Friend of Pc Yvonne Fletcher launches bid to prosecute alleged killer
A friend of murdered police officer Yvonne Fletcher who cradled her as she lay dying has launched a fundraising campaign for a private criminal prosecution on the 40th anniversary of her death.
John Murray, Ms Fletcher’s former colleague, promised to find those responsible as he announced a new campaign to bring a case against key suspect Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, at a memorial yesterday.
Pc Fletcher, 25, was shot while policing a demonstration against the former
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi outside his country’s embassy in St James’s Square, central London, on April 17 1984.
Since then, no one has been held criminally responsible for her death.
The new case will include a request for Mr Mabrouk’s extradition to the UK to stand trial.
In November 2021, Mr Murray won a civil action at the High Court in London against Mr Mabrouk – a senior member of the pro-Gaddafi Libyan Revolutionary Committee that ran the embassy at the time.
In the ruling, High Court judge Mr Justice Martin Spencer said that Mr Mabrouk, who denied any wrongdoing, “clearly assisted in the commission of the shooting” and was jointly liable with the unknown gunmen. But civil courts can be rule on “the balance of probabilities”.
Mr Mabrouk was arrested in 2015 in connection with Pc Fletcher’s death but two years later the Metropolitan Police said that, while detectives could identify those responsible, charges could not be brought as key evidence had been kept secret to protect national security.
Mr Murray, who has campaigned for decades to find “justice” for his friend, said: “The terrorist murder of Yvonne Fletcher 40 years ago on the April 17, 1984, was one of the worst atrocities executed by Gadaffi.
“To this very day the quest for justice for Yvonne continues and although we have had historic victories in both the High Court and Appeal court, the man who allegedly orchestrated Yvonne’s murder continues to live freely.”