Family of Muriel McKay - murdered in Hertfordshire in 1969 - head to court for injunction which could spark fresh search
They want to scan a garden in East London where they believe her body was moved to
Last updated 24th Nov 2025
The search for Muriel McKay - who was kidnapped and murdered at a farm in Hertfordshire more than 50 years ago - is taking a step forward this morning.
Muriel's family are applying for an injunction against the leaseholders of a property in East London, so they can scan the garden.
It's believed her body was moved to the site - which used to be a tailor's shop and is now occupied by a bookies and a block of flats.
Muriel, 55, was the wife of Alick McKay, the deputy to newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch, when she was kidnapped by brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein from her home in Wimbledon in 1969.
The brothers demanded a ransom of £1 million, but Muriel never returned home. Her body has never been found.
Both men were convicted of kidnap and murder in 1970, though Arthur’s younger brother Nizamodeen has since claimed she was buried on a Hertfordshire farm previously owned by their family.
Earlier searches for her body at the farm in Stocking Pelham were unsuccessful.
Earlier this month a ruling by a High Court judge meant Muriel was officially declared dead, more than 50 years after she was killed.
It meant her family could pursue a new search for her remains.
Today, an application for an injunction against the current leaseholders of the property, is scheduled to take place in The Rolls Building in London.
The site used to be a tailor's shop where the Kray twin gangsters had their suits made and where Arthur Hosein used to work.
The tailor's shop was run by Percy Chaplin and his daughter Hayley Frais is traveling from Israel to be at the court hearing in London.
After Mr Chaplin died three years ago, Hayley revealed her father's long-held suspicion that a criminal associate of the Hosein brothers buried the decomposing body behind his shop.
Speaking to us previously, Muriel's Grandson Mark said “The most important lead of all is this Road."
Mark Dyer added: “They are pretty certain that she’s there .... We’ve been there and it’s intact as it was in 1970. But again, we’ve met resistance from people with access to it who don’t seem to want to let us in there to do a non-invasive scan. This will take an hour.”
A phone box that stood outside the tailor's shop was one of the boxes used by the killers to receive instructions for picking up the ransom money.
Muriel's daughter Diane McKay will also be present at the hearing today.