WPC murder suspect has been killed, claim rebels

One of the Libyans suspected of involvement in the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher has been killed, rebel officials in Tripoli have announced.

Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, who was an official in the Libyan embassy in London at the time of the 1984 murder, was shot in the head, they claimed.

British police hope to travel to Libya to investigate the murder of WPC Fletcher, pictured below, who was shot while on duty outside the embassy in London.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said officers would assess whether the news of al-Baghdadi’s death would affect their investigation.

Mr Hague told the BBC: “This is the subject of a Metropolitan Police investigation that is going on and will go on into the future so I don’t want to prejudge immediately what has been announced.

“Of course we will want to know a good deal more about what the NTC [National Transitional Council] say has happened in this case and I’m sure the police will want to know and assess themselves whether it affects their investigation in any way.”

It was claimed last week that a report has been drawn up for the Crown Prosecution Service which includes a witness account claiming junior diplomat Abdulmagid Salah Ameri was seen firing a gun on the day of WPC Fletcher’s death.

The newspaper reported that al-Baghdadi was named as a co-conspirator in the CPS files, with Matouk Mohammed Matouk.

Earlier Mr Hague said that officers from the Metropolitan Police could travel to Libya in the course of their investigation once the security situation had improved.