WPC's killer 'must face UK court'

Published on Tuesday 7 September 2010 17:41

THE killer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher should face justice in the UK rather than Libya, a Tory MP said yesterday.

Daniel Kawczynski, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Libya, said that an agreement signed under Labour allowing any suspect to be tried in the North African country was a "shoddy, backroom deal".

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said a successful investigation was a more important issue than the location of any potential trial.

WPC Fletcher was shot while policing a demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984. The bullet was fired by a gunman from one of the embassy's first-floor windows, and was intended for the Libyan dissidents protesting against the regime of Col Muammar al- Gaddafi.

Mr Kawczynski said the Labour government signed an agreement with the Libyans "whereby the killer, or the alleged killer - the chief suspect - will be put to trial in Libya".

He said: "This to me is deeply unacceptable and highly regrettable. You cannot face British justice in a Libyan court. "The only way to face British justice is in a British court under British jurisdiction."

The death of 25-year-old WPC Fletcher triggered a breakdown of diplomatic relations between Britain and Libya. The gunman was smuggled out of the building with 21 other embassy staff.