A search for the remains of Muriel McKay, who was murdered in 1969, has been unsuccessful.

The Metropolitan Police began a fresh dig at Stocking Farm near Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire last week following dogged efforts by her family for a renewed search.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Commander Steve Clayman expressed the force’s “absolute, heartfelt sympathy” for the family and friends of Ms McKay as he confirmed that the latest search for her remains had been unsuccessful.

He acknowledged that her relatives had “done everything they can” to try to find where she was buried after she was murdered in 1969, so that she could be given a respectful burial.

Mr Clayman added: “The whole team are disappointed that this was the outcome.”

One of her killers Nizamodeen Hosein agreed to help find her final resting place decades after his crime, but he cannot enter the UK without the police requesting permission from the Home Office.

The farm was searched at the time of the murder and again in 2022, with 30 police officers, ground penetrating radar and specialist forensic archaeologists used, but nothing was found.

The latest search took place amid tight security, with police putting an air exclusion in place and restricting public footpath access.

Muriel McKay
Muriel McKay (Archive/PA)

Ms McKay, 55, the wealthy wife of newspaper executive Alick McKay, was kidnapped and held ransom for £1 million more than 54 years ago.

The people who kidnapped her had mistaken her for Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Alick McKay, who was Mr Murdoch’s deputy, was also Australian.

Ms McKay disappeared in December 1969 and was traced to Stocking Farm, but her body has never been found.

Brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein were convicted of her kidnap and murder.

Arthur died in prison in 2009, and Nizamodeen was deported to Trinidad and Tobago after serving his sentence.