'I will get them': Former cop vows to find out who fired gun that killed WPC Yvonne Fletcher

19 November 2021, 11:09 | Updated: 19 November 2021, 17:56

Nick Ferrari speaks to former Met Police officer John Murray

A retired police officer has told LBC he "will not give up" in his search for justice after his friend and colleague WPC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot in 1984.

John Murray told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast he "will not give up until someone faces criminal charges" and vowed to find out who fired the bullet that killed WPC Fletcher.

"We will find out, yes, we will find out," Mr Murray said when asked by Nick.

"It may take another few years but I will certainly find out who fired the gun... I am not going to give up, I will not give up until someone faces criminal charges, either in the UK, either in Libya or even in the International Criminal Court.

"I will get them."

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The retired police officer, who promised his dying friend he would find out who was responsible after she was shot at an anti-Gaddafi demonstration in London in 1984, said he had suffered "ill-health" as a result of his 37-year campaign.

"You can never give up," he said when asked why he "put himself through this".

"If you're right, and you make a promise to someone that you're gonna get justice for them, then surely you must see it through to the end, no matter what happens to you.

"If you are right and you've got nothing to fear you keep fighting, and I will keep fighting."

Former Met officer John Murray recalls holding PC Yvonne Fletcher

Last week the High Court found Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, a former aide to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, jointly liable for WPC Yvonne Fletcher's death.

She was killed outside the Libyan Embassy when a gun was fired out a window on April 17 1984.

Recounting the day, Mr Murray said he and WPC Fletcher were policing around 100 people who had "come from all parts of the UK to protest" and it was expected to be a "normal" day.

"We hadn't been warned of any particular trouble," Mr Murray told Nick.

"Yvonne and I were in front of the barriers looking towards the demonstrators, our backs were to the embassy."

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He said when the bullets were fired he initially thought someone had thrown a firework.

"I heard the bangs, I glanced forward and I saw people fall but I glanced to my right and Yvonne, who was about three, four feet from me, fell to the ground," he recalled.

"I ran over to her, she was still conscious.

"She was trying to say something but couldn't.

"I cradled her head and looked up and everybody had gone, everybody had scattered."

The retired police officer said he would "always remember the silence" that followed the shooting.

"We're in the middle of central London, it was completely silent but the birds were singing," he said.

"I'll always remember that."

He told Nick they pulled WPC Fletcher into a side suite of the embassy before the ambulance arrived.

"I went in the ambulance with her," he said, adding there were two Libyan protestors badly wounded on the floor of the vehicle and "there was blood everywhere".

"Yvonne was still alive, she was in pain.

"She told me her tummy was hurting so I cut her skirt to relieve the pressure.

"It was then I promised her that one day, no matter what, I would find out why and how this had happened.

"And 37 years later, I think this week we've certainly done part of that."