Muriel Freda McKay (4 February 1914 – c. 1 January 1970) was an Australian woman who was kidnapped on 29 December 1969 in the United Kingdom and presumed murdered in the first few days of 1970.
[7] After moving to London in 1958 for her husband's job as a newspaper executive for Rupert Murdoch's News Limited, they lived in St Mary's House on Arthur Road in Wimbledon.
The attack was especially troubling given that jewellery had been stolen in a burglary incident three months earlier, and Muriel had become increasingly careful of her personal safety.
[7] When police arrived, the burglary case was quickly upgraded to a kidnapping after investigators found items that were foreign to the house: Elastoplast, twine, a newspaper and a billhook.
[8] For the second attempt on 6 February 1970, the kidnappers specifically asked for Diane to make the drop off, as she was always at the forefront of communication with the McKay family.
[8] The Hoseins decided to kidnap Anna Maria Murdoch after watching her husband being interviewed on television about his recent purchase of the News of the World and The Sun newspapers on 3 October 1969.
[2] When imposing life sentences on the pair, plus twenty-five years in Arthur's case and fifteen in Nizamodeen's, the trial judge, Justice Shaw, said their "conduct was cold-blooded and abominable".
[5] The nature of the case led to widespread media coverage, along with numerous hoaxes, prank letters and phone calls to the McKay home.
[7] Psychic Gerard Croiset, who had participated in a number of famous missing person investigations, also became involved, though the accuracy of his information has been grossly exaggerated.
Because of the notoriety of the case, likenesses of the Hosein brothers were displayed in the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tussauds, alongside that of then-living murderers Donald Neilson and Graham Young.
[17] An initial search for McKay was made at Rooks Farm after the arrest of the Hosein brothers in February 1970, but was hampered by the ground being hardened in the cold weather and ultimately found no trace of her.
[23] In December 2023, Muriel's daughter Dianne urged the Metropolitan Police to cooperate with Nizamodeen to ensure the recovery of her mother's body.
[24] In January 2024, the Home Office refused to allow Nizamodeen to return to Britain and identify the spot where he buried Muriel.
Dianne McKay and Mark Dyer then flew to Trinidad on 27 January with The Times and Sky News to interview Nizamodeen over the course of two days.
[25][26][27] On 29 January, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin of Scotland Yard made telephone contact with Dianne and agreed for the latter to give her recordings of a meeting with Nizamodeen.
[31][32] In October 2024, Mark Dyer said that he was willing to buy Stocking Farm for over £1,000,000 if it meant that he and the rest of Muriel's family could carry out their own search of the ground.