By Martin Beckford
Abdelgader Tuhami worked at embassy when WPC Yvonne Fletcher was killed. He is a firearms expert who has been accused of carrying out assassinations. Tuhami has been investigated by Scotland Yard over the notorious murder. But he has been given top position in Libya’s Government of National Accord.
WPC Yvonne Fletcher, pictured, was hit in the stomach by a bullet from a machine gun fired from the embassy building on April 17 1984
A suspect in the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher has been made Libya’s spy chief.
Abdelgader Tuhami was a Gaddafi henchman who was working at the country’s London embassy when the young policewoman was shot dead in 1984.
He is a firearms expert who has been accused of carrying out political assassinations for the Gaddafi regime – and has been investigated by Scotland Yard over the notorious murder.
Now a brigadier general, he has been given a top position within Libya’s new Government of National Accord.
Last week, the United Nations-backed Presidential Council named Tuhami as Deputy Chief of Intelligence Agency for Security Affairs and also temporary head of the Libyan intelligence agency.
The promotion comes after Tuhami was put in charge last December of tackling illegal immigration in the fragile North African state, which has become the gateway to Europe for tens of thousands of refugees.
It will come as a fresh blow to family and police colleagues of WPC Fletcher, who still hope to see her killers brought to justice.
The 25-year-old was gunned down as she stood guard at a protest of Libyan exiles outside the embassy in St James’s Square on April 17, 1984.
The Libyan government eventually accepted responsibility for the killing but the Metropolitan Police continues to investigate WPC Fletcher’s murder. Pictured is the scene in April 1984
WPC Yvonne Fletcher was gunned down as she stood guard at a protest of Libyan exiles outside the embassy in St James’s Square on April 17, 1984. Pictured are armed police at the scene
She was hit in the stomach by a bullet from a machine gun fired from the embassy building, and her death led to an 11-day siege that ended with the resident diplomats being expelled from Britain.
The Libyan government eventually accepted responsibility for the killing but the Metropolitan Police continues to investigate WPC Fletcher’s murder.
Two years ago the Met arrested a man in his 50s on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and last night Scotland Yard said that he remained on bail.
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Martin Beckford Home Affairs Editor For The Mail On Sunday
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