Children of murder victim Muriel McKay lose bid to scan garden where remains are thought to be buried
Two of the children of murder victim Muriel McKay have lost their bid for permission to radar scan the back garden of the property where her remains are believed to be buried.Mrs McKay, the wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay, was kidnapped for a £1m ransom in 1969.
But it was a case of mistaken identity, as her killers had intended to seize and ransom Anna Murdoch, the wife of Alick's then boss, Rupert Murdoch.
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A view of the shared back garden of the two neighbouring properties in Bethnal Green Road.
Pic: PA
Two brothers, Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein, were convicted of Mrs McKay's murder and kidnapping 55 years ago, though her remains were never found.Hoping to find her body, two of her children – Ian McKay and Dianne Levinson – asked the High Court to allow a "ground-penetrating radar survey" at two neighbouring London properties.
On Tuesday, the court denied them the injunction that would have enabled them to carry out the survey.Giving his ruling, Justice Richard Smith said that while Ms McKay's was the victim of "abhorrent crime", he had to consider the case "objectively and dispassionately".
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A view of the shared back garden of the two neighbouring properties in Bethnal Green Road.
Pic: PA
He said: "I was not persuaded that even if a survey was carried out, that it would be conclusive one way or the other, that it would produce incontrovertible data."He added: "The evidence of the presence of Muriel McKay's remains at the premises, such as it is presently, seems thin."
It comes after new information from Hayley Frais, whose father ran a tailor shop on the site in Bethnal Green Road, where Arthur Hosein worked at the time of the killing.She claimed her father said on his deathbed that he noticed a strong smell at the premises after Mrs McKay disappeared.
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Muriel with baby grandson Mark Dyer. Pic: Handout
Benjamin Wood, speaking for Mrs McKay's children, said the police were "receptive to information" coming from any scan, though Frais' testimony did not cross the "evidential threshold" for them to excavate.One of the affected homeowners, Madeleine Higson, opposed the injunction bid.Callum Reid-Hutchings, speaking for her, said that his client had "considerable sympathy" for the family of the deceased, but the injunction lacked a "proper legal foundation"Read more:Muriel McKay officially declared dead over 50 years laterPolice call off search for remains of Muriel McKay 55 yearsIt was "telling", he added, that police had decided not to scan the garden.Ms McKay's grandson Mark Dyer said: "We've been told she's there... so we need to pick her up."She would like to come home for Christmas this year and what is left of her is purely some remains, some bones."
