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New evidence raises questions about the murder of anti nuclear campaigner

A high-profile campaigner against nuclear weapons, she had been due to present evidence to the public inquiry into the proposed Sizewell B nuclear reactor in East Anglia. 

“The victim was consumed with anxiety that something was going to happen to her. A look at why that might be involves the evidence she was about to give to the Sizewell inquiry.”

Hilda Murrell murder: call to examine ‘MI5 link’ to murder of nuclear activist Michael Mansfield QC wants to know what intelligence services knew about killing of anti-nuclear activist Hilda Murrell in 1984 Mark Townsend, Guardian UK, The Observer ,   18 March 2012 Campaigner Hilda Murrell, 78, who was murdered in March 1984, had been due to give evidence at the public inquiry into the Sizewell B nuclear reactor.

One of Britain’s leading human rights lawyers has demanded a fresh police inquiry to establish what the British intelligence services knew about the murder of a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner.

Michael Mansfield QC said new evidence meant that an independent
police force should be appointed to examine enduring concerns and
inconsistencies relating to the death of Hilda Murrell in March 1984.

Murrell, 78, was abducted from her home in Shrewsbury and her body was
discovered days later in a nearby copse. A high-profile campaigner
against nuclear weapons, she had been due to present evidence to the
public inquiry into the proposed Sizewell B nuclear reactor in East
Anglia. Her death triggered numerous conspiracy theories and
allegations relating to the involvement of MI5, with one MP, Tam
Dalyell, telling parliament that “men of British intelligence” were
involved.

Subsequent claims from intelligence sources that they never even
opened a file on the rose-growing anti-nuclear campaigner have now
been dismissed by Mansfield as “completely ludicrous”.

He said: “There must have been a file for a number of reasons. One of
them being that she plainly was very active and very outspoken about a
government policy that was extremely sensitive at that time – nuclear
power.

“It was central to Margaret Thatcher’s thinking. They would have been
watching closely what she was up to, who she was associating with and
so on.

“The victim was consumed with anxiety that something was going to happen to her. A look at why that might be involves the evidence she was about to give to the Sizewell inquiry.”

The involvement of Mansfield, whose past cases include the Stephen
Lawrence murder, follows the painstaking accumulation of evidence on
the case by Murrell’s nephew, Commander Robert Green……
Despite 28 years having passed since her death, Green will this week
reveal details of what he claims are attempts to intimidate him in
order to prevent him from investigating the case. Despite having moved
to New Zealand, Green says he is the subject of continuing
surveillance, and that the tyres of his car have been slashed, his
mail intercepted and, occasionally, his house broken into.

He has continued to investigate, arriving in London this week to share
fresh evidence collated for his book on the murder, A Thorn In Their
Side….. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/mar/18/hilda-murrell-michael-mansfield?newsfeed=true

March 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK