Ex-colleague of murdered PC Yvonne Fletcher to launch private prosecution of suspect 40 years after her death
17 April 2024, 17:16
The former colleague of murdered police officer Yvonne Fletcher has launched a fundraising campaign to pursue a private prosecution of one of the suspects in her death.
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PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot by a bullet fired from the then Libyan embassy while policing a demonstration against the former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on 17 April 1984.
Since then, nobody has been held criminally responsible for her death.
A memorial service was held on Wednesday at St James' Square in London to mark 40 years since the fatal shooting.
Speaking at the event, her former colleague John Murray, who cradled her as she lay dying, vowed to find those responsible as he announced a new campaign to bring a case against key suspect Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk.
Mr Mabrouk was a senior member of the pro-Gaddafi Libyan Revolutionary Committee that ran the embassy at the time.
The new case will include a request for Mr Mabrouk's extradition to the UK to stand trial.
The widow of film producer Michael Winner, who proposed the Police Memorial Trust be erected in PC Fletcher’s memory, said that her husband would have been “moved” by the campaign.
Asked how she thought her husband would have found the rebooted campaign, Ms Winner told LBC: “Extremely moved, he was terribly, terribly moved.
“He realised that it needed somebody of his calibre and force of character to get the thing moving and he did. And in the end he got the memorial put up thanks to his force of character.
“Took him 10 years but he got it put there, and it’s now there, the National Police Memorial.”
In 2021, Mr Murray won a civil action at the High Court in London against Mr Mabrouk.
In the ruling, High Court judge Mr Justice Martin Spencer said that Mr Mabrouk, who denied any wrongdoing, "clearly assisted in the commission of the shooting" and was jointly liable with the unknown gunmen.
Mr Mabrouk was arrested in 2015 in connection with PC Fletcher's death but two years later the Metropolitan Police said that, while detectives could identify those responsible, charges could not be brought as key evidence had been kept secret to protect national security.
Mr Murray, who has campaigned for decades to find "justice" for his friend, said: "The terrorist murder of Yvonne Fletcher 40 years ago on the 17 April 1984 was one of the worst atrocities executed by Gadaffi.
"To this very day the quest for justice for Yvonne continues and although we have had historic victories in both the High Court and Appeal court, the man who allegedly orchestrated Yvonne's murder continues to live freely.
"If the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) cannot or will not proceed with criminal charges, the only option available is to embark on our own legal action in the criminal courts."
Speaking at the memorial on Wednesday, Mr Murray said: "I will take a private criminal prosecution against Saleh Mabrouk. I will see him in a criminal court.
"Justice is what we will get for a fallen colleague because we will never and can never forget her.”
He urged people to donate to his crowdfunding appeal to pay for the prosecution.
