AN SNP MP has urged Boris Johnson to “reopen the criminal inquiry into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher”.
The question from Allan Dorans – a former inspector in the Metropolitan Police – came just days after John Murray, the former police officer who cradled WPC Fletcher as she lay dying in 1984, launched a civil legal action in a bid to get justice for his slain colleague.
Fletcher was gunned down by shots fired from the Libyan embassy. Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk – a senior member of the "revolutionary committee" that ran the embassy – was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in 2015 but the case against him was controversially dropped in 2017 on the grounds of national security.
Last week it was revealed that the UK Government had secretly barred him from Britain. He was reportedly "excluded" from the UK by the Home Office in January 2019.
Raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, Dorans, the MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, said: “On 17 April 1984, I was a serving police officer in the Metropolitan police, when WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty policing a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London.
“No-one has ever been charged in connection with her death. In the light of reports at the weekend about a civil case being brought by her former colleague, PC John Murray, against one of the main suspects, will the Prime Minister pledge to reopen the criminal inquiry into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher?”
The Prime Minister declined to answer. He thanked Dorans “very much for his service in the police”, and for “raising an important subject that I have followed for many years”.
He added: “The murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher was sickening and cowardly. The best thing I can say to the honourable gentleman today is that I would welcome the opportunity to talk to him in person about the issue he has raised, and see what we can do to take the matter forward.”
Murray, who is crowdfunding his civil action against Mabrouk, told The Telegraph he has repeatedly asked Johnson for help.
He said: "When he was mayor I wanted to speak to him. Now if the Metropolitan Police are not going to charge, I thought there might be a chance that him being the head of the organisation might be able to do something for me. But I did not even get an answer; did not even get an acknowledgement."
Yvette Cooper, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said that the level of secrecy around the case meant that it should be investigated by Parliament's intelligence and security committee, whose members have security clearance to look at top secret information.
She told the paper: "This was an appalling murder where justice has never been served. Given the seriousness of the case and the lack of scrutiny over these key decisions, all the details should now be provided to the intelligence and security committee so they can decide what further questions should be pursued."
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