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UK: Murrell murder to be reviewed

01 March 2002

At the beginning of April it was announced that the unsolved murder of Hilda Murrell, a 78-year old peace campaigner whose tortured body was found dumped in woodland six miles from her home in March 1984, is to be re-examined by West Mercia police. The "cold-case review" does not have any new leads but will re-examine forensic evidence and other lines of inquiry. The initial police investigation was based on the premise that she was killed by a burglar in a robbery that went wrong. However this was questioned by her nephew, a former Royal Navy intelligence officer, who claimed that she had been killed by organisations close to the nuclear industry to prevent the presentation of a paper exposing flaws in the design of pressurised water reactors. The argument gained credence when it was discovered that unmonitored private security companies had been hired to spy on protestors at the Sizewell nuclear plant. This story was denounced by the Labour MP, Tam Dalyell, in 1984 who argued that she had been killed by British intelligence personnel who were looking for documents connected to the sinking of the Belgrano during the Malvinas (Falklands) war. West Mercia police have said that they are not expecting any quick results.