Murder of Yvonne Fletcher

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Yvonne Fletcher

Fletcher, wounded on the ground, attended by her colleagues

Born 15 June 1958

Semley, Wiltshire, England

Died 17 April 1984 (aged 25)

Westminster, London, England

Police career

Department Metropolitan Police Service

Years of service 1977–1984

Rank Woman Police Constable

The murder of Yvonne Fletcher, a Metropolitan Police officer, occurred on 17 April 1984, when she
was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square, London, by an
unknown gunman. Fletcher was there 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.
Between 1980 and 1984 Gaddafi had ordered the deaths of several exiled opponents of his regime;
bombings and shootings, targeted at Libyan dissidents, occurred in Manchester and London. Five
Libyans thought to be behind the attacks were deported from the UK. During the anti-Gaddafi protest
on 17 April 1984, two gunmen opened fire from the first floor of the embassy with Sterling
submachine guns. In addition to the murder of Fletcher, eleven Libyans were wounded. 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".[1] Following the
breaking of diplomatic relations, Libya arrested six British nationals, the last four of whom were
released after nine months in captivity.
Two years after Fletcher's murder, 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 1999 a
warming of diplomatic relations between Britain and the Gaddafi regime led to a statement from the
Libyan government admitting culpability in Fletcher's shooting, and the payment of compensation.
British police continued their investigation until 2017. Although sufficient evidence existed to
prosecute one of the co-conspirators, no charges were brought as some of the evidence could not
be raised in court due to national security concerns. As of 2018 no one has been convicted of
Fletcher's murder.

Yvonne Fletcher[edit]

Fletcher's police warrant card photograph

Yvonne Joyce Fletcher was born on 15 June 1958 in the Wiltshire village of Semley, to Michael
Fletcher and his wife Queenie (née Troke). Yvonne was the eldest of the couple's four daughters. At
the age of three she told her parents that she wanted to join the police.[2][3] By the time she was
eighteen and a half—the minimum entry age into the Metropolitan Police Service—she was 5 feet
2.5 inches (1.59 m) tall, shorter than the 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) required.[4] She applied to several
police forces but was turned down on the basis of her height, and considered applying for entry to
the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.[5]
Despite the height restriction, in March 1977 Fletcher was accepted onto the Metropolitan Police 20-
week training course. She passed and was placed on the standard two-year probation period with
the warrant number 4257; she was posted to Bow Street police station, where she completed her
probation and was confirmed as a regular Woman Police Constable (WPC).[2][6] She was highly
regarded by her colleagues, who nicknamed her "Super Fletch", and she became engaged to PC
Michael Liddle, who also worked at Bow Street.[2][7]
Relations between Britain and Libya[edit]

St James's Square

St James's Square, London

From 1979 there had been no Libyan ambassador appointed to the United Kingdom. A
"Revolutionary Committee" was in control of the Libyan embassy in London, located at 5 St James's
Square; the embassy was renamed the "People's Bureau".[a] In 1980 Libya's leader, Muammar
Gaddafi—the Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council—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.[10] Moussa Koussa was
appointed as Secretary of the Libyan People's Bureau in London in 1979. He was expelled from the
UK in 1980, after stating in an interview with The Times that the Libyan government planned to
murder two opponents of Gaddafi's government living in the UK.[11] The Lord Privy Seal, Sir Ian
Gilmour, told the House of Commons that the government wished "to maintain good relations with
Libya", but that "we are making it clear that the Libyan authorities must understand what can and
cannot be done under the law of the United Kingdom, and that criminal actions in the United
Kingdom must cease".[12]
After several murders of Gaddafi's political opponents in the UK in 1980, there was a decrease in
activity until 1983, when the Libyan General People's Congress—the country's legislature—began a
campaign against what they saw as the bourgeois habits of staff at several of the People's Bureaux,
particularly the office in London. In February 1983 the bureau chief and cultural 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.[13] On 10 and 11 March 1984 there were a
series of bomb attacks in London and Manchester targeted at critics of the Gaddafi regime. The
Libyan government denied being involved, but on 16 March the British government deported five
Libyans said to be connected to the attacks.[14]

Vienna convention and diplomatic protection[edit]

The protection of diplomats and their official premises is based on the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations 1961, an international treaty; it was signed by 141 countries, including the UK
and Libya. It was incorporated into UK law in the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964. Among other
measures, the act protects diplomats from prosecution for any crime unless the diplomat's home
country waives his right to immunity. A country can declare a diplomat from another state to
be persona non grata, and demand that they leave the country, but no other action can be taken
against them. Diplomatic premises are also protected from entry by the police or security services,
unless given permission by the country's ambassador.[15][16]
Shooting: 16–17 April 1984[edit]
St James's Square

The former Libyan People's Bureau in St James's Square; the bureau was in the white building on the left of
the image.

Map of St James's Square, showing where WPC Fletcher was shot

On 16 April 1984 two students—active opponents of Gaddafi's rule—were executed in public

hangings at the University of Tripoli. In response Libyan dissidents in Britain—members of
the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF)—decided to stage a demonstration outside the People's
Bureau on St James's Square.[17][18] On 16 April a telex was sent from the People's Bureau in London
to Tripoli asking for advice on how to deal with the demonstration. They asked which of three options
they should follow: do nothing; drag some dissidents into the bureau to physically assault them; or
shoot some of the demonstrators. The answer came back from Gaddafi to open fire on the
protestors.[b] The message was intercepted and decrypted by the National Security Agency in the
US, who passed the information on to Government Communications Headquarters in the UK, from
where it was forwarded to MI5, Britain's counter-intelligence and security agency. They failed to pass
on the information to the police or the Home Office.[20]
During the night of 16–17 April a delegation from the People's Bureau attended a meeting at
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to complain about the forthcoming demonstration, and ask
that it be stopped. The Libyans were told that the Metropolitan Police would be informed, but would
be unable to prevent the demonstration from going ahead.[21] On the morning of 17 April, police
workmen placed crowd control barriers in St James's Square in preparation for the demonstration.
One of the Libyans from the People's Bureau told a workman that there were guns in the Bureau and
there would be fighting that day. The workman passed the message on to police, who decided not to
take action.[22][23]
A detachment of around 30 police officers was sent to St James's Square to monitor the
demonstration; among them were Fletcher and her fiancé. They were accompanied by members of
the Diplomatic Protection Group.[18][24] About 75 LNSF protestors arrived from across the country,
particularly northern England;[c] the demonstration began at around 10:00 am. The demonstrators—
many wearing masks or balaclavas, to ensure photographers from the People's Bureau could not
record their identities—stayed behind barriers placed opposite the Bureau; they chanted anti-
Gaddafi slogans and carried banners and placards.[26][27] A counter demonstration by Gaddafi
supporters had been arranged by the People's Bureau and took place outside the building. The
demonstrations were filmed by several international television crews invited by the Libyans.[26][28]
At 10:18 am automatic gunfire was discharged from two windows of the People's Bureau in the
direction of the anti-Gaddafi demonstration. The shots wounded eleven protestors;[21][29] according to
the post-mortem examination report, one round entered Fletcher's back, "10 inches (250 mm) below
the top of the right shoulder, 5 1⁄2 inches (140 mm) to the right of the spine and 3 1⁄4 inches (83 mm)
behind the back fold of the right armpit". The bullet travelled right to left, through her thoracic
diaphragm, liver and gall bladder before it was deflected by the spinal column out through the left
side of the body, and then into the left elbow.[30]
While the demonstrators were moved into Charles II Street, Fletcher was aided by her colleagues;
as she lay in the road outside the People's Bureau, she advised them to "keep calm". She was
moved to Charles II Street; she became unconscious and stopped breathing and a colleague gave
her resuscitation. At 10:40 am an ambulance took her to Westminster Hospital. As she was being
transferred from the ambulance to a hospital trolley, a single spent round of ammunition fell from her
uniform.[26][31] She was operated on, but died at midday.[5][32]
The police evacuated members of the public from the offices around the square, which they sealed
off with a cordon; armed police took up positions facing the People's Bureau and on the surrounding
rooftops. The garage entrance at the rear of the People's Bureau was not sealed off until at least ten
minutes after the shooting, and in that time some of those inside departed the premises through that
exit.[33][34]
With Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister, on an official visit to Portugal, and Geoffrey Howe,
the Foreign Secretary, in China, responsibility for handling the crisis fell to Leon Brittan, the Home
Secretary.[35]Events spread to Libya soon after the shooting, as around 60 members of
the Revolutionary Guard Corps surrounded the British embassy in Tripoli, and put the premises
under siege, trapping the staff of 25—including Oliver Miles, the ambassador.[36] Three British
nationals working in Tripoli were arrested on unspecified charges.[37]
The post-mortem on Fletcher was undertaken in the evening of 17 April by the forensic
pathologist Iain West.[32] Examining the entry of the shot, he wrote that:
The angle of the bullet wound indicates that she was shot in the back by a person who was situated
at a considerably higher level. Assuming that she was standing upright at the moment she was shot,
the track would indicate that she had been shot from one of the adjacent floors of an adjacent
building.[38]
From the angle of the entry wound, and Fletcher's position in the street—captured on news cameras
seconds before she was shot—West established that the shot had come from the first floor of the
embassy.[39]

Yvonne Fletcher[edit]

Fletcher's police warrant card photograph

Yvonne Joyce Fletcher was born on 15 June 1958 in the Wiltshire village of Semley, to Michael
Fletcher and his wife Queenie (née Troke). Yvonne was the eldest of the couple's four daughters. At
the age of three she told her parents that she wanted to join the police.[2][3] By the time she was
eighteen and a half—the minimum entry age into the Metropolitan Police Service—she was 5 feet
2.5 inches (1.59 m) tall, shorter than the 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) required.[4] She applied to several
police forces but was turned down on the basis of her height, and considered applying for entry to
the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.[5]
Despite the height restriction, in March 1977 Fletcher was accepted onto the Metropolitan Police 20-
week training course. She passed and was placed on the standard two-year probation period with
the warrant number 4257; she was posted to Bow Street police station, where she completed her
probation and was confirmed as a regular Woman Police Constable (WPC).[2][6] She was highly
regarded by her colleagues, who nicknamed her "Super Fletch", and she became engaged to PC
Michael Liddle, who also worked at Bow Street.[2][7]

Relations between Britain and Libya[edit]

St James's Square

St James's Square, London

From 1979 there had been no Libyan ambassador appointed to the United Kingdom. A
"Revolutionary Committee" was in control of the Libyan embassy in London, located at 5 St James's
Square; the embassy was renamed the "People's Bureau".[a] In 1980 Libya's leader, Muammar
Gaddafi—the Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council—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.[10] Moussa Koussa was
appointed as Secretary of the Libyan People's Bureau in London in 1979. He was expelled from the
UK in 1980, after stating in an interview with The Times that the Libyan government planned to
murder two opponents of Gaddafi's government living in the UK.[11] The Lord Privy Seal, Sir Ian
Gilmour, told the House of Commons that the government wished "to maintain good relations with
Libya", but that "we are making it clear that the Libyan authorities must understand what can and
cannot be done under the law of the United Kingdom, and that criminal actions in the United
Kingdom must cease".[12]
After several murders of Gaddafi's political opponents in the UK in 1980, there was a decrease in
activity until 1983, when the Libyan General People's Congress—the country's legislature—began a
campaign against what they saw as the bourgeois habits of staff at several of the People's Bureaux,
particularly the office in London. In February 1983 the bureau chief and cultural 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.[13] On 10 and 11 March 1984 there were a
series of bomb attacks in London and Manchester targeted at critics of the Gaddafi regime. The
Libyan government denied being involved, but on 16 March the British government deported five
Libyans said to be connected to the attacks.[14]

Vienna convention and diplomatic protection[edit]

The protection of diplomats and their official premises is based on the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations 1961, an international treaty; it was signed by 141 countries, including the UK
and Libya. It was incorporated into UK law in the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964. Among other
measures, the act protects diplomats from prosecution for any crime unless the diplomat's home
country waives his right to immunity. A country can declare a diplomat from another state to
be persona non grata, and demand that they leave the country, but no other action can be taken
against them. Diplomatic premises are also protected from entry by the police or security services,
unless given permission by the country's ambassador.[15][16]

Shooting: 16–17 April 1984[edit]

St James's Square

The former Libyan People's Bureau in St James's Square; the bureau was in the white building on the left of
the image.
Map of St James's Square, showing where WPC Fletcher was shot

On 16 April 1984 two students—active opponents of Gaddafi's rule—were executed in public

hangings at the University of Tripoli. In response Libyan dissidents in Britain—members of
the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF)—decided to stage a demonstration outside the People's
Bureau on St James's Square.[17][18] On 16 April a telex was sent from the People's Bureau in London
to Tripoli asking for advice on how to deal with the demonstration. They asked which of three options
they should follow: do nothing; drag some dissidents into the bureau to physically assault them; or
shoot some of the demonstrators. The answer came back from Gaddafi to open fire on the
protestors.[b] The message was intercepted and decrypted by the National Security Agency in the
US, who passed the information on to Government Communications Headquarters in the UK, from
where it was forwarded to MI5, Britain's counter-intelligence and security agency. They failed to pass
on the information to the police or the Home Office.[20]
During the night of 16–17 April a delegation from the People's Bureau attended a meeting at
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to complain about the forthcoming demonstration, and ask
that it be stopped. The Libyans were told that the Metropolitan Police would be informed, but would
be unable to prevent the demonstration from going ahead.[21] On the morning of 17 April, police
workmen placed crowd control barriers in St James's Square in preparation for the demonstration.
One of the Libyans from the People's Bureau told a workman that there were guns in the Bureau and
there would be fighting that day. The workman passed the message on to police, who decided not to
take action.[22][23]
A detachment of around 30 police officers was sent to St James's Square to monitor the
demonstration; among them were Fletcher and her fiancé. They were accompanied by members of
the Diplomatic Protection Group.[18][24] About 75 LNSF protestors arrived from across the country,
particularly northern England;[c] the demonstration began at around 10:00 am. The demonstrators—
many wearing masks or balaclavas, to ensure photographers from the People's Bureau could not
record their identities—stayed behind barriers placed opposite the Bureau; they chanted anti-
Gaddafi slogans and carried banners and placards.[26][27] A counter demonstration by Gaddafi
supporters had been arranged by the People's Bureau and took place outside the building. The
demonstrations were filmed by several international television crews invited by the Libyans.[26][28]
At 10:18 am automatic gunfire was discharged from two windows of the People's Bureau in the
direction of the anti-Gaddafi demonstration. The shots wounded eleven protestors;[21][29] according to
the post-mortem examination report, one round entered Fletcher's back, "10 inches (250 mm) below
the top of the right shoulder, 5 1⁄2 inches (140 mm) to the right of the spine and 3 1⁄4 inches (83 mm)
behind the back fold of the right armpit". The bullet travelled right to left, through her thoracic
diaphragm, liver and gall bladder before it was deflected by the spinal column out through the left
side of the body, and then into the left elbow.[30]
While the demonstrators were moved into Charles II Street, Fletcher was aided by her colleagues;
as she lay in the road outside the People's Bureau, she advised them to "keep calm". She was
moved to Charles II Street; she became unconscious and stopped breathing and a colleague gave
her resuscitation. At 10:40 am an ambulance took her to Westminster Hospital. As she was being
transferred from the ambulance to a hospital trolley, a single spent round of ammunition fell from her
uniform.[26][31] She was operated on, but died at midday.[5][32]
The police evacuated members of the public from the offices around the square, which they sealed
off with a cordon; armed police took up positions facing the People's Bureau and on the surrounding
rooftops. The garage entrance at the rear of the People's Bureau was not sealed off until at least ten
minutes after the shooting, and in that time some of those inside departed the premises through that
exit.[33][34]
With Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister, on an official visit to Portugal, and Geoffrey Howe,
the Foreign Secretary, in China, responsibility for handling the crisis fell to Leon Brittan, the Home
Secretary.[35]Events spread to Libya soon after the shooting, as around 60 members of
the Revolutionary Guard Corps surrounded the British embassy in Tripoli, and put the premises
under siege, trapping the staff of 25—including Oliver Miles, the ambassador.[36] Three British
nationals working in Tripoli were arrested on unspecified charges.[37]
The post-mortem on Fletcher was undertaken in the evening of 17 April by the forensic
pathologist Iain West.[32] Examining the entry of the shot, he wrote that:
The angle of the bullet wound indicates that she was shot in the back by a person who was situated
at a considerably higher level. Assuming that she was standing upright at the moment she was shot,
the track would indicate that she had been shot from one of the adjacent floors of an adjacent
building.[38]
From the angle of the entry wound, and Fletcher's position in the street—captured on news cameras
seconds before she was shot—West established that the shot had come from the first floor of the
embassy.[39]