Powder-burns ‘positive proof’

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 10

Powder-burns ‘positive proof’

NZPA-AAP London Powder-burns on a carpet beneath a window were regarded by the British police as positive proof that the killer of a young British policewoman had fired from the diplomatic sanctuary of the Libyan London embassy, Reuter reported yesterday. Police officers searching the abandoned embassy yesterday also reported finding six hand-guns hidden in furniture, ammunition, and a spent cartridge from a 9mm sub-machine-gun — the type that killed Constable Yvonne Fletcher outside the embassy on April 17. In Tripoli a Libyan

Foreign Ministry official had accused British police search teams of planting possibly incriminating bullet shells in the abandoned embassy, Agence FrancePresse reported. ’ “I accuse the British police of having brought in the shells because they needed to produce proof for their fellow citizens about the April 17 shooting which led Britain to break off diplomatic relations with Libya,” said the spokesman, Ibrahim Bishari. Britain announced yesterday a review of arms sales to Libya and put stiff new controls on the migration of

Libyans to Britain. But the Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, rejected Opposition calls for an independent inquiry into the shooting and the subsequent 11-day police siege. She said that a formal inquiry would expose some of Britain’s official secrets, but the Government would conduct its own inquest and implement only lessons to be learned. The Home Secretary, Mr Leon Brittan, who was in charge of the crisis, told Parliament yesterday that the killer had been one of two Libyans among 30 who

left the country under diplomatic immunity. Although the group included 19 diplomats and 11 student political activists, both the suspects were diplomats, he said. The weapon which killed Constable Fletcher is believed by the British authorities to have left the country in diplomatic bags taken out of the embassy last week. But the police said that they had found magazines and pistol-grips for British-made Sterling 9mm sub-machine-guns — probably the type used by the gunman. The search of the em-

bassy had been made under the watch of a Saudi Arabian diplomat, who was present when the weapons and other evidence were found, the police said.

Powder-marks and the spent casing had been bellow a first-floor window, confirming eye-witness accounts of the shooting during a demonstration by Libyans opposed to Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, the police said.

The police list of weapons left behind by the Libyans included four revolvers of .38 and .32 calibre, and two .25 calibre automatic pistols and 49 rounds of ammunition.