Yvonne Fletcher, a Metropolitan Police officer, was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy on St James’s Square, London. Fletcher had been deployed to monitor a demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and died shortly afterwards. Her death resulted in an eleven-day siege of the embassy, at the end of which those inside were expelled from the country and the United Kingdom severed diplomatic relations with Libya. In 1999 a warming of diplomatic relations between Britain and Libya led to the Libyan government admitting culpability in Fletcher’s shooting, and the payment of compensation. British police continued their investigation until 2017, but no charges were brought as some of the evidence could not be raised in court due to national security concerns.
About Murder of Yvonne Fletcher in brief
Yvonne Fletcher, a Metropolitan Police officer, was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy on St James’s Square, London, by an unknown gunman. Fletcher had been deployed to monitor a demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and died shortly afterwards. Her death resulted in an eleven-day siege of the embassy, at the end of which those inside were expelled from the country and the United Kingdom severed diplomatic relations with Libya. In 1999 a warming of diplomatic relations between Britain and Libya led to the Libyan government admitting culpability in Fletcher’s shooting, and the payment of compensation. British police continued their investigation until 2017, but no charges were brought as some of the evidence could not be raised in court due to national security concerns. As at 2020 no one has been convicted of Fletcher’s murder and the case is still under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) of the UK and the European Commission of Human Rights (ICHRC) of France and Germany. The inquest into Fletcher’s death reached a verdict that she was \”killed by a bullet coming from one of two windows on the west side of the front on the first floor of the Libyan People’s Bureau\”. In addition to the murder of Fletcher, eleven Libyan demonstrators were wounded. The event became a factor in the decision by the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to allow the US bombing of Libya from bases in the UK. In 1980 Libya’s leader, Muam mar Gaddafi, saw many exiles from Libya as traitors and had given orders for several of them to be murdered.
On his instructions, bombs were planted in London newsagents that sold newspapers critical of Gaddafi. After Gaddafi’s political opponents were killed in 1980, there was a decrease in the country’s activity until 1983 when the Libyan General People’s Congress began a campaign against what they saw as the bourgeois habits of staff of the People’s bureau. In February 1983 the bureau and cultural chief and attaché were recalled to Libya and replaced with a four-man committee of students who had all been involved in revolutionary activities in Libya. Soon after they were appointed, they gave a press conference at which they threatened action against Libyan dissidents. In March 1984 there were a series of bomb attacks in Manchester and London. Five Libyans thought to be behind the attacks were deported from the UK; five Libyan nationals thought to have carried out the bombings were also deported from Britain. The last four of the five were released after nine months in captivity. In April 1984 the Libyan ambassador to the UK was expelled from Britain; he was later killed in a helicopter crash. In May 1984 the British government announced that it would not send an ambassador to Libya again. In November 1984, the Libyan people’s congress held a conference in London to discuss the future of the country. The conference ended with the resignation of the British ambassador and the appointment of a new ambassador, who was replaced by a British national. In December 1984 the UK government announced it would no longer send an envoy to Libya.
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