A landowner has reportedly turned down a £40,000 offer by the family of a murdered woman to allow them to dig the farm where they believe she was buried.
Muriel McKay, the 55-year-old wife of a newspaper executive, was kidnapped and held ransom for £1 million in 1969 by a pair who had mistaken her for Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Mrs McKay's family this week hand-delivered a letter to the owner of the Hertfordshire farm where the killer said her body lies, offering £40,000 for permission to carry out a fresh dig.
But according to The Times, Scotland Yard has since told her family: "We have had contact from the [landowner] family and the indication is that they will not accept your offer and would prefer contact to be via us."
Mrs McKay was the wife of Mr Murdoch’s deputy Alick McKay, who like Mr Murdoch was Australian.
She disappeared and her body was never found.
Nizamodeen Hosein, then aged 22, and his older brother Arthur were convicted of her murder and handed life prison sentences. Arthur died in prison in 2009.
Now 75 and living in his native Trinidad, where he was deported after serving his jail sentence, Nizamodeen Hosein contacted Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne, 82, in November and offered to return to the UK to show her where he buried her mother’s body.
Mrs McKay's grandson Mark Dyer reportedly wrote in his letter to the Hertfordshire landowner, according to Sky News: "The perpetrator has admitted his part in this crime after so many years and he genuinely wishes to help us find Muriel. He has provided a written and sworn affidavit detailing the location of the burial site.
"We now wish to search a small, targeted and specific area with minimal police attendance. That way there will be no unnecessary searching.
"We agreed to a limited search previously and now the circumstances have changed as we have specific information as to the burial location from the person who actually dug the grave.
"As a family, we now offer you this sum for any inconvenience caused and any legal fees incurred. Please assist us as we need to have closure on this family tragedy."
The letter was reportedly left at the landowner's farmhouse after nobody answered the door.
A statement issued on behalf of the landowner on Thursday said he "very much sympathises with the family and hopes they can find closure over this tragedy", according to the Times. It added that he "in regular conversation with the Metropolitan Police over this matter" and "has at all times been fully co-operative with their investigation and every time the police have asked for access to his land, he has granted it to them".
Mrs McKay's daughter Dianne told Sky News in November, after speaking to Hosein by video call, that he was a “man of few words”.
Asked what it was like having to speak to the man convicted of her mother’s murder, and rely on him for help, Dianne told the broadcaster: “It’s been very hard having so many years of nobody to talk to, no leads and no hope of ever finding her body.
“It’s actually a relief to talk to him.”
In 2022, the landowner is understood to have agreed to let Scotland Yard dig an area of the land at his farm in Stocking Pelham, near Royston.
Detectives found nothing, but Mrs McKay's family reportedly insisted they had looked in the wrong place.
The family hopes Scotland Yard will apply for a search warrant for the farm, Sky reports.
The Metropolitan Police spokesperson said on Thursday: "We understand how frustrating and difficult this matter has been for Muriel’s family and remain in contact with them. "An extensive search for Muriel’s remains was carried out in March 2022 at a farm in Hertfordshire, unfortunately it concluded with nothing found.
"At that time there was no legal power to apply for a search warrant in these circumstances and so the search took place with the consent of the landowner.
"The investigation remains live and we continue to review and assess new information, keeping an open mind to all available options to recover Muriel."
