UN-backed temporary ‘spy chief’ appointment of suspect in WPC Yvonne Fletcher murder

A suspect in the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher is reported to be the new head of Libya’s intelligence agency. Abdelgader Tuhami, 58, was working at the country’s London embassy when a gunman fired on protesters outside, killing the young officer. He has been accused of carrying out political assassinations for the Colonel Gaddafi regime – and has been investigated by Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) over the murder. The firearms expert – in Britain posing as a student in April 1984 – was identified as the man who allegedly fired the fatal shot but was allowed to leave the country after an 11-day siege in a deal with the former Libyan dictator’s regime 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 General Tuhami as Deputy Chief of Intelligence Agency for Security Affairs and also temporary head of the Libyan intelligence agency. The promotion comes after General Tuhami was put in charge last December of tackling illegal immigration in the North African state, which has become the gateway to Europe for tens of thousands of refugees. The promotion will come as a fresh blow to family and colleagues of WPC Fletcher, who still hope to see her killers brought to justice. The 25-year-old was shot as she stood guard at a protest of Libyan exiles outside the embassy in St James’s Square on April 17, 1984. She was hit in the stomach by a bullet from a machine gun fired from the embassy building. The Libyan Government eventually accepted responsibility for the killing but the MPS continues to investigate WPC Fletcher’s murder. Two years ago the force arrested a man in his 50s on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and he remains on bail.