Bone is found in hunt for Muriel McKay’s body as search teams carry out dig in east London garden 55 years after she was kidnapped and murdered
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The family of Muriel McKay, who was kidnapped and murdered 55 years ago, say they found a bone in a garden in east London.
Ms McKay’s grandson, Mark Dyer, said a 25cm bone that appeared to have been “sliced by gun or machine” was found at around 1.45pm today.
Miss McKay was kidnapped from her home in 1969 by Indo-Trinidadian brothers Arthur and Nizam Hosein, who mistakenly believed she was the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and demanded a ransom of £1 million.
The pair were convicted of murdering Miss McKay in 1970 and jailed, but despite numerous police searches her body was never found.
But his family gained new hope last year thanks to the daughter of a former tailor who had a shop in Bethnal Green.
Percy Chaplin’s shop in Bethnal Green was used by notorious gangsters the Kray twins and employed Arthur Hosein, one of Mrs McKay’s murderers.
In 2022, as he neared the end of his life, Mr. Chaplin told his daughter, Hayley Frais, that he believed his body might be buried in this building.
He notified the McKay family, who scoured the property last week and began digging this morning.
Muriel McKay was the wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay. She was kidnapped for a £1 million ransom in 1969 after being mistaken for Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Her family began digging in the garden of a property in Bethnal Green after receiving a tip-off from the daughter of a tailor who once owned a shop there that Miss McKay might be buried on the site.
Percy Chaplin’s shop in Bethnal Green was used by notorious gangsters the Kray twins and employed Arthur Hosein, one of Mrs McKay’s murderers. Now a bettor
Mr Dyer said: ‘The police have arrived, there is now a murder scene; There is also forensic medicine there.
‘The bone is about nine inches long, with one end cut off. ‘We don’t know what kind of bone it is but it’s in the exact area where Hayley said my grandmother would be.
‘As soon as we found it we stopped digging and phoned the police. I wasn’t allowed in there; The discoverers were a land surveyor and two diggers.
‘Honestly, we’re praying that we’ve finally found my grandmother after all these years. But we’ll have to see what the police say.’
