Muriel McKay: Police call off week-long search at Hertfordshire farm for remains of woman murdered in 1969

Mistaken for Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Muriel McKay was kidnapped and held at ransom before being murdered

Ms McKay’s daughter, Dianne has maintained belief that the remains are at the farm despite the Met suspending their enquiries at the property (PA)

Detectives investigating the kidnap and murder of a woman who was mistaken for Rupert Murdoch’s wife more than 50 years ago have called off a search at a farm where one of her abductors claimed to have buried her after finding no evidence.

Brothers Nizamodeen and Arthur Hosein abducted Muriel McKay, 55, and held her to ransom, thinking she was the media tycoon’s then wife, Anna.

Met Police detectives last week started digging at an 11-acre farm in Stocking Pelham, near Royston in Hertfordshire, where one of Ms McKay’s abductors confessed to burying her body after she was killed.

Officers from Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Command worked closely with forensic archaeologists and anthropologists as well as Hertfordshire Police to clear areas of land, using ground-penetrating radar to identify any anomalies beneath the earth.

But the search was called off this week “with nothing found”.

Ms McKay was kidnapped for ransom from her London home in 1969 by the two Hosein brothers.

They had mistaken her for the wife of Rupert Murdoch and demanded a £1m ransom for her return. Following the bungled ransom plot, both brothers were arrested and convicted of Ms McKay’s murder.

Her body was never found. Following a trial in 1970, both brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment in what was one of Britain’s first convictions for murder without a body.

Hopes were raised last year when the surviving brother Nizamodeen told Ms McKay’s family lawyer that she had died of a heart attack and that he had buried her close to the farmhouse.

Ms McKay’s daughter, Dianne, 81, has maintained belief that the remains are at the farm despite the Metropolitan Police suspending their enquiries at the property.

The Met was contacted in December 2021 by Ms McKay’s family about information they had obtained in relation to her murder.

Officers met with the family to review all the material which included information about where Ms McKay’s remains may be.

They carried out site visits to the farm near Royston and, once the weather had improved and the ground was no longer waterlogged, began work on Tuesday 29 March.

Mark Cranwell, detective chief inspector, said: “We have spent a week on site searching for Muriel’s remains and, very sadly for her family, nothing has been found.

“I would like to thank the landowners for their unwavering support during the search. They have been extremely patient and allowed the search to continue despite the significant impact on their daily routine.”