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Libyan arrested over embassy murder
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A Libyan man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to murder a British policewoman who was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984, police said yesterday.
Police said this was “the first significant arrest” of the investigation into the killing of 25-year-old Yvonne Fletcher, which led Britain to sever diplomatic relations with Libya for 15 years.
The Libyan, who is in his 50s, is also suspected of money laundering, along with two other Libyans who were also arrested.
“Over the past 31 years, we have never lost our resolve to solve this case,” said Richard Walton, the head of counter terrorism at London’s Metropolitan Police.
Fletcher had been patrolling a small, peaceful demonstration outside the embassy in London’s St James’s Square on April 17, 1984.
A rival demonstration of supporters of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi had also turned out when “a number of shots were fired from within” the embassy, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Ten anti-Gaddafi protesters were wounded in the shooting.
Detectives yesterday also appealed for eyewitnesses from that day and released 14 images of individuals they want to identify, as well as video of the demonstration and shooting.
“Any information, however small, can help bring closure,” Fletcher’s family said.
The killing sparked an 11-day stand-off with police outside the embassy, officially referred to as the Libyan People’s Bureau.
But the killer is presumed to have left Britain among the 30 staffers who were then deported under diplomatic immunity.
“We believe that the incident was part of the so-called ‘stray dogs campaign’ being orchestrated from Libya to attack overseas dissidents and their interests during this time,” the police said.
The killing led to Britain severing diplomatic relations with Libya until 1999 and has long been an obstacle in ties between London and Tripoli, along with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
In 1999, Libya accepted “general responsibility” for Fletcher’s death.
The overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011 has given investigators new hope of solving the Fletcher and Lockerbie crimes.
In 2012, Libya’s then-Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib laid a wreath at the memorial to Fletcher, and Scotland Yard has sent detectives to Libya to continue their investigations into the killing.
Fletcher’s family, colleagues and friends laid floral tributes at the spot where she fell on the 30th anniversary of her death last year.
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