A retired police officer who was on duty with PC Yvonne Fletcher when she was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London 40 years ago today is to bring a private prosecution against one of her alleged killers.
John Murray, 68, a close friend of Fletcher, who cradled her in his arms as she lay dying, is pursuing a case against Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, having previously won a civil case against the former minister in Muammar Gaddafi’s government.
In 2021, a high court judge ruled on the lower civil standard – which requires proof on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt – that Mabrouk was jointly liable for Fletcher’s shooting.
Awarding Murray the £1 in nominal damages he had sought, Mr Justice Martin Spencer found that although Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk did not fire the shots himself, he was a “prime mover” in the killing of 25-year-old Fletcher.
Mabrouk, who is in Libya, did not participate in the civil proceedings but insisted in a letter to the court that he was innocent of any involvement. The court of appeal refused him permission to appeal against Spencer’s judgment.
No one has ever been prosecuted over Fletcher’s death but Murray wants to change that. The private criminal prosecution will include a request for Mabrouk’s extradition to the UK to stand trial.
Murray said: “The terrorist murder of Yvonne Fletcher 40 years ago, on 17 April 1984, was one of the worst atrocities executed by Gaddafi.
“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.”
He urged people to donate to his crowdfunding appeal to pay for the prosecution.
Fletcher’s is the only killing of an on-duty police officer in British history that the state has failed to prosecute, his lawyers said. She was struck by automatic gunfire aimed at anti-Gaddafi protesters and police outside the embassy in St James’s Square.
During the civil case, the court heard that Mabrouk told a police officer who was putting out barriers before the protest: “We have guns here today, there is going to be fighting. We aren’t going to have responsibility for you or the barriers.”
In 2017, the government blocked Mabrouk’s prosecution on the grounds of “national security”.
Successful extraditions to the UK from Libya are rare. However, in 2019, after more than two years of negotiations between UK counter-terrorism officers and Libyan authorities, Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, was extradited to the UK. Abedi, who helped plan the attack, was later given a life sentence with a minimum of 55 years in prison for the murder of 22 people.
Matthew Jury, on behalf of McCue Jury & Partners, and Andrew Marshall, on behalf of Edmonds Marshall McMahon, who, along with Barnaby Jameson KC, are working on the case on a not-for-profit basis, said: “It is a stain on the nation’s conscience that WPC Yvonne Fletcher’s alleged killer, Mabrouk, continues to live freely in Libya.
“This private prosecution should mean that Mabrouk will face a criminal trial and Yvonne will finally get the justice our country owes her.”
