Murder of Yvonne Fletcher

Yvonne Joyce Fletcher
Metropolitan Police Service
15 June 1958(1958-06-15) – 17 April 1984(1984-04-17) (aged 25)
Place of birth	Wiltshire, England
Place of death	Westminster Hospital, London, England
Years of service	1977–1984
Rank	Woman Police Constable

WPC Yvonne Joyce Fletcher (15 June 1958 – 17 April 1984)^[1] was a British police officer fatally shot during a protest outside the Libyan embassy at St. James's Square, London, in 1984. Fletcher, who had been on duty and deployed to police the protest, died shortly afterwards at Westminster Hospital. Her death resulted in the Metropolitan Police Service laying siege to the embassy for the next eleven days, and the United Kingdom severing all diplomatic relations with Libya. Two years later it became a major factor in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's decision to allow U.S. President Ronald Reagan to launch the U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986 from American bases in the United Kingdom.^[2]

No one has ever been convicted for the murder of Yvonne Fletcher. However in 1999, the government of Muammar Gaddafi accepted responsibility for her death and agreed to pay compensation to her family.^[3]

In just an 18-month period, Fletcher's death became the third murder/manslaughter of an on-duty policewoman in mainland Britain.^[4]

Protest

Fletcher, who had joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1977, was part of a detachment of 30 officers sent to St. James's Square to monitor a demonstration by Libyan dissidents opposed to the rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Among the detachment with Fletcher was her fiancé.

The demonstration had been organised by the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF) following the execution of two students who had criticised Gaddafi. Since February 1984, the Libyan embassy, which was also known as the Libyan People's Bureau, had been staffed by "revolutionary committees" made up of students loyal to Gaddafi who had assumed control of the embassy with the tacit approval of the Libyan government. They were not professional diplomats.^[5][6] Gaddafi loyalists at the embassy warned police that they intended to mount a counter-demonstration.

On the day, about 75 protesters arrived by coach from northern England. The demonstration began peacefully as police successfully kept the two sides apart with crowd control barriers. Both groups shouted at each other and waved banners and placards. Loud music was played from the embassy in an apparent attempt to drown out the noise of the protesters.^[7]

Shooting

Police colleagues rush to the aid of shot WPC Yvonne Fletcher.

Without warning, automatic gunfire was discharged into the anti-Gaddafi protesters at 10:18 am. Eleven people were hit, including the unarmed Fletcher who was fatally wounded in the stomach. As she lay on the ground, her fiancé was at her side. Fletcher was taken to Westminster Hospital where she died from her injuries approximately one hour later.^[8][9] Libyan radio reported that the embassy was stormed and that those in the building fired back in self-defence against "a most horrible terrorist action".^[10]

Fletcher's hat and four other officers' helmets were left lying in the square during the ensuing siege of the embassy. In the days that followed, the images of them were shown repeatedly in the British media.

The official inquest into Fletcher's death concluded she had been killed by shots from a Sterling submachine gun fired from the first floor of the Libyan embassy.

Siege

Following the shooting, the embassy was surrounded by armed police for eleven days, in one of the longest police sieges in London's history. Meanwhile, Gaddafi claimed that the embassy was under attack from British forces, and Libyan soldiers surrounded the United Kingdom's embassy in Tripoli in response.^[11]

The British government eventually resolved the incident by allowing the embassy staff to leave the embassy and then expelling them from the country. The United Kingdom then ended all diplomatic relations with Libya. However six British nationals were held as political hostages in Libya by a Revolutionary Committee following the shooting. ^[12] They were released after nine months of detention on 5 February 1985, four days after the unveiling of Fletcher's memorial in Berkeley Square. ^[13]

Subsequent developments

Gaddafi regime

The British government took no further official action following the cessation of ambassadorial affairs with Libya. Some unconfirmed reports even suggested that Fletcher's murderer had been hanged shortly after returning to Libya in 1984.^[14] But at a meeting with the British ambassador to Egypt in 1992, Libyan colonel Abdul Fatah Younis apologised on behalf of the Libyan government and offered to extradite her killers. However the Foreign Office did not accede to the offer. ^[15]

In July 1999, the Libyan government publicly accepted "general responsibility" for the murder and agreed to pay compensation to Fletcher's family. This, together with Libya's eventual efforts in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing, paved the way for the normalisation of Anglo-Libyan relations.^[3] Once diplomatic relations were restored in 1999, Metropolitan Police detectives visited Libya on a number of occasions to pursue their investigations into her murder.

But on 24 February 2004, the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 reported that the new Libyan prime minister, Shukri Ghanem, had claimed his country was not responsible for Fletcher's murder (nor for the Lockerbie bombing). Ghanem said that Libya had made the admission and paid compensation in order to bring "peace" and an end to international sanctions.^[16] Gaddafi was said to have later retracted Ghanem's claims.

Finally in June 2007, British detectives were able to interview the chief Libyan suspect for the first time following the normalisation of political ties with the country.^[17] Detectives spent seven weeks in Libya interviewing both witnesses and suspects. Queenie Fletcher, Yvonne's mother, described these developments as "promising".

In February 2009, Queenie Fletcher suggested that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who at the time was appealing against his conviction for the Lockerbie bombing, should be moved to a prison in Libya, on condition that the Libyan government co-operate with detectives investigating her daughter's murder. Mrs Fletcher said: "I know he is ill and I think he should be returned to a prison in Libya so his family can visit him. The appeal could still go ahead in Scotland, but he could stay in prison in Libya. It's got to be a fair exchange, so Yvonne's case can be closed. I'd like the police here to be given permission to interview whoever they've got to interview in Libya and see whoever they need to for someone to be brought to trial."^[18]

In October 2009 The Daily Telegraph revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service had been told by an independent prosecutor that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute two Libyans. A report from April 2007 concluded that the two men, who are now senior members of the Libyan regime, played an "instrumental role" in the shooting.^[19]

Post-Gaddafi era

During the Libyan uprising in March 2011, British journalists spoke to a man named Omar al-Sodani being held by rebel forces in Benghazi. The 59-year-old member of Libya's Revolutionary Committee said he was in the Libyan Embassy in 1984 but "was not at the scene" when the shooting happened.^[20] Following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in August 2011, new evidence emerged that a diplomat working at the Libyan embassy in London was seen firing an automatic weapon from a window in April 1984. A witness identified a man called Abdulmagid Salah Ameri after a review of evidence by an independent Canadian prosecutor at the request of the Metropolitan Police. ^[21] On 30th August it was reported that a "co-conspirator", Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, had been killed in in-fighting amongst Gaddafi loyalists.^[22][23]

Legacy

Memorial to WPC Yvonne Fletcher in St. James's Square.

Two weeks after Fletcher's death, a dedicated charity called the Police Memorial Trust was created to honour British police officers killed in the line of duty. It was the idea of UK film director Michael Winner who wrote a letter to the editor of The Times newspaper suggesting a memorial be erected in Fletcher's honour. After receiving a flood of donations from members of the public, the trust was established on 3 May 1984.^[24]

WPC Yvonne Fletcher would become the first police officer to be honoured by the new charity. On 1 February 1985, her memorial was unveiled in St. James's Square by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a ceremony attended by the leaders of all the main British political parties. Hundreds of members of the public also attended the ceremony to show their support for this recognition of police bravery. In April 2004, Baroness Thatcher joined members of WPC Fletcher's family for a service to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of Yvonne's murder. Floral wreaths were laid at her memorial and a police helicopter flew over in a mark of respect. A minute's silence was also observed by those attending.^[25]

The memorial, which lies in a slightly modified location, stands in the north-east corner of the square. Westminster City Council augmented part of St. James's Square to accommodate the granite and Portland stone commemorative pillar with a rounded-pavement area of pavement which extends into the roadway to create an architectural feature.

The Police Memorial Trust later commissioned the National Police Memorial, which was unveiled in central London by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 April 2005.

Ballistics controversy

The official inquest concluded that WPC Fletcher was killed by someone firing a 9mm calibre automatic weapon from a lower floor in the Libyan embassy. But this verdict has been disputed by a number of experts, including the British Army's senior ballistics officer Lieutenant Colonel George Styles and Home Office pathologist Hugh Thomas. On 24 June 1997, Tam Dalyell MP questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair about the death of Yvonne Fletcher. Dalyell made particular reference to a Channel 4 documentary about the murder: ^[26]

With the agreement of Queenie Fletcher, her mother, I raised with the Home Office the three remarkable programmes that were made by Fulcrum, and their producer, Richard Bellfield, called Murder In St. James's.^[27] Television speculation is one thing, but this was rather more than that, because on film was George Styles, the senior ballistics officer in the British Army, who said that, as a ballistics expert, he believed that the WPC could not have been killed from the second floor of the Libyan embassy, as was suggested.

Also on film was my friend, Hugh Thomas, who talked about the angles at which bullets could enter bodies, and the position of those bodies. Hugh Thomas was, for years, the consultant surgeon of the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, and I suspect he knows more about bullets entering bodies than anybody else in Britain. Above that was Professor Bernard Knight, who, on and off, has been the Home Office pathologist for 25 years. When Bernard Knight gives evidence on film that the official explanation could not be, it is time for an investigation.^[28]

A major issue is the discrepancy in the bullet trajectory noted by the pathologist who examined the body of Yvonne Fletcher. Dr. Ian West wrote in his initial post mortem report she was shot from the upper floors of an adjacent building because "the angle of wound was between 60 and 70 degrees". However at the official inquest Dr. West stated her wounds were "entirely consistent with a shot fired from the first floor window of the Embassy, an angle of 15 degrees." ^[29]

See also

• List of British police officers killed in the line of duty

References

1. ^ Stewart Tendler, ‘Fletcher, Yvonne Joyce (1958–1984)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2010 accessed 12 Nov 2010
2. ^ Thatcher, Margaret, Statement on US bombing of Libya, http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106363 .
3. ^ ^{a b} Gammell, Caroline (2 November 2007). Female officers injured in the line of duty. The Daily Telegraph.
4. ^ Police Memorial website
5. ^ Dean, Lucy. (2003). The Middle East and North Africa 2004: 2004. Routledge. p. 779. ISBN 978-1857431841.
6. ^ Ham, Anthony. (2007). Libya. Lonely Planet. p. 41. ISBN 978-1740594936.
7. ^ Jeffers, Harry Paul (1992). Bloody business: an anecdotal history of Scotland Yard. Pharos Books. p. 255. ISBN 978-0886876784. 
8. ^ Yvonne Fletcher: BBC's account. The Guardian.
9. ^ Fiancé is witness. BBC News.
10. ^ Associated Press (17 April 1984). "Policewoman dead, 11 Libyans wounded in embassy shooting". Ottawa Citizen. http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=y7oyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Wu8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1426,3072178&dq=. 
11. ^ "1984: Libyan embassy shots kill policewoman". BBC. 17 April 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2488000/2488369.stm. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
12. ^ Country Studies>Libya>Government>Britian, Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Libya: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987.
13. ^ A Brush With Madness, Plummer, IBSN 978-0-9567042-0-7
14. ^ "Stories", Libyan embassy shots kill policewoman, On this Date, BBC, 17 April 1984, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2488000/2488369.stm .
15. ^ Boffey, Daniel (2009-11-09). "Gaddafi offered to hand over WPC's killers 17 years ago". Daily Mail (UK). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1225963/Gaddafi-offered-hand-WPCs-killers-17-years-ago.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
16. ^ "PM Ghanem says Libya not responsible". Radio 4. BBC. 24 February 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-3-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20070308174923/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ztuesday_20040224.shtml. 
17. ^ Townsend, Mark (24 June 2007). "Yvonne Fletcher: the net closes in". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/libya/story/0,,2110229,00.html. 
18. ^ Kathleen Nutt (2009-2-1). "Mum of shot WPC calls for Megrahi swap". The Sunday Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5627541.ece. 
19. ^ Christopher Hope and Gordon Rayner (2009-10-16). "Yvonne Fletcher: Tories demand Government answers over Libyan killers". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/6345634/Yvonne-Fletcher-Tories-demand-Government-answers-over-Libyan-killers.html. 
20. ^ "Seized Libyan denies link to Yvonne Fletcher killing". Channel 4. 2011-03-24. http://www.channel4.com/news/seized-libyan-denies-link-to-yvonne-fletcher-killing. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
21. ^ Hope, Christopher (26 August 2011). "Man suspected of killing Pc Yvonne Fletcher identified". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8726322/Libya-Man-suspected-of-killing-Pc-Yvonne-Fletcher-identified.html. Retrieved 27/08/2011. 
22. ^ Richard Spencer (30 August 2011). "Libyan 'behind Yvonne Fletcher's killing' found dead". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8731283/Libyan-behind-Yvonne-Fletchers-killing-found-dead.html. 
23. ^ Richard Hall (31 August 2011). "WPC Fletcher suspect 'killed in vendetta'". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/wpc-fletcher-suspect-killed-in-vendetta-2346602.html. 
24. ^ "History of the Trust". The Police Memorial Trust: Registered Charity No. 289371. http://www.policememorial.org.uk/Police_Memorial_Trust/Police_Memorial_Trust.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
25. ^ "Tributes paid to murdered officer". BBC. 17 April 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3633763.stm. 
26. ^ "Tam Dalyell, 1997: 'Nothing has been done.'". The Guardian (London). 23 July 1997. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1997/jul/23/lockerbie. 
27. ^ "Murder in St James's". Fulcrum TV. http://www.fulcrumtv.com/murder%20in%20st.%20james.html. Retrieved 2009-11-5. 
28. ^ "Forensic evidence disputes that Fletcher was killed from second floor of Libyan embassy". The Guardian (UK). 23 July 1997. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Lockerbie/Story/0,2763,740118,00.html. 
29. ^ "Hansards: 8 May 1996, Column 208". Hansards. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199596/cmhansrd/vo960508/debtext/60508-04.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-20. 

External links

• BBC News (25 March 2004), "Timeline: WPC Yvonne Fletcher"
• National Police Memorial image of the Fletcher memorial
• The Guardian (23 July 1997), speech by Tam Dalyell on Lockerbie and Fletcher's murder

Footage

• BBC News footage of the family reaction
• BBC footage of the funeral

Coordinates: 51°30′28.09″N 0°8′6.48″W / 51.5078028°N 0.1351333°W / 51.5078028; -0.1351333

Persondata
Name	Yvonne Joyce Fletcher
Alternative names
Short description	British police officer
Date of birth	1959
Place of birth	Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Date of death	1984-04-17
Place of death	St James's Square, London, United Kingdom