A file photo of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, who was murdered outside the Libyan embassy on the 17 April 1984, and who's death remains the only killing of a UK police officer to remain unsolved
Credit: LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE
The Police Federation is refusing to fund a legal action against the close aide of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi accused of plotting the murder of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, The Telegraph can disclose.
The police officers’ union has blocked any financing of the civil case, insisting a successful claim would "merely confirm" the involvement of Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk rather than achieve justice for the murdered officer.
In a legal letter, the Police Federation, which represents 130,000 rank-and-file officers, ruled that the case did not deserve funding on a “costs/ merits/ benefit analysis”.
John Murray, the former Metropolitan Police officer who cradled WPc Fletcher as she lay dying in his arms, said: “It is disgraceful and an embarrassment. This feels like yet another betrayal.
“The Police Fedaration has tens of millions of pounds but if it can’t fund a case against somebody responsible for the murder of a police officer then what can you fund?”
WPc Yvonne Fletcher killing timeline
Mr Murray is bringing a civil claim in the High Court against Mr Mabrouk after prosecutors said they could not bring charges because of the inadmissibility of evidence on the grounds of "national security".
That came as Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was accused of failing to deliver on a pledge to review the Government’s handling of evidence around the investigation into Mr Mabrouk, who the Sunday Telegraph disclosed last year had been allowed to leave the UK.
Lawyers for Mr Murray have estimated the case could cost a maximum of £480,000 but almost certainly a lot less.
According to its most recent accounts, the Police Federation has an annual income of £32 million, and spends £10 million a year on legal fees. It also spent £1.3 million on staging its annual conference and £1.6 million in salaries and expenses for its national board.
In a letter that Mr Murray branded insulting, the Police Federation’s head of civil claims Craig Hewitt wrote: “I remain of the view that in the event that Mr Murray is successful in his civil claim against Mr Mabrouk for vindicatory damages, it is difficult to see how this truly results in justice for PC Fletcher.
Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, a former Libyan education minister and high-ranking member of Muammar Gaddafi’s revolutionary committees, outside his home in Reading in 2018. He has consistently denied any involvement in the killing
Credit: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph
“A civil judgment against Mr Mabrouk will merely confirm his involvement as one of the parties to a common design to use violent action on the day of the shooting, and that Mr Mabrouk was jointly liable for the battery caused to WPc Fletcher and accordingly the psychiatric harm caused to Mr Murray.”
Mr Murray’s lawyer Matt Jury said it was staggering that the Police Federation had sought to minimise Mabrouk’s alleged role in WPc Fletcher’s murder by referring to it as simply a “common design to use violent action” resulting in “battery".
Mr Jury told The Telegraph: “WPC Fletcher was murdered. This attempt at diminishing suspected Mr Mabrouk’s role because he did not pull the trigger is just wrong. We allege Mr Mabrouk played a major part in orchestrating the shootings on the day and therefore in many ways bears more responsibility than whoever pulled the trigger.”
Mr Murray, 65, who served 30 years in the Met Police, is appealing the decision to refuse funding. He has pledged to return his Police Federation service medal (he worked as a local representative for some years) if funding is blocked again.
He pledged to get justice as WPc Fletcher, aged just 25, lay dying in his arms after being shot during a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in central London in 1984. In secret files seen by The Telegraph, Mr Mabrouk was accused of involvement in orchestrating the shooting of anti-Gaddafi protesters.
John Murray, the former Metropolitan Police office who has been fighting for justice for WPc Yvonne Fletcher, lays a wreath at her memorial stone in St James Square in June 2020
Credit: JULIAN SIMMONDS FOR THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Mr Murray launched his civil action in November 2018 after the criminal case was dropped the year before. Shortly after, Mr Mabrouk fled his family home outside Reading in Berkshire, and returned to Libya where he remains. He denies any wrongdoing.
The Home Office ordered Mr Mabrouk’s expulsion from the UK, accusing him of being suspected of war crimes in Libya during the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011.
The Police Federation authorised limited funding of £6,000 to help with lodging the High Court claim under the authority of Mr Hewitt’s predecessor Alex Duncan, now the Police Federation’s national secretary.
However, a further request for extra funding, first made in January 2019, to Mr Hewitt was declined. Mr Murray appealed and was given an extra £6,000 that paid for a successful application for third party disclosure of documents held by the Metropolitan Police.
The Police Federation continued to deny extra funding even after independent counsel gave legal advice that the case against Mr Mabrouk had a 60 per cent to 80 per cent chance of success, higher than the 51 per cent required under one of the criteria used by the Police Federation to grant financing of legal cases.
The Police Federation has argued that it would be unable to recover any costs from Mr Mabrouk although lawyers for Mr Murray have pointed out that he transferred ownership of his family home in Reading, worth up to £700,000, after the claim. Lawyers believe they could pursue his assets if the case was to succeed.
Mr Hewitt said “justice must mean criminal charges and trial in the criminal courts in his response to Mr Murray’s lawyers. But Mr Jury has pointed out that a successful civil action could possibly prompt a new criminal case".
Mr Hewitt, in refusing the funding request, also insisted that the legal action was of "limited" interest. He wrote: “Overall, my conclusion is that the claim does not meet the funding criteria on a costs/merits/benefit analysis and therefore I am unable to authorise funding.”
WPc Fletcher’s murder remains the only police killing not to obtain a successful conviction in the UK.
The decision has caused alarm within the Police Federation. A senior Police Federation source said: "The organisation should be doing absolutely everything in order to try to bring those responsible to justice."
Allan Dorans, an SNP MP and former Met Police Officer, said after meeting Boris Johnson in 2020 the Prime Minister promised to review if evidence, withheld on grounds of national security, could now be released.
However, he got a written response this week saying the Crown Prosecution Service had not received any new evidence in the case since 2017.
A Police Federation spokesman said: “A funding decision was made by the Police Federation of England & Wales based on a large amount of information, much of which is not in the public domain. There is now an appeal against this funding decision. We continue to await further information from Mr Murray.”
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