realistic about the prospect of Mabrouk being brought to justice in this country as there is no extradition arrangement between the UK and Libya. But he thinks there is a chance the Libyans might hand him over as they try to rebuild their war-torn country and forge new business links with the West again.
He is hoping PM Rishi Sunak will ask the Libyan Government to pursue him. John has employed solicitors in Libya to take up the case.
“What I think would be fairest would be for him to be tried at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. That to me seems the most appropriate place. I am not looking for a particular punishment at this stage – that is for the court, not the police. But when I see him stand up in a criminal court my job is finally finished.”
John retired from the Metropolitan Police in 1993, medically discharged after serious injuries in the pursuit of two burglars. After giving chase he ended up on the bonnet of their getaway car, clinging on to the windscreen wiper for dear life.
Thrown off as they came to a screeching halt, they then ran over him for good measure.
John was left with three broken vertebrae that effectively put an end to his career.
But he said: “I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I’d have let them just get away with it.
“It is the same with Mabrouk. He is protected for now. Many cops will tell you, some we win, some we lose, but the bad guys always come again.and when this one does, we’ll be waiting.”