Arthur & Nizamodeen Hosein

Case record: Arthur Hosein & Nizamodeen Hosein

Status / legal outcome

Arthur Hosein and Nizamodeen Hosein were found guilty at the Old Bailey and were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mrs Muriel Freda McKay. The brothers were also convicted on other charges including kidnapping and blackmail. No trace of Mrs McKay was found, and the body was never found.

Timeline

• 29 December 1969 — Arthur and Nizamodeen broke into a house and abducted the woman they found there.
• 30 December 1969 — The McKays received a call demanding £1 million from a man calling himself “M3”.
• Friday 6 February — The ransom delivery was scheduled for £500,000 placed in two suitcases and taken to a telephone box in Church Street, Edmonton at 4pm, then moved through the series of call boxes and to Bishop’s Stortford; DS Bland monitored the suitcases during the pickup/transfer operation.
• 6 February (about 11.40pm) — The operation was abandoned.
• 7 February (8am) — Police swooped on Rooks Farm.
• 14 September 1970 — The brothers’ trial began at the Old Bailey.
• 6 October 1970 — The trial ended with guilty verdicts on all charges; both were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, and received additional terms for kidnapping and blackmail.

Background

Arthur Hosein and Nizamodeen Hosein were Indian Moslems born in Dow Village, Trinidad. They bought Rooks Farm near Stocking Pelham in Hertfordshire on a mortgage in 1967 and moved there in May 1968. Arthur had been thrown out of the army in 1960 and had pretensions to grandness, and was known locally as “King Hosein”. Arthur kept pigs and chickens and made trousers, and was a tailor by trade. The farm was a 17th century property set in eleven acres and was considerably run-down.

After watching Rupert Murdoch being interviewed by David Frost on television, the brothers concluded that Murdoch would pay a small fraction of his fortune for the return of his wife if she were kidnapped and held to ransom. They followed Murdoch’s Rolls Royce to 20 Arthur Street, Wimbledon and planned the kidnap.

The offence

On 29 December 1969, Arthur and Nizamodeen broke into the house and abducted the woman they found there. They kidnapped Mrs Muriel McKay by mistake, believing they had taken Rupert Murdoch’s wife Anna. Rupert Murdoch was in Australia on holiday, so his deputy chairman’s household was targeted instead.

Mrs Muriel Freda McKay was the 55-year-old wife of Alick McKay and was using the company car while the Murdochs were away.

At the house, Alick McKay returned home about 7.45pm and found the front door open, the lights on and his wife Muriel gone. The phone was ripped from the wall and the contents of his wife’s handbag scattered on the stairs, and a rusty meat cleaver lay on the floor. The fire was still burning.

Investigation

Alick McKay called the police at about 8pm from a neighbour’s house. The police were suspicious that Alick’s 55-year-old wife may have left her husband, and they were angered when Alick called the editor of The Sun asking him to run the story the following morning.

After the abduction, the police received ransom communications. At 1am the next morning, the Mckays received a call demanding £1 million from a man calling himself “M3”. Over the next few weeks there were eighteen telephone calls and three letters from “M3” demanding money and threatening to kill Mrs McKay. There were also letters from Muriel McKay.

An attempt to deliver the ransom was thwarted by the accidental presence of a large number of local police in the drop area. Instructions were later received from “M3” that £500,000 was to be placed in two suitcases and taken to a telephone box in Church Street, Edmonton at 4pm on Friday 6 February. A policeman and a policewoman, disguised as Mr McKay and his daughter Diane, took the suitcase to the call box. They were told to go to another call box in Bethnal Green Road.

From there, the trail led by underground to Epping. They were then told to take a taxi to Bishop’s Stortford where the suitcases were to be left by a mini-van on a garage forecourt. The taxi arrived and the two officers set out. Just up the road the driver was stopped by instructions; a man leapt into the back of the taxi and curled up on the floor. This was DS Bland.

The officers arrived at the garage in Bishop’s Stortford and drove past, dropped DS Bland up the road, and returned to drop off the cases by the mini-van before returning to Epping. By this time it was about 8pm. DS Bland kept watch on the suitcases and on the traffic on the main road. He noticed a blue Volvo with a single occupant pass four times between 8 and 10.30pm, usually slowing as it passed, and he took note of its registration number, XGO 994G. It passed again at 10.47 with two men inside.

A couple, Mr and Mrs Abbott, noticed the suitcases and became concerned. Mrs Abbott kept watch while her husband went and fetched the local police, who removed them to the local station. The operation was abandoned at 11.40pm. The recordings of the presence of the blue Volvo tallied with entries in the log from the previous attempt to deliver the ransom.

At 8am the next morning the police swooped on Rooks Farm. They found an exercise book whose torn-out pages matched those received in letters from Mrs McKay. Arthur’s fingerprints matched those found on the ransom demands. Police officers scoured Rooks Farm for several weeks but could find no trace of Mrs McKay or of what had happened to her, and the police were certain Mrs McKay was dead and charged the Hosein brothers with her murder.

Arrest / key suspects

The investigation linked the ransom communications and the attempted delivery to Arthur Hosein. Police scoured the farm for several weeks and concluded that Arthur’s fingerprints matched those found on the ransom demands.

Arthur Hosein was connected to the blue Volvo observed near the drop point, with the registration number XGO 994G recorded by DS Bland. Police later swooped on Rooks Farm at 8am the next morning.

Trial

The brothers’ trial began on 14 September 1970 at the Old Bailey. During the trial Arthur and Nizamodeen blamed each other, but neither confessed.

They were charged with kidnapping, murder and blackmail. On 6 October 1970, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all charges.

Sentencing

On 6 October 1970, Arthur Hosein was sentenced to life imprisonment and received 25 years for kidnapping, 14 years for blackmail and 10 years for sending threatening letters. Nizamodeen Hosein received life imprisonment as well, and received 15 years for kidnapping and 14 years for blackmail, with the text indicating that his kidnap term was 10 years less than Arthur’s.

Appeals

No appeal information was included.

Outcome

Arthur Hosein and Nizamodeen Hosein were convicted of kidnapping, murder and blackmail and were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mrs Muriel Freda McKay at the Old Bailey on 6 October 1970. Despite police certainty that Mrs McKay was dead, no trace of her was found and the body was never found.

Other details / people named

Victim and family

• Mrs Muriel Freda McKay — victim; 55-year-old wife of Alick McKay.
• Alick McKay — victim’s husband; deputy chairman.
• Diane — Alick’s daughter; participated in the disguise plan as described (policeman and policewoman disguised as Mr McKay and his daughter Diane).

Intended victim

• Anna Murdoch — intended victim (the woman the kidnappers mistakenly believed they had taken).

Defendants

• Arthur Hosein — kidnapper; also identified as “King Hosein” locally; 34 years old.
• Nizamodeen Hosein — kidnapper; 22 years old.

Prosecuting / investigators / helpers

• Sir Peter Rawlinson — prosecuting attorney.
• DS Bland — involved as a watcher during the taxi/drop operation.
• Mr and Mrs Abbott — became concerned about the suitcases and fetched local police.
• Eric Cutler — friend of the McKays who consulted a Dutch clairvoyant.
• Gerard Croiset — Dutch clairvoyant who advised Cutler about where Muriel could be found.
• David Frost — television interviewer (Rupert Murdoch interview referenced).
• Rupert Murdoch — media magnate whose name and wealth were central to the brothers’ plan.
• A link to “The Sun” was included through Alick calling “the editor of The Sun” to run the story.

Verbatim communications and quotations

Male caller: “We are Mafia M3” Male caller: “We tried to get Rupert Murdoch’s wife. We couldn’t get her so we took yours instead. You have a million by Wednesday night or we will kill her.” Note received at the McKay’s home: “Please do something to get me home. What have I done to deserve this treatment?” Male caller: “We are Mafia M3”