Muriel Freda McKay was an Australian woman kidnapped on 29 December 1969 in the United Kingdom and presumed murdered within the first few days of 1970. She was married to Alick McKay, an executive at News Limited and deputy to media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Muriel was abducted after being mistakenly identified as Murdoch’s then-wife, Anna Maria Murdoch. In September 1970, two Indo-Trinidadian brothers, Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein, were convicted of her kidnapping and murder.
The case marked one of the earliest instances in the UK where a murder conviction was secured without the discovery of a body. Muriel’s remains, however, are yet to be recovered.
Now, 50 years later, her grandson Mark Dyer provides an update on the case and shares details about his plans to recover his grandmother’s remains. With the assistance of Nizamodeen Hosein, Muriel’s kidnapper, Mark is spearheading what they’ve named “Project Willick” in an effort to finally bring closure to this decades-long mystery.
This week on True Criminals, Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt and journalist Helen Fospero investigate a tragic case of mistaken identity. In this episode, they delve into the story of Muriel Mackay—a harrowing account of kidnapping, murder, and a family’s relentless, 50+ year search for her remains.
Martin and Helen speak with Muriel’s grandson, Mark Dyer, who describes in detail how his family has even worked with Muriel’s killer in an effort to locate her burial site. Mark recounts how he and Martin recently returned to the farm for a second dig, hoping to finally recover his grandmother’s remains.
Together, they discuss the lasting impact of this tragedy on the family and the profound trauma that endures.
In 1969, 55-year-old Muriel McKay, the wife of a Sun newspaper executive, was abducted for a million-pound ransom. She was killed, but her body was never found, and two men were jailed for her murder in the country’s first conviction without a body.
On the 29th of December in 1969, the wife of a Sun newspaper executive was abducted from her home. In a case of mistaken identity, Muriel McKay was then murdered and dumped on a farm but her body was never found. Two men were jailed for life. More than fifty years on, what happened remains a mystery that the McKay family want to solve.
On 29 December 1969, Alick McKay returned home from work to his house in Wimbledon, southwest London, to discover that his wife, Muriel, was not at home. The lights were on and the contents of her handbag strewn all around the stairs. Then he received a phone call. “We are Mafia M3. We are from America. We tried to get Rupert Murdoch’s wife. We couldn’t get her so we took yours instead. You have a million by Wednesday night or we will kill her.”
Muriel was never found, her body never recovered. Now, after more than fifty years, the man guilty of Muriel’s murder tells her daughter he will lead her family to where her body was buried.
In this episode of the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson sits down with our crime correspondent Martin Brunt to discuss the extraordinary bond killer Nizamodeen Hosein has formed with Muriel McKay’s family in a final attempt to uncover her remains.
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